How Tinubu’s Fuel Energy Policy Is Deepening Poverty

 By Adekunle Adekoya

It is no longer news that electricity tariff has been hiked, ostensibly for users in what many now know as Band A areas, though in reality the tariff was hiked across all bands. I can support this assertion with readings from the bill sent to me by Ikeja DISCO, or IKEDC. I live in a part of Lagos classified to be under Band E. That is Egan, Igando in the Ikotun-Igando LCDA area.  That is part of the larger old Alimosho Local Government. 

In our area, we have remained on estimated billing to date; very few houses have pre-paid metres installed. We actually are not sure which band we are in, the bill sometimes read Band D or Band E. I will explain shortly. Prior to the tariff hike announcement, my bill for January 2024, sent by SMS, stated that the tariff is E-Non MD, with current charges of N1,679.15. 

Electricity Tariff Hike As Maltreatment Of Nigerians

 By Adekunle Adekoya

I have zeroed in on electricity in the last few editions of this column because of the anxiety I harbour that our dear country, Nigeria, needs to get it right as soon as possible; before those that have gotten it right transmogrify into behemoths that can swallow us up. I had finished writing the last edition, with the headline: ‘Frequent national grid collapse: Time we took another hard look’, when the Federal Government empowered the electricity sector to announce new tariffs, ostensibly for affluent users, those said to be in Band A.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, had earlier in the year hinted of this development when he said that subsidy payments in the electricity sector by the Federal Government is not sustainable. I disagreed with him, because that would mean Nigerians will be paying higher prices for a service that at best, for the majority, remains epileptic. In addition, Nigerians are yet to see any initiative on the part of government that indicates we can expect better, improved services in terms of power supply. 

Buhari’s Integrity: From Attenuation To Total Wipe-Out!

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Time flies! And very fast too. In this space on September 24, 2021, the column carried a piece with the headline: “The attenuation of integrity.” Those who read between the lines would have discerned that it was a commentary directed at the nation’s head honcho at the time, a retired general known to the rest of us as Muhammadu Buhari.

*Buhari 

Buhari was sold to us in 2014-2015 as the very personification of integrity, which meant he was a man of his words who would do exactly as he said. During the electioneering whose main objective, as we can now see, was not to make life and living better and easier for me and you but to oust Dr Goodluck Jonathan and his PDP cohorts from power, Buhari was sold to us as the next best thing to happen to humanity in Nigeria outside the scriptures.

Nigeria: The Road To Hunger Land

 By Adekunle Adekoya

There is a point you get to talking about the problems facing our dear nation that you just get tired. This is because the problems seem endless — from insecurity to unending rise in the prices of goods and services, especially food items, to the parlous state of our infrastructure, especially roads and electricity. In the midst of unreliable power supply, government is bidding to remove subsidy on electricity, which, from where I stand, amounts to making the people pay more for a service that they get just a whiff of.

Right now, methinks the greatest problem that we have to deal with is the growing issue of food insecurity; more able-bodied men are finding it herculean to put food on the table as the prices of staples — rice, garri, yams, beans, potatoes, others are becoming more unaffordable every day. That is in addition to sky-high prices of bread, fish, meat, pepper, tomato, onions and other groceries. But, with regards to food, it was clear, albeit a long time ago, that we will get to this point someday. Just that those in charge of our affairs continued to deceive us and themselves that all is well.

How Subsidy Removal Fuels Hunger In The Land

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Last week the video of a man seen crying in front of a market stall where he had gone to buy foodstuffs trended heavily on the internet, as it was widely shared across many platforms — chat groups on WhatsApp, on Facebook, and others. The man was seen in front of a shop where common foodstuffs like rice, beans, gari and others were on display for sale. After asking for the prices of the food items, he realised that he couldn’t afford to buy them with the money he had. He broke down, crying.

It is trite news that prices of everything, including and especially food items, have grown wings, taken off from the ground where they were before May 29, 2023, hit the roof, burst through into the skies, and are now headed for outer space. What is more worrisome is the rate at which prices increase. Sometimes it’s at three-day intervals, at other times, weekly, and most fearful of all, daily.

From Buhari To Tinubu: Under-50 Disasters In Government

 By Adekunle Adekoya

A fortnight ago, I started this column lamenting that we always have one issue to contend with all the time. I had wanted to vent my anger on power supply providers, the ones we call DisCos here, following weeks of uninterrupted blackout in many parts of the country. 

*Tinubu and Buhari 

Then news of the well-choreographed killings in Plateau State broke. We all lamented the failures of a reactive, rather than proactive security architecture that failed, time and again, to anticipate and prevent the marauders from achieving their evil objectives.

As our leaders were mouthing the usual rhetoric about the Plateau killings, convincing very few of us that action will be taken to prevent recurrences, Betta Edu happened to Nigeria.

A memo, said to have been signed by the suspended minister directing payment of more than N585 million into a private account ruled the internet for days and dominated conversations on many platforms. Earlier, as we all know, the CEO of the National Social Intervention Programme, Halima Shehu had been suspended to pave way for investigations into how N44 billion of the agency’s funds found its way into private accounts.

To complete the picture, former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Poverty Alleviation and Disaster Management, Sadiyya Umar Farouq became a guest of the EFCC over some N37 billion of the ministry’s money that had vanished. 

My commentary will begin from the demographic angle. Please take note that Sadiyya Umar Farouq is the eldest of the trio, born in 1974. Halima Shehu was born in 1978, while Betta Edu was born in 1986, a confirmed millennial. By the way, millennials are people born between 1981 and 1996. None of the three is 50 years old yet, though Sadiyya will hit that milestone next November. By their conduct in office, they have sent the wrong signals and did incalculable damage to the school of thought that believes that Nigeria’s problems have to do with the old and ageing class of leaders that have refused to let go.

Once now and then, a president incubates a magician that is presented to the rest of us as a minister. Buhari had at least two of them. One tried to conjure a national carrier for us out of the thinnest air in Nigeria. The other, of course, is Sadiyya. If she isn’t a magician, how did she spend more than N500 million to feed schoolchildren who were in their parents’ houses during the COVID-19 lockdown? Another magical feat was how her ministry trained 177 youths on smartphone repairs, and spent N5.9 billion on that. I thought that N5.9 billion could be spent to open a factory or two that will manufacture smartphones!

It is somewhat surprising that Betta Edu could commit the offence she was accused of. What happened to her mind if education is what remained after one has forgotten what was learnt? She had been a cabinet commissioner in Cross River State, and must have been conversant with the proper procedures when it comes to spending government money. 

Or she was freewheeling on Cross River money and blind eyes were turned? Beats me how a beautiful, trained medical doctor could self-destruct this way. She could as well be one of Tinubu’s magicians, afterall she was said to have approved N2.5 million as air travel expenses for an aide to a state that has no airport. Was she trying to conjure an airport for the state?

I am equally disturbed by Halima Shehu’s predicament, given her educational background and work experience as a banker. At Inter-City Bank where she worked for about a decade, she  served as  Audit and Internal Control officer, among other duties. What happened to her experience when she came to work for government?

From their backgrounds, these women knew the right things to do, just simply opted to do what they wanted.

To the Federal Government and President Bola Tinubu, it’s reforms time. I propose that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Poverty Alleviation and Disaster Management be scrapped without delay. My reasons are simple: there has been nothing humanitarian about that ministry since Buhari created it. 

The conditional cash transfer programme of the ministry was a failure, even from conception. What can N5,000 do for anybody in Nigeria, even before subsidy removal, not to talk of now. It is simply wasteful, and besides, unjust as nobody knows the criteria by which beneficiaries were chosen. 

What is worse is that the ministry seems to have become the ATM machine of some vested interests. Want some millions? So a proposal and take there. In addition, the ministry has failed to alleviate poverty; there is no initiative of this ministry that has the interest of masses at heart. But it has generated the disasters that these women have become. The ministry should be scrapped before it generates more disasters. 

*Adekoya is a commentator on public issues

Nigeria: Plunging Down A Dark, Bottomless Hole

 By Adekunle Adekoya

For the Tinubu administration and majority of hapless Nigerians, it is a long season of unending downpour in terms of misfortunes. Things were already bad, with no respite in sight before May 29, 2023. For the major part of Buhari’s presidency, things decidedly took turns southwards.

Insecurity worsened as bands of kidnappers terrorised the entire nation without let or hindrance; cultists unleashed an orgy of killings all over the country, while the nation’s lifeblood, crude oil, became fair game to cabals of oil thieves. Not that stealing of crude was new. Under Buhari, it just worsened to the extent that the nation could not even meet the production quota alloted it by the oil cartel, OPEC.

SUVs For Lawmakers: Justifying The Insane!

 By Adekunle Adekoya

I am sure that I number among the millions of Nigerians that were stupefied when a senator justified expenditure of N160 million on one SUV for each of our lawmakers. To put it in street lingo, I was “flabberwhelmed and overgasted” when I read the rationalisation of the immoral act. To put it in proper context, let me recall the conversation.

Chairman, Committee on Senate Services, Sunday Karimi (APC, Kogi) spoke with newsmen on the public outcry against the vehicles’ purchase, and said the criticism was uncalled for as members of the other arms of government use similar vehicles.

Nigeria Without Trucks And Their Drivers?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Project Nigeria, started by the British with the 1914 Amalgamation, is still work in progress, after a century. In fact, next year will make 110 years of the Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates. Many people will say we have made a lot of progress since flag independence in 1960, while another multitude will counter them by saying we have made none. We are actually not progressing, they would say.

A coin has two sides; so I find on both sides — those that say we have made progress and those that are of the belief that we have not. It is a recurring debate where many are gathered, either at parties, bars, workplaces, or even in the molue or danfo, wherein self-appointed pontiffs who claim a lot of knowledge about what should have been done or not proclaim the way the country should have gone. In all the discussions, what is usually omitted is the fact that the individual has a role to play in the nation’s development, and that since many Nigerians don’t think they have an obligation to their country, they find themselves in situations they don’t like and are impotent to do anything about.

Ending The Anguish Over NIN

 By Adekunle Adekoya

The National Identification Number, NIN, is a project of the Federal Government embarked upon to achieve a number of objectives, with the establishment of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, to actualise the purpose. An enabling law, the NIMC Act 2007, was enacted to give legal life to the commission.

There actually had been a previous effort through the Department of National Civic Registration, DNCR, which achieved very little. According to information on the website of the NIMC: “The National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, established by the NIMC Act No. 23 of 2007, has the mandate to establish, own, operate, maintain and manage the National Identity Database in Nigeria, register persons covered by the Act, assign a Unique National Identification Number, NIN, and issue General Multi-Purpose Cards, GMPC, to those who are citizens of Nigeria as well as others legally residing within the country.”

Nigeria: Palliatives Of Zero Effect

 By Adekunle Adekoya

This column had gone to bed last Thursday before the National Economic Council, NEC, a statutory organ of the Federal Government, released palliatives to cushion the effects of subsidy removal. When I saw the measures, which by now, all fellow Nigerians must have heard, a hundred and one emotions coursed through me all at once, but the ones that seemed most dominant were despair, disappointment, and despondence.

First, let it be reiterated that the dire economic situation in which the ordinary Nigerian finds himself now was foisted on him by people he trusted to manage his affairs in a way that he would benefit, not suffer. That means that the hapless Nigerian trusted that those that will be in charge of affairs of the commonwealth would put in sufficient rigour to achieve the best results. Alas, it is now turning out that these were high hopes, as it seemed that very little or no rigour went into deciding the removal of subsidy.

Smouldering Embers Of Subsidy Removal

 By Adekunle Adekoya

“No politician can sit on an issue if you make it hot enough.” — Saul Alinsky(1909-1972

Well, the subsidy removal issue is clearly a very hot one for all Nigerians, and if I may add, irrespective of status. This is because costs have not just risen, they have doubled, tripled, and quadrupled in a space of less than 30 days. May 30, the day after President Tinubu announced removal of subsidy on petrol, prices of everything, from food items to services hit the roof, burst through, and headed for the sky.

That was when petrol sold in the Lagos area for N488 per litre and N537 in farther areas like Damaturu and Maiduguri. Then, barely 20 days after, new prices of petrol took effect — now N568 in the Lagos area and N617 in Abuja. Again, prices of items took their cue, left the sky, and headed for outer space. We are all affected since we all buy in the same market; the difference is that our shock absorbers are not of similar strength.

Living In Post-Subsidy Nigeria

 By Adekunle Adekoya

We were warned that petrol subsidy would not last forever and would have to go someday. It has now gone. President Bola Tinubu chose to extinguish subsidy in his inaugural address on May 29. As we all came to see, the president had barely left the Eagle Square venue of his inauguration when the petrol market responded. That May 29 afternoon, most petrol stations had shut their gates to motorists. Those that did not shut their gates had queues several hundred metres long, and dispensed from only one pump. That development generated instant chaos at the stations. But that was just the beginning.

By the following day, a pricing template indicating how much a litre of petrol could be sold for in each state of the federation emerged in the social media. It turned out to be real as the oil sector regulators confirmed its reality. It became clear the one litre of petrol sold for N488 in Lagos, which was the lowest price nationwide, while the price of N537 was indicated for Borno and Yobe states.

Nigeria Air And Buhari’s Ministers Of Magic

By Adekunle Adekoya

You may not agree with me, but I have taken the position, for quite some time, that some of Buhari’s ministers are magicians. By the way, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says a magician is a person that is “skilled in using supernatural forces”. 

A synonym of magician is sorcerer, which the same dictionary defines as person “who performs tricks of illusion and sleight of hand”. We are also informed by the dictionary that sorcery is “the use of power gained from the assistance or control of evil spirits especially for divining”. 

Nigeria: Must We Have This Census Now?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

It is no longer news that the Federal Government has activated plans to conduct a national population and housing census next month. The last time we had a census was March 2006. There is nothing bad in having a census; indeed, a lot of benefits will accrue if we really know how many of us are together in this country.

Historically, the first census was conducted in 1866 and this was followed by Censuses of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901. However, all these earlier censuses were restricted to Lagos Colony and its environs. The 1871 census marked the beginning of decennial census in Nigeria in line with British tradition of census-taking every 10 years.

Before Babies Begin To Emigrate

 By Adekunle Adekoya

There must be a problem in the land, a very big one. I am not talking about the usual that we have lived with for decades — lack of potable water, epileptic power supply, parlous healthcare system and all that. I am talking about a feeling of disenchantment, perhaps hopelessness, especially among the youths which has fuelled what we now call “Ja pa.”

On the internet, it has trended for a few days now that 266 Nigerian doctors have been licensed to practise in the United Kingdom. In my hood, I noticed that I have not seen some of the younger men with whom I relate for some time. To be candid, I don’t remember having seen any of them since before the election. I asked around. Someone volunteered that the guys after whom I’m asking have joined the Ja pa train. “They left for Canada three weeks ago,” my informant said. I shuddered in disbelief. 

2023 Elections: Do We Still Need Political Parties?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

The online version of Encyclopaedia Brittanica describes a political party as “a group of persons organised to acquire and exercise political power”. Political parties originated in their modern form in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, along with the electoral and parliamentary systems, whose development reflects the evolution of parties. The term party has since come to be applied to all organised groups seeking political power, whether by democratic elections or by revolution. 

*Obi, Tinubu, Atiku, Kwankwaso

Another online resource portal, Wikipedia defines a political party “as an organisation that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country’s elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country.”

Fuel Scarcity And Bad Leadership

 By Dele Sobowale 

 “As a people normally gets the government it deserves, so a society normally receives the punishment it asks for.’’ Robert Ardrey in Social Contract 

Anarchy reigns in the Nigerian fuel sector today. Nigerians were warned in 2018 when President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo launched their re-election campaign on the dubious platform of Next Level. 

Like most shallow thinkers, the All Progressives Congress, APC, politicians easily forgot that if you are in an elevator, going down on the tenth floor, the next level is the ninth floor. 

Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: Image Of The Nigerian In The Mirror

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Three years ago, on December 20, 2019, to be exact, Dr. Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister of State for Health, had reason to leave Lagos on January 20, 2019, to deliver a lecture at an event in Abeokuta. According to him, he got trapped in a traffic jam on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, and ended up spending five hours on the journey, normally a breezy trip of about one hour. When Mamora arrived at the event, it was almost over, as most of the other guests, including former President General Olusegun Obasanjo, had arrived, played their roles, and left. 

The minister, apologising to his hosts, said: “I want to apologise for my lateness. I left Lagos early enough. I ended up spending five hours for a one-hour journey. We got ‘hooked up’ with Magodo. The journey that should have taken us one hour, took us five hours. That is the unpalatable state of our roads, even my pilot car could not pilot me through the ordeal.”

Another Look At Poverty In Nigeria

 By Adekunle Adekoya

When we talk of poverty, we think of it as the inability of a person, group of persons, or a social collective to meet basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter. The Encyclopaedia Brittanica describes poverty as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs.”

Provision of basic needs — food, clothing, and shelter — has been the preoccupation of man ever since he began to form social collectives. Getting these things in sufficient quantities is a pillar of security in many societies where leaders are sensible, feel for, and empathise with the people they lead. In fact, it is the primary purpose of organised governance. In today’s Nigeria, it is obvious that basic needs are going out of the reach of the ordinary Nigerian with the passing of each day.