Without any last minute changes, an ex-aide of PDP Presidential candidate, Abubakar Atiku, in the person of Daniel Bwala will be announced as the new spokesperson of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This is coming barely a week after Ajuri Ngalale went on an indefinite leave of absence due to ‘family health issues’ which indicated either a resignation or dismissal from his job as the President’s spokesperson.
According to sources privy to this information, President Tinubu will announce the appointment of Daniel Bwala in the next one or two weeks after he returns to Nigeria.
Although Daniel Bwala worked with PDP in the last election, he has since switched camp to the All Progressive Congress and has been seen with President Tinubu in Nigeria and overseas.
The source made it known that Bwala’s job for Atiku was an agreement that was bound to expire after the court case. Recall that Bwala was with All Progressive Congress (APC) before he joined PDP during the election campaign period.
Meanwhile, many are of the opinion that Bayo Onanuga would be the best fit for the position since he has been actively working in that capacity.
Although Bayo Onanuga would not be a bad option for Tinubu, considering the fact that he has been close to be president for decades and has successfully operated PM News as a media company but the source revealed that President Tinubu isn’t interested in having Onanuga occupy the vacant position of his spokesperson because he is Yoruba.
It is worthy of note that President Tinubu has been accused of neglecting other tribes in his appointment apart from people who are Yorubas just like him. This is the reason Bayo Onanuga would not be selected to fill the position of a spokesperson.
According to the source, the appointment is a done-deal for Daniel Bwala as agreement has been made between the President and the former PDP chieftain. It was revealed that in a situation where Bwala doesn’t eventually become the spokesperson, he will be duly compensated with a higher position.
Unlike the Federal Government that has gone after the youths with violent clampdowns and trumped up charges, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has fulfilled his promise to reward youths in the state for boycotting the recent #EndBadGovernance protest.
At a thank-you gathering in Uyo, the governor announced a N310 million cash reward, distributed as N10 million per Local Government Area (LGA), to be shared among youths across party lines.
The governor commended the youths for listening to his appeal to shun the protest, stating that their actions showed they were not ashamed to do well.
He acknowledged the issues that led to the protest, including hunger, unemployment, and high food prices, and assured that his administration was working to address them within available resources.
Governor Eno also announced additional benefits for Akwa Ibom youths, including:
– 100 youths per LGA to be added to the Ibom Community Watch, regardless of political affiliation
– Increased student bursary from N10,000 to N20,000 for undergraduates and N20,000 to N30,000 for postgraduate students
– An employment portal to be created by the Ministry of Labour and the Senior Special Assistant on ICT to connect youths with job opportunities
– A digital platform for oil companies in Akwa Ibom to harvest applicants for interviews
– A monthly N50,000 business grant for 5,000 youths to start small businesses
Stakeholders at the gathering urged the governor to complete the abandoned Ibom Science Park, initiated by former Governor Obong Victor Attah, to fast-track technological growth in the state.
Captured hereunder are some thoughts of the British philosopher and political theorist John Locke in his enduring treatises in the 17th century. He wrote about the form of his world and power relations going back to almost 1000 years ago. Though he was a genius, he would still have been shocked, if he was to be alive today, to observe how his analysis about 800 years ago appears to still apply to many African countries including Nigeria. He was not a prophet in the classical understanding of that word. He was certainly not another Nostradamus who was said to have correctly predicted events that would happen centuries after his death. But Locke’s demonstration of future – thinking, for lack of any better description, was legendary.
The Online Library of Liberty (OLL) in an entry about two years ago said of Locke: “Where-ever law ends, tyranny begins”. The thoughts continue by explaining that ‘The equality of all citizens under the law is a linch-pin of the modern notion of the rule of law in a democratic state. A revolutionary implication of this idea, well appreciated by Locke in the tumultuous 1680s, is that even rulers and their magistrates were also under the “sovereignty of the law”. Locke concludes that when any member of the state exceeds his legal authority or in any way violates the law, he ceases” to be a magistrate; and, acting without authority, may be opposed, as any other man, who by force invades the right of another’. Has Nigeria under the All Progressives Congress (APC) since 2015 not been ticking the boxes of descent to tyranny?
“Not quite! Here’s a glimpse into the set up for 2027. Those who may dare to contest for the presidency will start with almost insurmountable handicaps. As we said the police chief will be Yoruba. The chief of army staff, Yoruba. Head of the secret police, Yoruba. The director – general of the national intelligence agency, Yoruba. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Yoruba; customs comptroller-general, Yoruba; immigration, Yoruba; central bank governor, Yoruba, just to mention a few.”
There was a viral post on WhatsApp recently which appeared to warn readers to worry about any society or country where any citizen who exposes crime is himself treated as a criminal. The post said that any country where that is the case, then the country can conveniently be said to be fully under State Capture. Yet, another recent viral WhatsApp message said something to the effect that nobody captures power and uses it for public good. Does that ring a bell? Does it not represent our unfolding reality?
The process towards the capture of the Nigerian state by rogue rulers and their accomplices may have started since the beginning of this republic 25 years ago. But as it has become obvious today, the people who were at the helm of affairs earlier were benign rulers. In 2006, the eve of his term limit, the then president, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, was alleged to be plotting to rig the Nigerian constitution so as to remain in office beyond 2007. He has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegation.
But his henchman who was deputy senate president, the late Ibrahim Mantu, confirmed the existence of the plot while he was alive. He should know because he was the chairman of the constitution amendment committee in 2006. He told Premium Times newspaper in 2016, years before he died in 2021, that he would have laid down his life for Obasanjo to continue as president if he knew that the country would be so badly governed. At the time Mantu was interviewed, the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) Muhammadu Buhari was in power. And at that time Nigeria was not half as bad as it is today. We will leave it to the imagination what Mantu would have said were he to still be alive.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
Buhari was an affliction on Nigeria. He was the person who led those who have turned out to be barbarians to seize power in 2015 through a democratic insurgency. But the preceding statement gives too much credit to Buhari. It has since been doubly confirmed that the man from Daura is incapable of doing anything well except for nepotism and sectarianism. He is a rabid Islamist. In 2014/2015, Buhari could be likened to an Igbo saying of imanye aka nwata na-oku (jar) ka ndi ozo nwe efe busasia ihe di n’ime oku. It will be a struggle to find an English language equivalent for the foregoing. So let me try an explanation. A group of adults convinces a child to take cookies from the jar at home. Then they would subsequently capitalise on that to empty the jar. When the woman of the house or head of the household returns, the adults would claim that it was the child that took and ate the cookies. You probably have conspired with others to do something like this in your past life.
“In the wake of what Nigerians are now experiencing in terms of impunity, Buhari, despite being a former general in the army, could be classified as an apprentice or wannabe tyrant. Under Tinubu the gloves are off. He is the head of the executive arm of government, and the de facto head of the national legislature. There’s no evidence that he has purloined the judiciary, suspicions notwithstanding.”
Buhari was a failed military ruler between December 1983 – August 1985 when he was ousted by his colleagues in a palace coup. He failed again under the regime of the former head of state, the late Gen. Sani Abacha, who appointed him to head the defunct petroleum trust fund (PTF). That agency under Buhari was turned into a cesspit of fraud and corruption. Projects funded by the agency, which was created to equitably use proceeds from the removal of petrol subsidy for infrastructural development in all parts of the country, was disproportionately cited in one part of Nigeria- the north. The PTF stank so much so that Obasanjo initiated steps to probe the agency when he was elected president in 1999, but dropped the idea apparently in furtherance of esprit de corp. Like Buhari, Obasanjo was a retired army general. Buhari was not indicted. PTF was not probed. No sleaze was linked to Buhari. But it still speaks to what Nigeria was (and still is) that a man with such baggage was even considered, and then elected as president.
In the wake of what Nigerians are now experiencing in terms of impunity, Buhari, despite being a former general in the army, could be classified as an apprentice or wannabe tyrant. Under Tinubu the gloves are off. He is the head of the executive arm of government, and the de facto head of the national legislature. There’s no evidence that he has purloined the judiciary, suspicions notwithstanding. Though it was no fault of his, what else would be the reasonable thing to believe in a situation where Tinubu was positioned to appoint about 50% of the serving 21 justices of the Supreme Court. The president recently performed an absurdity of administering the oath of office on a non-substantive chief justice of Nigeria. She may need to swear a fresh oath when and if she’s confirmed by the spineless senate. A recent study found that judges, the judiciary and sundry officers of our courts housed the highest number of bribe takers in Nigeria. So, the judiciary is there for the taking, if it has not already been captured.
A democrat does not act in a manner Nigeria’s president does. Tinubu has no regards for Nigerians. He is contemptuous and disdainful of the people. He is a pseudo democrat. And this aspect of his life has been in the public domain for at least 25 years. A casual examination of his political trajectory in the last 30 years, and his stranglehold on the politics and the economy of Lagos state which he ruled between 1999-2007 will more than adequately tell the story. A Nigerian of Yoruba stock warned in the lead up to the 2023 presidential election that any ambition that was premised on emi lo Kan (Yoruba for it is my turn) was fraught with danger. He said that the concept was an open expression of the determination of the advocate to corrupt the system and purloin the outcome of the election. Though Tinubu was the exponent of emi lo kan in Nigeria’s political lexicon, he cannot be said to have stolen the presidency. All the courts in the country absolved him of any wrongdoing, and affirmed that the ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission (INEC) correctly called the results of the presidential election. The only sore point is that the judgments happened during the period that the study we referenced earlier found that judges and other officers of Nigerian courts were the highest takers of bribe money.
Tyranny is not an event, it’s a process. And the process as it concerns Nigeria was substantially set in motion during the eight years of Buhari. It is gradually becoming suffocating in this dispensation. Tinubu is at the head of it, and those working with him have become fast learners. The fact that the heads of the three arms of the Nigerian national government carry their share of baggage is not coincidental. Even the chairman of the ruling party is mired in corruption issues. It is not also a happenstance that the leadership of the three significant opposition parties – Labour Party, People’s Democratic Party, and the New Nigerian Political Party – are mired in problems and so unstable. APC is already firmly in the grips of Tinubu. For tyranny to get rooted and to fester, there’s a need to destabilise leading opposition parties. And that’s on course.
The other day, Alhaji Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa state and a political gerontocrat, alerted the country that Tinubu is increasingly entrenching himself to make it impossible to remove him through the ballot in 2027. He was right. Unless something drastic happens, the chairman of the national assembly will be in office during the election in 2027. He is a Kept Man. Two helms men of secret security agencies were recently removed and replaced. One of the newcomers is of the ethnic stock of the president. The tenure of the in-coming substantive chief justice of the federation, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the president’s kinswoman, will run through 2027. If there’s any dispute from the presidential election, she will constitute the apex election tribunal, and probably head it. Whoever will be the INEC chairman in 2027 will be Tinubu’s lapdog. He will superintend another mago mago and wuru wuru election. The same can be said of the service chiefs. For certain, the police inspector – general will still be around given recent shenanigans with his tenure. Ordinarily and statutorily the police inspector – general should be out of office this month. He is also the president’s kinsman and was Tinubu’s aide-de-camp when he was the governor of Lagos state. Then add the issue of incumbency for a man who has no scruples in using state power for personal gain, then the picture of 2027 will be complete.
Not quite! Here’s a glimpse into the set up for 2027. Those who may dare to contest for the presidency will start with almost insurmountable handicaps. As we said the police chief will be Yoruba. The chief of army staff, Yoruba. Head of the secret police, Yoruba. The director – general of the national intelligence agency, Yoruba. Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Yoruba; customs comptroller-general, Yoruba; immigration, Yoruba; central bank governor, Yoruba, just to mention a few. Many of these agencies are effectively in control of manipulating elections in Nigeria. For instance, the central bank warehouses sensitive election materials. The army and police escort materials and election staff. So everything is fixed. Only the God factor cannot be factored in at this time, or at any time for that matter.
Tinubu is Nigeria’s usu biara orji ntagbu – locust, cankerworm and caterpillar. How ironic that Usu in Igbo is bat. Even usu will shrug at being batified. The president’s wife had boasted last year that their family was so blessed materially that they would have no need to be parasites on the country. The story is different. The truth is that previous presidents of the country who never laid claim to riches and stupendous wealth did not assault the commonwealth as the Tinubu family is doing. The president buys an aircraft which Nigerians do not know the cost. He hops into the craft and travels abroad while the country is reeling from energy crisis, acute petrol scarcity, and pangs of hunger of citizens. He buys an upscale bomb-resistant American Escalade Sport Utility Vehicle. It was procured from the public till but Nigerians do not know for how much. The regime spends money with little or no accountability, as if money is going out of fashion. And the money is borrowed. The lavish lifestyle of Tinubu underpinned by the concept of emi lo kan is happening at the same time millions of people are slipping below the poverty line. Despondency and despair have straddled the land.
In this dispensation we operate many national budgets concurrently making tracking and accountability nearly impossible. The budgets on their own are problematic. Everyday we are assailed with budget provisions in strange places. It’s no longer abnormal to find allocations for the construction of culverts in the budget of the country’s space exploration agency. Nothing makes sense, and the president does not care. If he cares, there’s no evidence. Under Gen. Abacha, the then Anglican Bishop of Akure Diocese, in Ondo state, the Right Reverend Emmanuel Bolanle Gbonigi, described the former head of state as ‘thoroughly wicked’. But Abacha was a military ruler. What do we say of the country today?
*It’s almost impossible to exhaust the perfidious activities of this regime but we will sign off here as the third leg of the trilogy which started two weeks ago.
In what some Nigerians argue was like standing logic on its head, Nigeria Police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi says President Bola Tinubu did not extend the tenure of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun.
Hiding under some legalistic subterfuge he argues, “the President gave his approval to the law governing the tenure of the office as required.”
In a statement on Friday, Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, said the IGP’s appointment is for four years.
“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to various misleading reports and misinterpretations concerning the tenure of the Inspector General of Police, and wishes to categorically state that what President Bola Tinubu approved for the IGP is not an extension of tenure, but rather the proper application of the law governing the tenure of the office of the IGP,” the statement read.
“Contrary to the misinformation being circulated on social media and in the news, an appointment letter in circulation was issued to the IGP shortly after his appointment was confirmed by the Police Council.
“This letter, dated 3rd November 2023, clearly stated that the President had approved a four-year tenure for the IGP in accordance with the provisions of Section 215(a) and Section 28(c) of the Third Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”
The question some experts on service matters ask is whether it is possible for Mr. Egbotokun to still function in the office of Inspector General Police after his career life in the Nigeria Police Force had expired?
The real reason Ajuri Ngelale resigned from his plum job as President Tinubu’s spokesperson yesterday is that he was about to be sacked.
Ajuri, the 37 year old newsman, like Betta Edu, the former minister of Humanitarian Affairs, simply ate more than he could chew. But unlike his other youngster peer, Ajuri realised he had fallen out of favour of friends and foe alike and he took his own poison.
Betta Edu, former Humanitarian Affairs Minister: Suspended for stealing allegations
Facts emerging from the Villa indicate that it was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. George Akume that pressed the button that ignited the storm against Mr. Ngelale.
It all started when Ajuri began to create offices and making himself the head like: Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen, Nigeria’s first green industrial zone, as well as Secretary of the Presidential Committee on Climate Action and Green Economic solutions, which is chaired by President Tinubu.
George Akume, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) Complained about Mr. Ngelale’s power grabbing tendencies
This move, apart from the SGF, angered many others, especially technocrats in the climate change movement who felt that Ajuri did not have what it takes to productively steer these engagements.
This turned out to be Mr. Ngelale’s second major and last battle after the first, when he leveraged on his chubby relations with Deji Tinubu, the son of the president and Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to President Tinubu to clinch the job of Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, initially penciled down for Mr. Dele Alake.
From the above incidents it can be said that, amongst other factors, two elements that hastened Mr. Ngelale’s fall from power were inexperience and greed. Upon ascendancy, Ngelale was found not to be a whiz kid in information management after all.
Some examples include when, in September 2023, he made an incorrect announcement, claiming that Tinubu was the first African president to ring the Nasdaq closing bell.
Another instance was when he declared, rather prematurely that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government had decided to remove Nigeria’s prohibition on visas. The outcry from the media each time was especially embarrassing for the government.
Ajuri simply didn’t fit the part as a topnotch professional to occupy the coveted office. As someone remarked, “Some of his press statements were simply childish,” referring to Ngelale’s social media post in which he claimed to have shattered the State House record for the most statements made in a single day. This happened on July 13, 2024.
The end for Mr.Ajuri Ngelale, presidency revealed, came recently when he was asked to chose between special adviser to the president on media and publicity and special presidential envoy on climate action/ chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen.
Expectedly, he chose the former. This was however, declined as he was told that if he must continue function in that role then he must work under guidance of an experienced media master.
From thence, Mr. Ngelale knew that the die had been caste and his job had gone. He had to resign.
The lesson for Mr. Ngelale and others in powerful positions is to be mindful of the toes they step on. When you step on too many toes or ‘certain’ toes, you may loose your balance and fall.
Like a flash, the tour of duty of mediaman, Ajuri Ngelale, President Tinubu’s spokesperson has come to an abrupt end as the Bayelsa born journalsit stepped down from his role with immediate effect this saturday..
In a statement issued by the Presidency on Saturday, Ngelale said he had submitted a memo to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, informing him of his plan to proceed on indefinite leave.
Ngelale added that he has stepped down as the Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action and Chairman of the Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen.
According to Ngelale, he stepped down from his role to deal with medical matters presently affecting his nuclear family.
The statement read, “On Friday, I submitted a memo to the Chief of Staff to the President informing my office that I am proceeding on an indefinite leave of absence to frontally deal with medical matters presently affecting my immediate nuclear family.
“While I fully appreciate that the ship of state waits for no man, this agonizing decision — entailing a pause of my functions as the Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity and Official Spokesperson of the President, Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Action, and Chairman, Presidential Steering Committee on Project Evergreen — was taken after significant consultations with my family over the past several days as a vexatious medical situation has worsened at home.
“I look forward to returning to full-time national service when time, healing, and fate permit. I respectfully ask for some privacy for my family and me during this time.”
The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) has called on the Federal Government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPCL) to reverse the recent hike in petrol prices.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, described the increase as “unacceptable” and urged immediate action to alleviate the burden on Nigerians.
“We urge the Federal Government and, of course, the NNPCL to consider the plight of Nigerians and suspend this recent increase in pump price,” Doguwa said in a statement.
The committee highlighted the difficulties faced by citizens and criticised private companies for exploiting system gaps to generate profits at the expense of the populace.
Doguwa stressed the need for a return to the old petrol price and encouraged broader stakeholder engagement to address the issue.
Doguwa, who also chairs the Special Committee on Crude Oil Theft and Vandalisation, outlined plans to collaborate with security agencies to curb oil theft, which threatens the nation’s fuel supply.
“A return to the old pump price will calm frayed nerves, enabling Nigerians to go about their daily activities with ease,” he added.
He advised Nigerians to support President Bola Tinubu’s administration as it seeks to revitalise the oil and gas sector, including the ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the Warri and Port Harcourt refineries.
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Afam Osigwe, SAN, has condemned the recent increase in the pump price of fuel by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).
The Association said that significant and abrupt hike from 617 Naira to about 900 Naira has imposed an unbearable burden on the already overstretched finances of ordinary Nigerians and further aggravate the economic challenges faced by
In a press statement issued by the president of the association, Afam Osigwe, the NBA acknowledges the necessity of economic reforms and recognizes the government’s responsibility to make difficult decisions, these decisions must be made with the utmost consideration for their impact on the welfare of the citizens.
The Association which says the sudden price hike as not only harsh but also unjustified at this time calls on the Federal Government to immediately halt the implementation of this policy and engage in meaningful dialogue with all relevant keyholders, including civil society organizations, labor unions, and economic experts, to explore more sustainable and less punitive alternatives.
He also urge the government to prioritize the welfare of its citizens, particularly the most vulnerable, and to pursue policies that alleviate rather than exacerbate the hardships faced by the Nigerian people.
The president however assured Nigerians that the NBA will engage constructively with the government to find a more equitable solution that ensures economic stability while safeguarding the interests of all Nigerians.
The National Economic Council (NEC) on Wednesday, imposed a deadline of September 9 for four states to submit their reports on the establishment of state police.
The NEC will review comprehensive reports from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on that date. States that do not meet this deadline will be subject to the NEC’s decisions regarding the state police.
Additionally, the Federal Government has allocated ₦3 billion in aid to states affected by severe flooding.
At the conclusion of the NEC meeting, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Acting Oyo State Governor Abdulraheem Lawal reported that all states were expected to submit their reports for NEC’s review.
The discussion on state police was driven by ongoing security challenges across regions, including the Northeast, Northcentral, Southwest, Southeast, and Southsouth.
Lawal emphasized that the initiative aims to enhance national security. He noted that last year, the NEC had asked states to provide reports on the establishment of state police. States that fail to meet the September 9 deadline will be bound by the NEC’s decisions.
He said, “An update on the establishment of State police was considered and this was as a result of the security challenges that we have across the nation, in Northeast, Northcentral, southwest, Southeast and South south so that we would have a robust security in our nation.
“For that purpose, sometimes last year NEC considered the establishment of state police and asked states to make submissions of considerations
“Today (Wednesday), all the states were supposed to submit for consideration of NEC. Incidentally, four states couldn’t submit, and for that purpose, NEC decided that those states must make their submissions on or before Monday next week, otherwise, whatever decision next date on the establishment of State Police will be binding on those states that reused to submit them to make submissions.
“So that is the resolution as of today’s NEC meeting.”
Although the specific names of the four states that have yet to submit their reports were not disclosed, sources identified them as Adamawa, Kwara, Sokoto, Kebbi, and the FCT.
According to Vanguard, the source said one of the four states claimed it had already submitted its report.
Also briefing, Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed provided insights into the flood situation, highlighting the federal government’s ₦3 billion relief fund.
Mohammed described the severe impact of the flooding, especially in the Northeast, where critical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, has been damaged, affecting households, schools, and other essential services.
He said, “The flood was more devastating along the Northeast axis where a major artery between Kano and Maiduguri has been cut off with devastating effects on households, schools, bridges and other means of livelihood. Lives were lost and a lot of properties were also destroyed.
“Of course, that has really provided a big challenge to us as a government and as a people in our states because we need to provide more of food security. Already, farmlands are submerged and therefore there’s need for collaboration between all the tiers of government to ensure food security.”
Mohammed noted that this year’s harvest is expected to be significantly affected due to the floods. He called for coordinated efforts between the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and state ministries to ensure a comprehensive response to the crisis.
An inventory of the damage, including impacts on agriculture and infrastructure, is required by Monday to facilitate timely support.
Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule supported this perspective, noting that a new governance structure has been established to manage flood relief efforts.
The reconstituted Flood Committee now includes governors from Kogi, Bayelsa, Oyo, Ebonyi, Bauchi, and Jigawa states, as well as key federal ministers and agency directors. The Committee will oversee the assessment of flood damage and ensure effective relief measures.
He said: “The Flood committee has to be reconstituted and the new members of the councils are governors of Kogi, Bayelsa, Oyo, Ebonyi, Bauchi and Jigawa states.
“Others are Minister of Water of Resources, minister of state Water of Resources, Minister of State for Environment, DG Nigeria Sovereignty Investment Authority (NSIA), DG NIMET, DG NWRI, MD/CEO NIWA, MD if NNDC, MD NEDC, and DG NEMA.
“The council has decided that Monday will be the deadline for all the states of the Federation to submit details damages including farms, schools, barges that have been affected by the last flood and Mr. chairman mentioned it will be taking into consideration for appropriate support to the various states.
“So these are the new very strong membership of the flood committee that will continue to address council henceforth.”
The NEC has mandated that all states submit detailed damage reports by Monday, including impacts on farms, schools, and infrastructure, to enable appropriate support for the affected regions.
Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, the prominent Venezuelan politician and one of the founders of OPEC, in the early 70s called petroleum “the devil’s excrement” that always brings trouble—waste, corruption, consumption: our public services falling apart and debt. How I wish he could wake up from his grave to see the devastation of his native land, Venezuela my homeland, Nigeria, he would shake his head in shock how apt and in fact understated his prediction was.
The stench of oil, specifically, the high price of one of its refined products, petrol, is literally threatening to choke the life out of my ancestral homeland, Nigeria. It has set the country’s social media on fire and threatening to do same to the regime of the newly elected President Tinubu, who removed the corruption-infected oil subsidy scam.
The data below which is making the round on social media compares the selling price for PMS (petrol) across different countries apparently to justify the price hike. Assuming that one can even verify the reliability of this data (there are different grades of PMS in the U.S. for instance, and prices vary from state to state and in fact from one station to another on the same street. Due to local regulation and standards, in Carlifonia petrol can cost twice as what obtains in Texas. The data shows that PMS price in the US is about twice what we pay in Nigeria.
However while the proposed minimum wage in Nigeria is equivalent to $43.75 a month at the current exchange rate of Naira 1600 to a dollar, the minimum wage in the U.S. which also varies from state to state is $7.25 per hour for federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees. In Carlifonia the minimum hourly wage hovers around $16. The bottom line is, comparing PMS prices across nations is a meaningless venture.
In many of these countries unlike Nigeria, the public transport infrastructure is so advanced that many people don’t even drive.
With our poor public transport network, the ridiculously low wage in our economy, and our over-dependence on fossil fuel dependent road transportation to move commodities across the nation, the price of PMS is unsustainably high. It is a drag on our economy and a major driver of our high inflation.
Our challenge is that we can’t work our way out of the high price of PMS with the corruption-ridden oil subsidy scam. We have got to increase our refinery capacity. While Dangote coming on stream is a great first step, we cannot depend on another monopoly for the supply of arguably the most critical factor in our economy, petrol and diesel.
By the way as Dangote himself has proclaimed publicly, the refinery wouldn’t have happened without the visionary leadership of Tinubu, himself an oil man having worked in the industry before. We need to give the man Tinubu some credit.
Solving our petrol problem would not be easy nor quick, but we must have some faith in and give this 15 months old presidency time to work through it.
Although, the uninformed has been howling about NNPC acquisition of a major petrol distribution company two years ago, with NNPC poised to be the main distributor for Dangote petrol, this all is making some sense now. The petrol marketers are a powerful cartel which is adept at price manipulation and price gouging. Have you noticed the almost coordinated rolling sale of PMS by different petrol stations in your neighbourhood? Most of them close shop when PMS is available in NNPC stations. With NNPC acquiring more petrol stations and with its exclusive right to Dangote petrol, there is a distinct possibility to finally break the back of the oil marketer cartel. However, more refineries need to come on-stream to address the supply-demand-price equilibrium conundrum in the Nigeria petrol supply chain.
This coupled with massive investment in public transport infrastructure especially rail line and solution to our energy infrastructure, our power generation and distribution infrastructure, the prospect for economic revitalization of our country should improve substantially. However, all of these prospect goes down the tube if we throw the baby out with the bath water out of frustration. If we allow those vested and entrenched interest who have fed fat on our dysfunction andwho wish our country no good to decapitate the Tinubu presidency and our hard earned albeit imperfect and frankly frustrating democracy. Ww cannot allow people to fly the Russian flag again as a form of protest in our country.
We must understand that there can be no gain without pain. We didn’t get to this economic Armageddon in one day and it will take time, pain and sacrifice to dig our way out. We the grown-up who enjoyed the bounties of petrol-dollars in the 70s and who contributed in one way or another to our country’s perilous condition, should complain and whine less and make one last sacrifice to bequeath to our children, grand children and future generation, a country they can at least have an opportunity to salvage. We have made a mess of our country. We have put our parochial tribal interest above the mission of building a strong virile nation. We have complained about corruption until it is our countryman who is caught or it is our turn to dip our hands in the treasury and we end up doing worse than the people we once condemned.
We can heap the blame for global warming and every other problem that confronts our country on Tinubu’s 15-month regime all we want. It won’t solve our problem. Neither him nor anyone possess the magic wand to solve all the problems that have been built up through decades of misgovernance and corruption.
He is not to blame for all the governors mismanaging the huge revenue allocations they are now getting. He is not responsible for the price gouging by the market women and the corruption that has become endemic in the Nigerian moral fabric.
Our problems are multidimensional, multigenerational, of both poor leadership and incorrigible followership.
Our poor leadership is a reflection of us the people. We cannot ask of our leaders that which we the followers neither possess nor can give.
Leadership is a two-way street. Yes, the leaders can set the tone and lead by example but the system sets the limit of what is doable. We have set up a dysfunctional corrupt system, powered by a plagiarized constitution imposed on us by the military, in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country that is constantly engaging self-destructive war of ethno-hegemonic advantage rather than what is best for the country.
Until that system is totally demolished, and Nigerians sit at a round table to decide if they wanted to live together in a harmonious country where common national interest trumps narrow parochial tribal hegemonic supremacist objective, there is little hope for our country.
Those of us who think they can perform miracle within the dysfunctional corrupt, nepotistic system we have created should quit their armchair pontificating business and throw their hat in the ring. Talk is cheap, governing a nation as complicated and dysfunctional as Nigeria is tough. Managing any group of Nigerians is tough as nail. Look at our socio-cultural associations and large families all bedeviled by conflict, power-tripping and divisions. Many Nigerian churches and cultural groups in the U.S. and Europe end up splitting into factors over leadership tussle, many ending up in courts for resolution. So extrapolate that to managing a country like Nigeria where each other ethnic group sees the other as enemy.
Dr. Adewale Alonge is the President and Founder, Africa-Diaspora Partnership for Empowerment & Development (ADPED) Inc. Miami, Florida. www.adped.org
