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Tag: Pius Mordi

  • Rivers: Supreme Court and an uncharted dangerous territory – By Pius Mordi

    Rivers: Supreme Court and an uncharted dangerous territory – By Pius Mordi

    When the apex court in the land gives a judgement, it carries the weight of a final arbiter for which there is no appeal. That puts a burden on the Justices. It becomes incumbent on them to take every factor – political, economic – into consideration. When there was more of politics that influence its decision, it takes measures to advice that the ruling should not be cited as a precedent. It happened in 1979 when the Justices had to navigate the constitutional requirement that to be elected president, the candidate should score at least 25 percent of votes in at least two thirds of the states.

    Coming at a time there when there were 19 states in the country, it was mathematically impossible to arrive at a precise figure in terms of number of states. But arrive at a decision the learned justices did, but it came with a caveat: It was not to cited as a precedent.

    The pronouncements made by the Supreme Court in the Rivers crisis were dating bold and monumental. In one of the judgments, the apex court barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Accountant General of the Federation and other agencies from releasing funds to Rivers state government until it purges itself of what the court described as “flagrant disobedience to court orders.” It held that the actions of Governor Simi Fubara over the defection of 27 members of the Rivers Assembly is an act of “brigandage and dictatorship” aimed at preventing the House from performing its legitimate functions under the speakership of Martyns Amaewhule.

    While it has established a precedent on similar incidents in the past where governors recognised the minority group in the state houses of assembly, as was the case with Nyesom Wike, the main protagonist in the Rivers State crisis who chose to work with only six out of over 30 lawmakers at some point in his time as governor of Rivers State, it failed to resolve the issue of the true status of the pro-Wike group. The Amaewhule-led group was directed to resume as the elected representatives of the people. The suit on their eligibility as lawmakers having earlier decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform on which they were elected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) at a time there was no crisis in their party is still a contentious issue. That they backtracked after realising the folly in their action does not detract from the fact that they openly and formally announced their change of allegiance.

    What happens if the pro-Wike group decides to impeach Gov Fubara as they are already threatening to do having already given the governor a 48-hour deadline to re-present the 2025 budget to them and afterwards the high court rules that they lost their seat at the point of defection as stipulated in the Electoral Law as amended?

    In contentiously ruling that there was “flagrant disobedience to court orders” by Fubara on his perception and handling of the Wike 27, I thought appealing the high court judgement was valid until it gets to the apex court whose judgement is final as has now happened.

    And if “flagrant disobedience to court orders” as the court labelled Fubara’s action on a suit that still subject to appeal earned a subregional government a unilateral suspension of release of statutory allocations from the Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee (FAAC), what happens when the Federal Government which is a serial and willful defiant of court judgements not beneficial to it irrespective of the government in power, is deemed to have defined the court?

    The Supreme Court held that Fubara’s treatment of the Wike 27 was “an act of brigandage and dictatorship” aimed at preventing the House from performing its legitimate functions under the speakership of Amaewhule. It is instructive that the court held the duties of the legislators so high that it deemed the governor’s action as brigandage and dictatorship. Apart from ensuring that the lawmakers function effectively, Fubara has the greater task of governing the state, paying civil servants’ salaries and delivering services to the people. By denying the state access to its statutory allocations, is the judgement of the learned justices any less dictatorial and and an act of brigandage?

    The court’s judgement takes the country to uncharted territory. By the decision it took to withhold a state’s allocations, the court practically declared a federating unit as no longer part of the federation that should govern its people and provide requisite services. Was it strict legalese that informed the judgement of the Supreme Court or was it driven by politics?

    From the moment he lost unquestionable control of his successor, Wike did not disguise his determination to oust Fubara. Having failed to get him impeached by his loyalists in the state House of Assembly, Wike resorted to every unorthodox means to get Fubara out. With an Aso Rock intent on “capturing” rather than winning elections in some state classified as key that had eluded the ruling party, it was all too willing to provided logistics and every support Wike needed to carry out his game plan. A judiciary facing credibility crisis against the backdrop of questionable judgements has only succeeded in taking the country to the brink.

    Fubara is the first Ijaw man to be governor of Rivers State. To his people, there is a legion of unusual rulings made by the apex court in a bid to dismantle the governor’s government.

    Strangely, Justice Jamilu Tukur restored an another verdict of the Federal High Court in Abuja, which barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing voters register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission for the conduct of the LG polls. It maintained that there was no evidence that INEC carried out a review of the voters register, at least 90 days before the election was held. The constitution has barred the running of local governments by unelected people, requiring that only an updated voters register should be released by INEC is a dubious ruling. Other states had earlier conducted their own LG elections using the same INEC register.

    The carte blanche given Wike by the serial judgements in a crisis that is essentially politically engineered is reminiscent of what President Donald Trump is doing to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. The American leader did not disguise his loathing of Zelensky, preferring to pander to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. His decision to give all the aces to Putin even before negotiations begin has complicated the search for peace.
    In its reaction Pan Niger Delta Forum ,(PANFEF) expressed worry that the people of Rivers State were the casualties of the judgment. More telling is the statement attributed to the president of Ijaw National Congress, Prof. Benjamin Okaba.

    “If Gov. Fubara’s tenure is truncated by the Amaewhule-led Assembly or anybody else, the INC cannot guarantee the sustenance of the current peace in the Niger Delta, nor the continued rise in oil production”, the Ijaw leader has warned.

    Even within the APC, it might not be all smooth sailing. Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a chieftain of the party, argued that the Supreme Court judgment reinstating the 27 defected lawmakers as valid members of the state House of Assembly was a clear declaration of war on the state, describing the ruling as not only a Black Friday in the country’s nascent democracy, but “declaration of war against Rivers State and death of judiciary in Nigeria”.

    For the gloating Wike and his 27 loyalists, it might be premature. Fubara has been calm and clear-headed in his reaction, preferring to declare that he will abide by the Supreme Court judgement. But that much cannot be said of other stakeholders in Rivers State.

  • Judiciary: Onnoghen and Buhari’s leprous legacy – By Pius Mordi

    Judiciary: Onnoghen and Buhari’s leprous legacy – By Pius Mordi

    When Muhammadu Buhari capped his onslaught on the judiciary with his unilateral removal of then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Onnoghen, his political allies allowed politics to becloud their sense of respect for the constitution and separation of powers.

    Buhari tested the waters when under the guise of fighting corruption in the judiciary, he orchestrated series of invasions of the homes and privacy of the homes of judges, especially in the unholy hours of the night.

    It was a successful test that was aided and abetted by a hypothetical mantra that change had come from the one dubiously called ‘mai gaskiya’.

    When he moved for the final kill by going for the head of a co-equal branch of government, all the checks and institutional hurdles had been effectively breached and compromised. The removal of Walter Onnoghen was an episode that presented the opportunity to reform the National Judicial Council (NJC) and give it a measure of independence. As the CJN is the chairman of the NJC, the moment the substantive Onnoghen was removed and Ibrahim Tanko Mohammad, the direct beneficiary of Buhari’s adventure was enthroned, the NJC also lost its voice. How could Ibrahim Tanko Mohammad truncate his unearned privilege by letting any group advocate that NJC should ask for adherence to the rule of law in the face of vicious attacks from the former president? The body was now in an identity crisis.

    Buhari’s ignominious playbook has now come in handy for the Benue State government and the House of Assembly as they seek to remove the state chief judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese. The charges against him are as murky as amorphous as the allegations of corruption Buhari levelled against Onnoghen. Abuse of office, misappropriation and mismanagement of the budgetary allocation and finances of the state judiciary, engagement with politicians and political office holders for favourable judicial outcomes, and indirect participation and incitement of industrial actions against the state executive were the principal allegations against the Chief Justice.

    The main factor was the array of stakeholders and forces aligned against him. The Benue State House of Assembly, Benue All Progressive Congress (APC) Elders’ Forum and the executive branch were all in the collaborative effort to oust Ikpambese. The state branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the NJC lead the alliance of stakeholders seeking to save the Chief Justice’s job alongside the Benue caucus of members of the National Assembly.

    Having already dubbed the suspension of Ikpambese a scam, illegal and unconstitutional the NJC has taken a stance it is condemned to see through.

    The statement attributed to Sen. Barnabas Gemade, leader of the Benue APC Elders Forum, that the removal of Ikpambese was legal has aptly shown that the embattled chief justice is dealing with politics and his perceived infractions by politicians. That the state NBA has with agreed NJC that procedural steps have been circumvented by the state’s lawmakers underscore the fact Ikpambese’s travail is all about politics.

    With an old war horse like Sen. Gemade embedded on the scheme to nail the embattled chief justice, his fate seems sealed.

    But politicians cannot be left to ride roughshod over the judiciary the way lawmakers have become lapdogs of the executive branch. The Ikpambese case is one of the ignoble legacies of Buhari that must not be allowed to fester. The incomprehensible use of technical term by the CJ’s traducers.

    Defending route taken to remove the Chief Justice without recourse to the NJC or giving the chief legal office a hearing, the Benue State lawmakers argued that “the House did not recommend the removal of CJ as a judicial officer but as the CJ of Benue as provided by the law.

    “The House did not originate any petition against the CJ, therefore, it has no business with the NJC because the law only empowered them to act on the address of the governor, which they did,’’ he said.

    Ominously, however, that the 13 members who dissociated themselves from the decision were summarily suspended is a reckless abuse of power, the charge the House levelled against the Chief Justice. What is going on in Benue that was under the PDP in the previous administration but still under repeated deadly attacks from gunmen even after the ruling party took over does not bode well for respect for rule of law.

    It is a leprous legacy from the Buhari years that will haunt the judiciary. It is up to the NJC and other stakeholders to gird their loins and see through the constitutional reforms geared towards giving true independence to the judicial arm of government.

    Postscript

    Thank you, Canada

    In 2014, Prince Harry, son of late Princess Diana and Duke of Sussex, organised the first ever Invictus Games in London. It is an international sporting event for wounded, injured, and sick military personnel.

    The word invictus comes from the Latin and means “unconquered” or “undefeated”. It embodies the fighting spirit of the participating men and women, as well as their motivation to move on with their lives, to gain a new place in life, and to not let themselves be defined by the trauma they have suffered.

    After the inaugural edition in London, the multi-sport games have held in five other cities and in 2025 returned to Canada in Vancouver, having been held in Toronto in 2017.

    Nigeria’s wounded personnel were the only ones invited from Africa. Unfortunately, what dominated the news was the denial of visa to Defence chief, Christopher Musa and his entourage. National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, was beside himself with dubious rage that Canada denied entry to Musa. Go to hell, the NSA told Canada.

    The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, was no less indignant, describing the action as “disrespectful”.

    In the jostle show that a big man had been disrespected, it is lost on them that most of the athletes got their visa and the country proud at the games.

    What mattered was that the Chief of Defence Staff could not go to Vancouver to “provide a significant morale boost for the troops” as the Defence spokesman put.

    In this period when saving scarce foreign currency was imperative, the visa denial denial saved some money…and the athletes excelled. That’s what mattered.

    Thank you, Canada.

  • VAT: Niger Delta’s quest without roadmap – By Pius Mordi

    VAT: Niger Delta’s quest without roadmap – By Pius Mordi

    When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu unveiled his proposal on a new formula for sharing proceeds from Value Added Tax (VAT), he may have thought that he only had to reckon with expected opposition of northern states. The north had been the main beneficiary of the revenue accruing from VAT and other revenues. From the principles adopted for sharing revenue, the north usually comes out the most favoured. Population, need and land area were the factors that enjoyed the highest premium in vertical formula in play when revenue is shared.

    The Independence Constitution carefully negotiated by the political leadership that ushered in independence in 1960 was the pathway not just to equity, but competitive advancement of the country.

    All that changed in 1966 after the military began to change the formula, granting producing areas as low as one percent derivation. That lowest figure was adopted by Muhammadu Buhari as military head of state. He made population, land mass and need the most important factors in his revenue sharing formula. Buhari hardly conceded anything to the oil producing region in his irredentist agenda of diverting most of the public funds to the north.

    He pursued the agenda as chairman of Sani Abacha’s Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) where more than 90 percent of the projects he executed using the funds were in the north.

    On becoming president in 2015, Buhari did not relent in his skewed developmental trajectory. When western development partners expressed readiness to execute projects under their aid programmes, Buhari expressly urged them to concentrate on the north.

    What Tinubu may not have reckoned with is that his VAT revenue sharing formula will elicit a new regional response by the Niger delta states. Having fashioned a formula that put greater premium on derivation, with 60 percent proposed, the administration has faced a vociferous opposition from governors in northern states.

    The current revenue sharing formula – 15 percent to the Federal Government, 50 percent to states, and 35 percent to local governments – is too juicy for them to accept a change even though it is proportionately skewed against Lagos and other southern states where the bulk of the revenue is generated.

    While the president is still negotiating with the north on an acceptable formula, the outcome of a meeting of Niger Delta governors may complicate the situation, but bring the much needed sense of justice and equity amongst the states.

    In a communique issued at the end of their January meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the governors expressed support for the tax reforms of the President Bola Tinubu administration. But it comes with a caveat.

    The derivation component of the revenue sharing formula should be correspondingly reviewed upwards to 50 percent. Their communique, read by the Bayelsa governor, Douye Diri, urged the president to extend the proposed VAT sharing to other areas of derivation like oil and gas.

    Prior to their meeting, the Nigerian Governors Forum had adopted a common proposal under which the Niger Delta governors conceded too much of their interests. Under Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration during which Zamfara State pioneered a wave of adoption of Sharia in the legal code, a dubious implementation was adopted.

    While the consumption of alcoholic beverages was banned in line with the dictates of Islam with consignments of such drinks openly destroyed, they had no qualms about drawing from the VAT revenue from alcoholic drinks. By virtue of the parameters for determining what states get – land mass, population, higher number of states and local government areas, the north gets a lion share of VAT revenue just like they do from from federal revenue through the instruments of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

    The major source of pushback from governors and lawmakers from the North is the formula’s proposal suggesting sharing 60 per cent of VAT revenue based on derivation, meaning states would receive funds proportional to the VAT generated within their territories. Rather than latch onto the discomfort of northern governors, Douye Diri and his colleagues from the Niger Delta and, indeed, the entire southern governors missed an opportunity to extract a concession from their northern colleagues.

    In agreeing to make land mass and other parameters that favour the north so close to derivation, they failed to force any concession from the north. While equality of states was 50 percent, derivation was just 30 percent while population follows closely at 20 percent. It was a tactless concession by the south south governors. On all counts, the north emerged as the winners. On equality, they have more states and local governments while the official population distribution says more people live in the arid north than the rain forest southern part of the country.

    In choosing to make their demand for upward review of derivation principle to 50 percent after they had signed up to kowtowing to the greater interest of the north, the Niger Delta governors displayed an object lack of strategy, planning and cohesion in advancing the interest of their people.

    It does not need a Nostradamus to say that the communique adopted in Yenagoa will come to nought.

    The South south is not going to get any review in the derivation component of the federal revenue allocation formula. The north got all it wanted through the NGF recipé. Until the South south states learn the rudiments of negotiating to get an equitable share of federal revenue fuelled by crude oil extracted from their region, the quest for fiscal federalism will remain forlorn.

    There is a laissez-faire atmosphere amongst the Niger Delta governors when they pontificate on the need to rejig the country. Maybe it is driven by the perception that the present 13 percent is adequate. Perhaps, the region is yet to recover from the schism in its ranks when Nyesom Wike, former Rivers State governor, broke ranks in his failed bid to emerge president.of Nigeria.

    It will take the astuteness and legendary ability of Tinubu to “grab it and run with it” for any change in fortunes of the Niger Delta in the still unclear trajectory in the search for a more equitable federal system. On Diri lies the task of mobilising the Niger Delta intelligentsia, strategists and progressives to fashion a road map for the region to stand a chance of making its people shed the toga of a people that wash their hands with spittle while living by the banks of an ocean.

  • The killing game – By Pius Mordi

    The killing game – By Pius Mordi

    For a country not known to be in conflict with an external aggressor, Nigeria has turned into a huge killing zone. According to the National Bureau Statistics (NBS), over 614,937 people have been killed under circumstances associated with the activities of unidentified gunmen, religious extremists and non-state actors controlling territories.

    Having come from a federal agency which unlike others enjoys an appreciable level of credibility, the data from the NBS is a grim representation of the level of failure of state institutions charged with the task of protecting lives. If in just 12 months, May 2023 and April 2024, over 614,937 were killed by non-state actors in a country nit subjected to external aggression, there is no clearer indication that the state security institutions are failing.

    Probably, due to of Nigeria’s vaunted population of more than 200 million, the reported 614,937 lives lost may not alarm those holding the levers of national political and security apparatus. But the number is nearly 50 percent of Mauritius’s  population of 1,235,000 people and more than Cape Verde’s 491,100 people, three times the 228,300 people that populate Sao Tome and Principe. These are African countries.

    Elsewhere, the death count is more than Malta’s 539,607 population, almost equal to  Luxembourg’s 673,036 and about 30 percent of Slovenia’s 2,118,697. These are some of the European countries Nigerians emigrate to as economic refugees.

    The NBS figures also showed that from what started as a selective campaign of kidnap of foreign oil workers in the earlier days of militancy in the Niger Delta, kidnap has become a big industry where virtually every strata of government machinery is profitably involved. In its report entitled The Crime Experienced and Security Perception Survey (CESPS) 2024, the NBS stated that over 2,235,954 people were kidnapped within the same period. At a generously conservative estimate of N2.7 million paid as ransom every month, N2.2 trillion is believed to have been armtwisted out of the families of hapless victims by kidnappers.

    How could we have gone so deep into the abyss? A combination of ethnic and religious politics with a state security apparatus rigged to provide cover for the perpetrators largely account for this. At the peak of the killings in Benue and Plateau states by militant cattle herders, then President Muhammadu Buhari provided the classical case of rogue leadership. After repeated mass killings in many communities without condemnation from his Aso Rock or action taken to stem the killings, Buhari eventually succumbed to pressure and visited Benue State after another round of mass murders. “Accommodate your neighbours” was all he told the bereaved communities. The former military dictator has the distinction of being aloof to the serial killings carried out by his kin and generally tolerated the horror. He had a passion for getting his Fulani folks to live in every state and community in the country. Unfortunately, he was not inclined to carry out his scheme in an orderly manner that would not disrupt the lives of indigent people. Using Ruga and other fancy schemes, he sought to impose his Fulani kith and kin on other people’s lands. He came unstuck in the South, but effectively deployed the jack boot in the North, especially the Middle Belt. It was a costly venture in human lives.

    All the indices of a failing society are quite manifest in Nigeria. A lot of things can go wrong with a society and they can still trudge on with hope that ultimately the rough edges will smoothen up. But when lives are routinely at risk, routinely taken and a complicit security system routinely overlooks the criminal enterprise, there is little to build an enduring society on. That is the point Nigeria is at now.

    In an atmosphere where the security agencies seem to be unable to check the marauders, it is easy to hold them culpable. That will be oversimplifying the peculiar challenge the country faces. It starts with the leadership. The country is foisted with leadership that has never been driven by the desire to build a nation. That was made abundantly clearly by the genesis of the armed and violent campaigns across the zones. When the military was empowered by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to take the battle to Boko Haram and other islamist insurgents, Buhari called the onslaught as a fight against the north. He cautioned against killing his people as some other northern leaders as if on cue, dubbed the insurgents freedom fighters.

    The art of taking power back to the North in the run up to the 2015 elections took Nigeria to uncharted territories. As admitted by Nasir el-Rufai, Fulani militants were recruited across West Africa to start sectarian violence if Goodluck Jonathan had somehow won the election. He didn’t, but that did not save the country from a burgeoning nightmare. It was one they may have initially enjoyed, but as it morphed into a frankistein, it took a life of its own. El Rufai as governor of Kaduna State vainly tried to buy back the peace in his area by paying money from public funds to the killers. It was too late. Today, the militants have become an occupation force of their own.

    The national question now revolves around restoring security to the various zones. Amazingly, some politicians are still averse to state police with the idiotic belief that governors will use them for personal battles. Such view is espoused by those who benefit from the siege on the country while federal budgetary allocation to the military continues to balloon with little changing.

    Nigeria transited into a huge killing field with no indication that the present security architecture will turn the tide. There is a glimmer of hope though. More states are acknowledging that localising the security system is key saving the country. We are on the brink of becoming a failed state. If heavily armed non-state actors continue their free reign of mass killings under any guise and there is no retribution, sooner than later, neighbourhoods, communities and individuals will have to wholesale depend on their efforts to secure themselves. It is already happening. Although the poor state of the economy has wrought despair on Nigerians, a safe environment for farming and free enterprise would have mitigated the hardship.

    It’s up to President Tinubu to hasten the process of rejigging the country, especially in the area of security. Communities should not be sitting ducks for armed marauders with destructive agenda, knowing succour and help will likely not come from federally-controlled security agencies. State governors should shun political considerations and join the President to take over the responsibility of keeping their people alive. For now, rural communities bear a disproportionate brunt of the killings and destruction. It will not remain so much longer.

  • Security agents, task forces and the poor – By Pius Mordi

    Security agents, task forces and the poor – By Pius Mordi

    Before the collapse of the naira precipitated by the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law had revealed that a whopping N306 billion was paid to uniformed security men – Police, Army, Navy, Civil Defence, Federal Road Safety Corps among others – between August 2015 and October 2019 by road users and business people on the highways in the Southeast and South-south regions of Nigeria. To put the amount in context, it was the period when the dollar exchanged for N306. In effect, the amount aggregated to about $1 billion.

    With the huge loss in value the naira has been subjected to under the economic reforms, motivational speakers have been falling over themselves on the need to open new frontiers of income. It does not matter if you have a steady and pensional job, just create as much multiple income streams as possible, Nigerians were counselled.

    Nigerians heeded and went to work. But the environment has been turned into a minefield. Although current research is unavailable, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law findings point to what the security agencies have been up to and how bad it may be now. Within the period the research was conducted when then was a measure of discretion and subtlety, there were 6,300 police roadblocks and 600 military roadblocks on the major highways linking the Southeast and the South-south regions. On today’s highways where security agents are now armed with their own customised PoS machines at the numerous security points, it can only be imagined what is being illegally and forcefully taken out of Nigerians.

    It is security agents that have been reaping from the sweat of Nigerians who daily traverse the country to eke out a living. They have to contend with the antics and brazenness of security agents who make no pretense of trying to be discreet. According to the report, while the incredible 6,300 police roadblocks ‘generated’ N250 billion from the two regions, the 600 military roadblocks equally did well for themselves. Over N56 billion ‘revenue’ was brazenly armtwisted from ordinary Nigerians.

    It is a phenomenon that is not restricted to the boys manning road blocks. After the crooked invasion of private homes of individuals in the dead of the night without court warrant unravelled with the daring raids on the homes of judges, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) finally decided to discontinue the dubious raids under the guise of sting operations. Officers were barred from undertaking such midnight raids. But the lure of what goes it is too infectious to be let go. Against operational directives, a team got more than they bargained for in Anambra State when one of its operatives was fatally shot in an ill-fated apparent case of a man trying to ward off armed attack on his home.

    The ridiculous level the EFCC has gone in branding anyone with any ICT device was aptly demonstrated in how they tried, albeit vainly, to brand the perpetrators of the late night raid as lawfully carrying out their duty against operational guidelines on the public domain. The ordinary hardworking Nigerian engaging in legitimate busy is now an endangered specie. From being dubbed a perpetrator of Internet fraud if he uses a laptop, tablet or expensive phones, he is hounded into detention and made to pay unspecified sums for which receipts are never issued.

    The petulance and impunity with which acts of illegality are carried out by men in uniform calls to question the nature of training they undergo before deployment. The rights of the people as enshrined in the Constitution and the due process to be observed in the course of the carrying out the assignments as well as the limits of activities of law enforcement are supposed to be integral part of their training. Encountering a uniformed security agent is like running into King Kong. You have no rights and you are guilty until you somehow coax them to play by the rule or pay your way through.

    However, a new level of notoriety has been added to the hounding and exploitation of Nigerians by the addition of those called task force into the mix. They are not direct employees of the levels of government they represent, but agents of politicians who have been secured approval to collect the retinue of levies and taxes imposed on hapless commuters. They are the preference of state and local governments. Their operatives are roughneck, uncouth, ill-mannered and primed to draw blood if their targets do not promptly play ball.

    In all the show of braggado, users of flashy or branded cars are immune from harassment. And when there is accompanying armed escort, the treatment of such vehicles is akin to laying the red carpet. It is one reason that has made the allocation of armed police escort a booming business. Apart from providing security on the perilous roads, it gives a veneer of immunity from the hazards of the road.

    What the government is missing in failing to call the security agencies to order is the perception of Nigeria in the competitive world of attracting investors. As of 2020, Nigeria’s ease of doing business ranked 131st worldwide, with a general score of 56.9. The highest scores were obtained in the fields of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, and getting credits. On the other hand, Nigeria’s performance in other fields was low, for instance in registering properties, trading across borders, and resolving insolvencies. However, beyond the global templates used by the World Bank in its ratings, the local factor and the challenges posed by the unchecked exploitation of small scale businesses is a recipe for the failure of all initiatives to rev up the economy. If uniformed personnel continue to prey and feed on the people, and if as have been proven that small scale businesses are the key drivers of economic growth, the economy is still stuck on the path of perdition.

  • Regional development agencies as a farce – By Pius Mordi

    Regional development agencies as a farce – By Pius Mordi

    Under the 2025 budget estimate of N47.90 trillion, the federal government has set aside the sum of N4.26 trillion as statutory transfers to newly established development commissions for various regions in the country. It all started with late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s initiative to restore stability to the restive Niger Delta and rev up the crude oil export that had dropped very drastically due the campaign of militants. He initiated the amnesty programme that got the militants to sign up to laying down their arms. The impact on crude oil export was profound and immediate.

    The amnesty programme was decisive in assuaging the discontent in the Niger Delta and made the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) earlier established in 2000 by then President Olusegun Obasanjo more impactful.

    However,  what started as then President Muhammadu Buhari’s obsession to replicate the Niger Delta road map as his recipe for resolving the islamist onslaught in the North-East by Boko Haram has been, unfortunately, adopted as the pathway to developing the country. From being a vehicle for the rehabilitation of the North-East region on account of the insurgency, and for the long-term development of the region, the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) Buhari established in 2017 has now become a model that was replicated in other regions. President Bola Tinubu was taken it a notch higher with the birth of the North-West Development Commission, South-West Development Commission and South-East Development Commission.

    Prof. Abdelrasaq Na-Allah, a lecturer at University of Abuja, sees the proliferation of regional development agencies as a platform to facilitate targeted development in areas of special needs and advantages that are localised to a region. He said it can also help facilitate the development of regional infrastructures such as road, rail, power, that connect constituent states and serve regional needs. His view is shared by Prof. Yusuf Zoaka, former Dean of, the Faculty of Social Sciences and International Relations, also of University of Abuja. According to him, the geo-political zonal Commissions could promote regional development by having development tailored to each zone, and regional issues such as infrastructure, education, and healthcare can be addressed more effectively. This, he added, fosters a sense of inclusion and regional equity.

    The first in the galaxy of development commissions, the NDDC, can hardly tick the boxes enumerated by Na-Allah and Zoaka. Despite receiving tremendous amount of resources from statutory allocations and contributions from international oil companies as stipulated in its enabling Act, the NDDC is renowned more as a sterling example of missed opportunities, corruption and visionless agenda. The entire Niger Delta states are dotted with hundreds of abandoned projects for which payments have been fully or substantially made. Every chief executive goes through the same trajectory of waste and fraudulent award of contracts with no mechanism for ensuring that projects are executed or for holding contractors accountable for funds paid to them.

    Just like the state of the commission from which its establishment was copied, the NEDC was not designed to succeed. As a federal agency, it is riddled with all the encumbrances that made NDDC which was preceded by Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC), established by General Ibrahim Babangida in 1992 a failed agency. A recent World Bank study revealed “a major gap in terms of the availability of necessary quality systems and processes that would enable the NEDC achieve its statutory mandate.” The review said NEDC was not “a strong and functioning body” and faced many “areas of capacity shortfall” that “are currently bearing on it”, as well as “weak bottom-up accountability and transparency.” In effect, NEDC is institutionally weak, strategically ineffectual and incapable of actualising the objectives for which it was set up.

    Proponents of the view that regional development commissions can be similar to the regional governments on which the accelerated development of the Nigeria in the first republic was anchored miss the basic ingredients of regional governments. While the regions had considerable control of their resources and could determine the projects they embarked upon, today’s development commissions are under the control and supervision of a distant federal government. Using NDDC as example, appointments are made by the occupant of Aso Rock to whom the board and management owe their gratitude and loyalty. The tragedy of the NDDC recipe is that its management has no relationship with the state governments in the region. The states are not consulted in determining and deciding what the people in the oil producing communities truly desire. If the management embarks on projects that do not meet the priority needs of the communities or are routinely abandoned by contractors, as is often the case, neither the communities nor the state government can intervene or seek remediation. And the President is too distant and detached to appreciate the state of affairs.

    Contrary to the proponents of development commissions as platforms for regional development, they represent a fresh assault on the quest for devolution of powers from a centre with overwhelming powers than it knows how to wield. The proliferation of regional development commissions for each geopolitical zone fosters dependency and entrenches political influence under the guise of regional empowerment. It is a glaring symbol of misplaced priorities and unchecked patronage. As Business Day newspaper noted in an editorial on the issue, far from delivering genuine regional development, these commissions serve as conduits for political favours, feeding a bureaucratic machine that erodes accountability while doing little to address the core developmental needs of the regions they claim to uplift.

    Ultimately,  the N4.26 trillion budgeted for the commissions in 2025 will be wasted.

    What nigeria needs as she searches for the path to true regional development is local autonomy and the devolution of power—foundations that the commissions patently and conspicuously lack.

    Postscript

    Wale Adeniyi @59

    He is the poster boy on how a federal agency with the task of collecting revenue for the federation should be run. President Bola Tinubu and lawmakers in both arms of the National Assembly have not held back in profusely celebrating his accomplishments as Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service after just a year in office. Before he took the Service to record collection of revenues that crossed the N6.1 trillion mark for 2024, he had been celebrated for the seizure of $8,065,612 million cash at Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos in January 2020 where he was Controller well ahead of his appointment as Comptroller-General.

    What may be lost on Nigerians is Mr. Adeniyi’s media background. He is the longest serving national spokesman of the Customs having held the post for 10 years. He is the vice president of the Governing Council of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (FNIPR). He holds a Master of Arts Degree in Communication Science he obtained in November 2013 from the Universitaire Svizzera D’Italiana (USI) – Lugano—Switzerland.

    Being a longstanding media manager afforded him the opportunity to traverse the entire Customs processes both within Nigeria and beyond. That, to a large extent, prepared him for the job. Is there a nexus between professional media management and good public administration? Wale Adeniyi is a fine gentleman by all definitions. At 59, he is very close to meeting the 60 years threshold for retirement from public service. And that is the downside of his story. Will just two years be adequate for his strategy of minimizing the human element in the collection of taxes and optimising Information and Communication Technology (ICT) be consolidated? That is up to President Tinubu.

    Meanwhile, happy birthday, Mr. Adeniyi.

  • A trillion-dollar Customs? It’s possible! – By Pius Mordi

    A trillion-dollar Customs? It’s possible! – By Pius Mordi

    With a history that dates back to 1891 when the British Colonial administration appointed T.A. Wall as the first Director-General of Customs for the collection of inland revenue in Niger Coast Protectorate, it is perhaps the oldest fedeal agency, older than the country with over 130 years in operation. From inception, the Customs had always been the mainstay of revenue receipts not just to sustain the government but for the execution of projects.

    Its reputation as a money spinner attracted special attention to its management and operations from the government and the private sector which came up with a number of schemes and programmes to enhance the collection of revenue from the Service. On the face of it, nothing could be more desirable than measures designed to increase government revenue since everybody stands to benefit. The most far reaching was the preshipment inspection regime introduced in 1996 whereby some private organisations were contracted to inspect goods destined for Nigeria, certify that they meet quality specifications, determine the applicable import duty and issue a Clean Report of Findings to guide the Customs in the collection of duties. Decree No. 10 of 1996 established the inspection of goods before they are shipped outside of Nigeria.

    Then came destination inspection of imports policy after pre-shipment inspection was jettisoned. Under the policy, all imports were inspected on arrival into Nigeria. This significantly increased clearance times. Between 1996 and 2000, the federal government toyed with the policy of Professional Import Duty Administrators (PIDA).

    The Nigeria Customs Service as it is known today has been the victim of regular intervention and interference as successive governments sought to get private organisations to take over the revenue collection duty with the proclamation that receipts from duties would significantly increase. What is never disclosed is the handsome commission paid to the private organisations.

    More concerning for maritime operators and importers is the effect of the multiple roles carved out for companies. Shippers were often weighed down by the prolonged time for the clearing and delivery of goods. Under the preshipment inspection scheme, queries were often raised by officers of the Customs on the report issued by the agencies. In addition to the time taken to conduct the inspection before the goods, it was a nightmare for the business community for whom the extended time taken to conclude a transaction meant huge losses. Steadily, Nigerian ports attained the unenviable reputation of being the most inefficient in the West and Central African sub-region.

    The destination inspection scheme which involved the inspection of goods only at the point of arrival held the promise of probably being less cumbersome. But it proved to be worse. Having to rely on the report issued by the companies contracted for the exercise complicated a process that to a large extent made imports more expensive than in neighbouring countries through the demurrage that arose from the regular disagreements with the reports of the private organisations.

    As 2024 was winding down, federal officials with Wale Edun, Minister of Finance, led the medly of reports on how the Customs surpassed all expectations in revenue collection by meeting the ambitious target of N5.07 trillion set for it by November. At the end of the year, the figure had hit the N5.1 trillion mark. It will be rather too simple to ascribe the performance to the increase in exchange rate used in determining duties. Agreed that that is one of the factors, but there are more issues involved.

    From the days of the convoluted process for the collection of duties and taxes, the appointment of Adewale Bashir Adeniyi as Comptroller-General of the Customs has ushered a chain of events, changes and innovations that altered the trajectory of 133-year old agency. Surrounded by a team of new generation officers schooled in the application of Information and Communication Technology and how it has made trade facilitation and delivery of goods more efficient as well as changed the conduct of international trade and turn around round of cargo movement, the new leadership made the reduction in the impact of human element in the process less decisive. From the wholesale diversion of imports to ports in neighbouring countries, Adeniyi and his team have effected a paradigm shift in import duty administration making it less attractive to patronise other ports.

    At Apapa Port Command where Babatunde Olomu held sway, N2.014 trillion was realised, a new high. Similarly, Dera Nnadi at Tin Can Island Port as area controller set a new record with over N1.1 collected in 2024. Altogether, over N5.1 trillion was realised, nearly double the N3.21trillion collected in 2023 when the target of N3.67 trillion was set for the Service.

    After decades of efforts through ill-conceived programmes to farm out duty collection to vested interests whose inspiration was to reap from the national till, the story of the Nigeria Customs Service has taken a new and enviable trajectory. With reduced distraction from private organisations representing vested interests, Adeniyi intentionally steered the Customs where gross human elements played crucial roles to a systematic computerisation of the process. It was the product of the the Customs boss’ formative years where he was the anchor person for the Service’s liaison with the World Customs Organization that has been encouraging the adoption of modern and fool-proof platforms for collection of taxes.

    An elated Wale Edun has declared that the federal government’s N48 trillion 2025 budget estimate will rely heavily on the contribution from the Customs.

    The impressive performance of the Service under Adeniyi’s application of ICT has unravelled the still prevalent inclination in other tiers of government to contract the collection of taxes to private organisations. The private revenue collectors at states and local government areas are not equipped or are they special breeds to do things differently or more efficiently. Farming out such functions ultimately benefit private individuals more than government will realise from the venture. If the Customs is shielded from the balkanisation of its operations to feed vested interests, 2024’s attainments may just be the trigger for greater performances. With Nigeria accounting for two thirds of ship and cargo traffic in the West and Central African sub-region, if most of these pass through Nigeria’s ports, it is possible for the Customs to maintain its trillion revenue receipt not just in naira but in dollars in the coming years.

  • North’s ‘repentant’ Boko Haram terrorists – By Pius Mordi

    North’s ‘repentant’ Boko Haram terrorists – By Pius Mordi

    At peak of the campaign in 2013 to package an amnesty programme for Boko Haram terrorists who were wreaking havoc in the northeast and enormous pressure was brought on then President Goodluck Jonathan, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, widow of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, pleaded that a general amnesty be granted to the Boko Haram terror group. The former First Lady was apparently convinced that just as the amnesty granted Niger Delta militants led to the cessation of sabotage of oil facilities and stabilised crude oil export, creating a similar platform for the murderous islamist group will pacify them and restore peace to the northeast.

    “I want my brother [President Jonathan] to sit and think carefully and grant amnesty to Boko Haram. I am expecting my brother to do what Umaru did for the militants in the Niger Delta. Some people sang here today that children are dying in the Niger Delta; let me tell you that children are dying every day in the North. As your sister and a Northerner, I want you to think carefully. There is so much suffering in the North just like it happened in the Niger Delta. Your sister says think carefully and do what Umaru did”, Hajia Turai pleaded.

    But there was a snag as pointed out by Mallam Kabiru Tanimu, then Minister for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs. “No matter how passionate the President wants to engage them, there are limitations. In Niger Delta, you could see the militants. When you need to engage them you know where to get them in the creeks, you can talk to them. But now we have a problem in the North and you can’t get Boko Haram, you don’t know how to talk to them,” Taminu stated.

    The former First Lady’s intervention was a tempered one, much unlike that of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari who later succeeded Jonathan as President. Buhari classified the fight against the Boko Haram as a fight against the north. It was a narrative bought by the majority of northern leadership who religiously followed him. Such was their stance that the Northern Elders Forum led by Prof. Ango Abdullahi in January 2014 threatened to drag the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, before the International Criminal Court (ICC) even after Jonathan had replaced him in a seeming gesture to scale down the fight against terrorism.

    It is more than nine years since then President Buhari made good his vow to grant amnesty to Boko Haram fighters. However, rather than cease their murderous campaign as Nigerians were told, the scourge has gone beyond the northeast across the northern stretch to envelop the entire northwest.

    Last December, the Punch published a report that more than N1.4 billion has been spent in the past 18 months for the rehabilitation of repentant terrorists and the establishment of centres for terrorism trials. There is a National Counter Terrorism Centre, the product of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act initiated and signed into law in May 2022 by Buhari. It was projected as a counterfoil to the Presidential Amnesty Programme in the Niger Delta. Its Coordinator, Rear Admiral Yem Musa (rtd), told the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence that the government would spend N2.4 billion on the rehabilitation centres as part of the programme’s N3.8 billion capital projects for 2023.

    A common denominator of the interventions of northern leaders on the Boko Haram scourge is the bid to replicate whatever was used to resolve the Niger Delta crisis for Boko Haram. From their version of PAP as envisioned in the NCTC, the Northeast Development Commission was created just as the Niger Delta Development Commission. Not much is heard of rehabilitation of displaced people, resettlement of communities forcibly driven from their farmlands or for them to repossess their lands. The numerous temporary camps for internally displaced persons are looking more like their permanent abode as additional camps are even being set up in the northwest.

    While stupendous resources are  routinely budgeted for the upkeep, rehabilitation and reintegration of “repentant” terrorists, not much is heard of the victims of the carnage visited on the civil and farming population that are displaced and dispossessed. It is like they are mere appendages of a much larger agenda.

    The trial of the terrorists that could not be classified as “repentant” is another opaque process. The trials are conducted out of public glare with mere figures dished out to the public intermittently. Politics, more than any other factor, seem to have driven the quest for amnesty for Boko Haram terrorists. The civil population that bore the brunt of the insurgency has become mere canon fodder. That their lands were being expropriated by the terrorists, their farmlands destroyed and their men and women routinely killed was an appendage to the crisis. The conduct was a reinforcement of the brazen claim of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, who declared that Fulanis anywhere are welcome to Nigeria and integrated. He stopped short of declaring Nigeria is a Fulani heritage.

    When Buhari was exploring every possible option to disperse Fulanis and allocate land to them in every part of Nigeria, the scheme found an ally in the Bauchi governor who declared that Fulani herdsmen from Chad, Niger and other neighbouring countries would benefit from the National Livestock Transformation Plan being championed by the federal government to put herdsmen and their livestock in designated colonies and give them the opportunity of exploiting the livestock value chain.

    Although the playing field is still dominated by Fulani militants and their backers, it will certainly not endure for ever. The indigent people will not remain docile much longer. Sooner or later, a new generation will emerge that is not prepared to turn the other cheek as their forebears. They will fight back to reclaim their ancestral homes and lands. This is precisely why the ongoing pampering of the terrorists is just the beginning. It boil over and reaction will match the initial action.

     

    Postscript

    Like Mahama, like Trump

    Tuesday’s colourful inauguration of John Mahama as President of Ghana was quite instructive. Before the United States regales in the imminent swearing in of Donald Trump after losing his reelection bid during his first term, our West African neighbours have just done it.

    Mahama came in as vice president to John Atta Mills who passed on before the end of his tenure, catapulting Mahama to the Presidential palace. His bid for reelection came unstuck, losing to now former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The inauguration was made more remarkable by the emergence of the first female vice president of the country, Professor Jane Naane Opoku Agyemang, something Trump’s country is yet to manage.

    President Tinubu had the distinction of addressing the inauguration, a demonstration of the special relationship between Nigeria and Ghana. Its up to his countrymen to tread the path of Ghana and pave the way for women to emerge in the top echelon of elective political offices. It’s a new level of the jollof contest.

  • Getting BRACED States out of the doldrums – By Pius Mordi

    Getting BRACED States out of the doldrums – By Pius Mordi

    It is an acronym that is as classy as it is inspiring. In 1999, just as the Fourth Republic was birthed, the governors of the six states that make up the Niger Delta, got together and set up the BRACED Commission – to create a strong regional economy through economic cooperation and integration, leading to sustainable development and collective benefits for the people of the region.

    The acronym is drawn from the first letters of the six states – Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta. Cross River State under the charismatic Donald Duke hosted the first South South Economic Summit at the then futuristic and picturesque Tinapa Resort in April 2009 where tentative steps were taken to draw the road map for a regional approach to the development of the states.

    Three years later, Asaba, capital of Delta State, hosted the second edition where Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan pulled all stops to host a three-day spectacular talk shop where Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, was the keynote speaker.

    Apart from calling for the urgent review of the current revenue allocation formula to move more resources to states, the issue of worsening power supply stood out among the major resolutions adopted. To wean the region from the epileptic national grid, the governors also recommended the establishment of a Niger Delta Energy Corridor (NDEC) so as to properly connect the people, industry and natural resources for it will create job opportunities for the teeming youths in the region.

    The governors also agreed to implement the agricultural development programme. This, they agreed, should be given top priority. Their regional approach was anchored on the imperative to unbundle the national grid to enable the states harness the abundant gas deposits to an independent, reliable and regular electricity that will power the economic transformation and industrialisation of the Niger Delta.

    Envisioned to hold every three years, the third edition was supposed to be hosted by Godswill Akpabio’s Akwa Ibom State in 2015. It was at this point that politics and the personal aspirations of the governors kicked in to derail what was emerging as a platform to coordinate the transformation of the region. Akpabio failed to host the summit and it has remained so ever since.

    The next generation of governors did not seem to have bought into the South south agenda. Rivers’ Nyesom Wike, the combantant stormy petrel of the region and enfant terrible of Nigerian politics, saw himself as a president-in-waiting and preferred to court the partnership of states in other regions where he donated stupendous amounts of his state’s funds to win new friends.

    During the extended period of inertia, Ambassador Joe Keshi, the engine room of the region as the DirectorGeneralof the BRACED Commission, opted to hold sector-specific developmental subjects to keep the BRACED spirit alive while biding his time. But without the push that comes with the presence and participation of governors, the mini talks lacked the drive to actualise the laudable ideas espoused.

    Despite the failure to hold further talks at governors’ level since the Asaba Summit, the resolutions and agreements reached demonstrated that vision and viable ideas have never been in short supply. Economic vision is as important as political astuteness. Unfortunately, in Nigeria’s political firmament, the South south is still lacking in evolving political cohesion to project and advance its interests in national politics.

    Again, despite recognising the imperative to make electricity generation and distribution a pivotal part of its development agenda and get the rest of the country to buy into the idea while Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, a son of the region, was still president, the resolutions ended as all talks and no action.

    With more than 80 percent of Nigeria’s gas deposits domiciled in the Niger Delta, that the region failed to engage the rest of the country to adopt a constitutional amendment that would remove power generation and distribution from the exclusive to the concurrent list to enable enable states wean themselves from the ineffectual and debilitating national grid showed the inability of the region to play national politics to its advantage.

    As the saying goes, development does not mean having to reinvent the wheel. The Asaba 2012 summit laid the path for the Niger Delta to chat a path for its enduring development without the encumbrances of the federal might.

    The Asaba summit urged the BRACED Commission to boldly provide developmental leadership for Nigeria as this is consistent with the historical antecedents of the South – South region and its resourcefulness. The Summit adopted some crucial policy proposals that would have knock on effects on the rest of the country.

    On restructuring, they said the Federation should be restructured and unbundled, including the review of the current revenue allocation formula, to give more powers, responsibilities and funding to the States and Local Government as centres of growth.

    To strengthen the nascent governance structure in the region to incorporate private sector and other non-state actors with a view to creating favourable policy, legal and regulatory environment that will stimulate greater private sector participation in the development initiatives of the region.

    It called for the review of current policies and regulations on power and gas to enable the States generate, transmit and distribute electricity to complement the efforts of the federal government and facilitate the utilization of moribund capacity in the region. This will promote and accelerate economic development in the South – South region. In pursuit of this, the Summit accepted the development of a Niger Delta Energy Corridor, a project with potentials for connecting the people, industry and natural resources and creating jobs.

    To accelerate the implementation of agricultural development initiatives as the region’s priority focal area, the BRACED states offered to complement the Federal Government Transformation Agenda on Agriculture.

    On multi-modal link of the region, the governors approved the development of a stratey to integrate transport facilities in the region, through a balanced development of rail, roads, waterways and airport facilities. They also offered to partner the federal government and the private sector in the development of the proposed Lagos – Calabar Railway Lines Project and press for the urgent completion of the East – West Highway.

    And to create the requisite manpower needed to drive the region’s development, they pledged to ensure quality education in the region and the adoption of ICT and collateral equipment for all levels of education (primary, secondary and tertiary). A renewed impetus in the areas of curriculum development, teachers’ preparation, re-certification (in-service and professional education) and holistic training approach was recommended.

    Beyond the region’s endowment with oil and gas resources, they hoped to implement policies that will release vast potentials of service economy of the region in the areas of creative industry, entertainment, culture and tourism. In pursuit of this, a follow-up Culture and Tourism Forum was to be organised to draw up the sector’s road map for economic development.

    There was also the immediate adoption of mitigation and adaptation measures in climate change, bio-diversity conservation, land – use planning and infrastructural designs by BRACED States and key into investment opportunities opened.

    The resolutions made 12 years ago at the Asaba summit remain as relevant as tomorrow as the nation continues the search for an equitable structure, balance and strategy for development, the BRACED states are in a position to lead the charge if only its leadership can jettison myopic and selfish politics and become statesmen for the region. The road map is already there.

  • A lost pride and self worth – By Pius Mordi

    A lost pride and self worth – By Pius Mordi

    Rich or poor, the average Nigerian took immense pride in his sense of independence. Hunger was an unknown deprivation. Even when he respects and honours his rich kinsman or leader, he had a red line that must never be crossed. He must never be insulted by the well-to-do neighbour, friend or leader.

    “You don’t feed me. So, you cannot talk to me anyhow” is a regular refrain whenever the red line is crossed. He had self worth and immense pride in himself, a pride anchored on his ability to provide for and feed his family. It had nothing to do with wealth, legally or illegally acquired. There were lands to be cultivated. The produce will not necessarily be sold to sustain his family. The little realised from his subsistence farming was enough to get by. From his farms, he is guaranteed adequate supply of foods until the next farming season. His family never went hungry and he never had to beg anybody for food.

    It seems like centuries ago that a man strenuously defended his pride and everyone around him knew the red line and respected it. Not even in the first stint of then Major General Muhammadu Buhari after overthrowing President Shehu Shagari and his ill-conceived idea of low profile living led to the scarcity of basic consumables did Nigerians lose their pride. In those days of ‘essential commodities’, people only had to queue patiently to buy what they wanted. Nobody asked for freebies in the name of palliatives for them to feed. They still had the resources to buy all they needed.

    Not anymore. From what started as a short-lived narrative of scarcity of consumables, fathers now queue with their wives and children to be given handouts by politicians in the name of palliatives. Most Nigerian men no longer have any qualms about waiting in long lines the whole day to get a morsel of food otherwise his family may go hungry.  It is the new normal.

    Public office holders take delight in flaunting the amount spent in providing “palliatives” to hungry people as a testament to their achievements.

    I am not sure Ayo Fayose, former Governor of Ekiti State, knew he was well ahead of his time when he coined the expression “stomach infrastructure”. He may not have known that in just a few years, his recipe would become a national template for governance. He was mocked and derided at the time.

    But here the country is. Palliative distribution has not only become a national barometer for measuring good governance but a very deadly one at that. As the year wound down, the media space has been dominated with tales of stampede at places where kind hearted people assembled those in their neighbourhood to distribute items for Christmas. The final count is yet unknown, but from the various locations where palliative distribution turned deadly, nearly 100 lives may have been lost as a result of the throngs of families that turned up to benefit from the activities of kind-hearted individuals and organisations.

    The self worth and pride men and even members of their families had in upholding the dictum that “You don’t feed me. So, you cannot talk to me anyhow” is gone. Fathers and mothers now join their wards to queue for food items. The infamous words of Senate President Godswill Akpabio that if you see free food, join in eating has been taken to heart. In African societies, the ability of a mam to provide for his family is at the heart of his being and the pillar that stabilises the family, hence the saying that  “A man who provides for his family is a king.” If a man is unable to cater for his family, not because he is lazy or unwilling to earn a legitimate living, the centre can no longer hold in the family.

    A fundamental effect of the prevailing hunger in families is that wives, young girls and, of course, younger men are left to the devices on how to provide for themselves. Unfortunately, this is lost on the political leadership and policy makers. Responding to the position of opposition figures that President Bola Tinubu’s policies have driven people to extreme hunger and pulverised the people, Aso Rock’s media handlers accused those who warned of the wider implications of the situation as politicising the the tragedy.

    As if on cue, Tinubu, in his first media chat since becoming President, blamed the givers for the harvest of deaths for not providing security through the Police. It was the signal Kayode Egbotokun, Inspector General of Police, needed to reel out a set of draconian measures before kind-hearted people can extend goodwill to impoverished Nigerians.

    It is now a heads they lose, tail government wins situation for the huge population that is multi-dimensionally poor as well as the extremely poor. And the family’s pride and sence of self worth is gone. Its going to be a tougher 2025. Nevertheless, merry Christmas.