Can INEC Organise A Credible National Election?

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

The electoral landslide of President Shehu Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in 1983 unfolded in instalments over different sites of improbable magic across Nigeria. This did not occur in one day. It involved the manipulation of the entire value chain of election administration over the cycle of four years from 1979 to 1983. It was both willful and methodical.

After squeaking through a very tight field in 1979 with a mere 36% of the votes and not a small helping hand from the judicial arithmetic of the Supreme Court, the NPN in power set about ensuring that they were not left in 1983 to the mercies of any judges. For the party, this meant they had to find a way to wrestle some significant territory off of the hands of Obafemi Awolowo and the UPN in south-west Nigeria. If they did not have living voters, then they had to invent voters by some means.

Once Upon A Fight Between Obasanjo And Babangida

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The two generals are seen as the best of friends across the political spectrum of the Nigerian nation. In many informed circles, General Matthew Okikiola Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo and General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida are seen as belonging to the rarefied class known as “Owners of Nigeria”.

*Obasanjo and Babangida

Only the uninformed does not know that when there was the transition to civil rule back in 1999 it was Babangida who arranged that Obasanjo should be brought out of General Sani Abacha’s prison to be made the president of Nigeria.

This act made Obasanjo to create the record of a two-time leader of Nigeria after having been a military Head of State in his first missionary journey.

How Lies Have Underdeveloped Nigeria!

 By Sunny Ikhioya 

It is said that no matter how far you have journeyed on the wrong route, it is never too late to turn back, otherwise you will not get to your desired destination. The story of our foundation is one based on faulty lines, that of lies and if we do not get it right, it will continue to haunt us until thy kingdom comes. What is a lie? It is simply untruth. If you like, you can say it’s the absence of truth. When it is not true, it means that it is not real and therefore, in the realm of fallacies. If it is not real, then it is nothing. 

If our foundation is based on lies, it means that we have been building on nothing, a quicksand that will in a short time disappear. When your foundation is based on lies, sooner or later, you will be exposed and the whole world will see your true self. Some have argued that lies are necessary in certain circumstances, especially as it concerns international diplomacy and war; anyway you look at it: a lie is a lie, there is no small or big lie. If you win today because you have lied, you are only postponing the evil day because your counterpart or adversary will know that you cannot be trusted and see you as such. That is why, today, the whole world cannot work in unison, because some groups have proven themselves not to be reliable. 

A Case For Women’s Participation In Governance, Decision-Making

 By Moruff Adenekan

Globally, women are under-represented in leadership and decision-making within political, public and corporate spaces. According to UN Women, gender disparity, low participation in elective and appointive positions and gender-based violence are major setbacks for women worldwide, especially in developing countries. In Africa, patriarchy and societal norms overtly and covertly subjugate women and girls and contribute to inequality and exclusion.

*Pauline Tallen, Women Affairs Minister 

Nigeria, currently without comprehensive legislation that protects or advances women’s rights, exemplifies this inequality. These inequalities manifest in the poor numbers for girl-child education, low numbers of women in leadership, and abysmal representation in public life. The manifestation continues in the high numbers of maternal and child mortality, high numbers of exclusion, widening pay gap between men and women, and alarming numbers of sexual and gender-based violence.

Nigeria: The Tragic Truth Hidden In Plain Sight

 By Kanu Obioha

As of 2014 Nigeria was classified as Africa’s largest economy after it rebased its gross domestic product, GDP; Africa’s most populous country, Africa’s largest democracy, and a major exporter of oil and gas. But Nigeria is currently facing development challenges, which it must overcome to fulfil its significant potentials. The statistics are however not very encouraging and it has become imperative that the people in control of the government and economy be told the truth.

Today at least 33 per cent of Nigerians live in extreme poverty. Between 2018 and March 2022 Nigeria led the rest of the world, surpassing China and India with much higher populations, as the country with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty. Already, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children and those Nigerian children who do attend school have learning outcomes that are among the worst in the world (ten and a half million Nigerian youngsters, mostly girls, are not in school; 98 percent of those out of school are in Nigeria’s poorer North region).

You Have Stayed Long Enough On This Mountain

 By Sola Ebiseni  

True as Solomon said: “The race of men under the sun is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…but time and chance happen to them all.” Yet that was conventional wisdom before the days of John the Baptist from whence and until now, even the kingdom of heaven and greater so for the earth, suffers violence and only men of violence take it by force -a declaration by He who is unquestionable. 

Whether by chance, as preached by Solomon who had everything, fighting no war like David his father, but nevertheless got a blank cheque from God after sacrificing his assets which today would make him a billionaire, or by Christ whose sacrifice is his precious life, no glory comes without taking a step. 

New Presidential Economic Team: What Agenda?

 By Marcel Okeke

Recently, to the chagrin and perhaps, bewilderment of most Nigerians, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government inaugurated a ‘Presidential Committee on the National Economy’—just about 35 weeks to the end of the eight-year (two terms) tenure of the Administration. Truly, not a few Nigerians were stupefied by this ‘eleventh hour’ or ‘injury time’ move of the Government at the Centre—justifiably for numerous reasons. 

More surprisingly, for the first time in the over seven-year-long life of the Administration, Mr. President himself assumed headship of the economic team—and presided over its inaugural meeting on Friday, September 9, 2022. About the same time, the National Economic Council (NEC), putatively headed by the Vice President, was reportedly ‘rushing out’ a National Social Protection Policy (NSPP)—to be ratified and approved ‘soon’ by the Federal Executive Council.

*Buhari and Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed

At the inauguration of the new Presidential Economic Team, President Buhari said: “this Committee will provide our nation an opportunity to be bold, more proactive, and innovative in tackling persistent challenges”, adding that “the work with which I have tasked the assembled team will enable us respond more swiftly and efficiently.” 

ASUU: Dealing With A Blackmailing Government

 By Andrew A. Erakhrumen

As it stands today, except new reality emerges, the renegotiation of 2009 agreement between Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has been stalled by FGN. As a quick background: this agreement was originally due for renegotiation in 2012 but delayed, through FGN’s antics, till 2017 when Wale Babalakin-led FGN-empanelled renegotiation committee came on board to continue government’s antics through a ‘phantom’ renegotiation with ASUU’s team in order to waste everybody’s time.

This premeditated “wild goose chase”, on the part of Babalakin and his co-travellers, continued until he (Babalakin) was forced to resign as chairman of the Governing Council of University of Lagos on the 15th of September, 2020. As FGN was left in a lurch owing to this sudden resignation that nearly poked holes in their fakery, it has no choice other than to constitute Munzali Jibril-led renegotiation committee. This committee submitted a renegotiated draft agreement in May, 2021.

The President And The Silent Trumpets

 By Dan Agbese

The late premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna Sokoto, was once quoted to have said that it was his duty to blow his own trumpet because other people were busy blowing theirs and would not bother to blow his own for him. There appears to be some unquestionable wisdom in that. President Muhammadu Buhari appears to have missed it. He has relied on his appointees to blow his trumpet, but they have failed him.

*Buhari 

On his working visit to Imo State this week, the president opened up on his frustration with the men and women in his administration for failing to trumpet his achievements in the past seven years as president. He has done titanic things worthy of being loudly trumpeted within and beyond our shores. Still, the trumpet is silent. He has waited this long and these many years for the president’s men and women to loudly blow his trumpet. All he keeps hearing is the rich sound of silence. He said: “Those who should be speaking about my government are not doing so.”

That is criminal. Why will the trumpeters padlock their lips as if they were mere observers in the administration whose achievements rub off on its appointees? One could offer one of two possible reasons for this. It is either that (a) his appointees are busy blowing their own trumpets they forget that blowing their principal’s trumpet is a duty incumbent on them or (b) they see nothing worth trumpeting in the sterling performances of the administration. If the president knows what he has achieved and his aides do not, there is a serious problem, I tell you.

Shettima’s Freudian Slip…

 By Bello Maigari

Senator Kashim Shettima has again amused serious-minded Nigerians, this time, opening up on how his principal in the All Progressives Congress, APC presidential ticket, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu would combine the hospitality of General Sani Abacha and the competence of Muhammadu Buhari as president.

*Shettima and Tinubu 

Speaking last Thursday at the 96th-anniversary celebration of the Yoruba Tennis Club in Ikoyi, Lagos state, the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN quoted him as saying Nigeria needs the “hospitality” of Abacha. For Nigerians unfamiliar with Abacha, a slight recall of some of the worst abuses in human rights are easy to recall.

The extra-judicial killings of Mrs Kudirat Abiola, Alfred Rewane and many others recorded and unrecorded are living testimonies of the hospitality that Shettima wants Nigerians to remember. Shettima’s principal, Tinubu was driven to exile like many other Nigerians who kicked against the military regime’s decision to usurp the mandate given to Chief MKO Abiola.

Nigeria: The Dangers Of Massive Brain Drain

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

According to Professor Innocent Ujah, the President of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Nigeria lost over 9,000 medical doctors to the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America between 2016 and 2018. In fact, no fewer than 727 medical doctors trained in Nigeria relocated to the United Kingdom alone between December 2021 and May 2022.

He made this shocking statement during the Maiden NMA Annual Lecture Series earlier in the year. The event was held in Abuja. The theme of this year’s lecture is ‘Brain Drain and Medical Tourism: The Twin evil in Nigeria’s Health System.’

Are you alarmed by this saddening situation that has the best brains in the medical field jetting out to greener pastures far beyond our shores? You should be and that is because the loss left Nigeria with only 4.7 per cent of its specialists to service the healthcare needs of over 200 million people!

Do We Still Value Education In Nigeria?

 By Adekunle Adekoya 

Last Wednesday, the United Nations, UN, Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Matthias Schmale, said that our dear country, Nigeria, is not on track to meet many SDGs (Strategic Development Goals) by the year 2030. Schmale said this in a speech at the opening ceremony of a three-day capacity building workshop for the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC’s educators on the UN Strategic Development Cooperation Framework, UNSDCF. 

Let me quote Schmale: “As it stands, Nigeria is not on track to reach many of its SDGs by 2030, a situation compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing war in Ukraine. With women and youths hit, especially hard by growing unemployment, spiraling inflation, and insufficient access to quality education and health services, we must take a fresh look at how best to support the most vulnerable in society.”

One sector where we clearly will miss the SDG target date is education, prompting the question: Do we still value education in Nigeria? 

Reflections On ASUU And The Constrictors

 By Tony Afejuku

Once again, necessity is compelling me to dwell on the FGN-ASUU imbroglio – which is becoming or has become bigger than an imbroglio. Perhaps we should call what the FGN is doing to and against ASUU a game of imbroglio? All positive hopes that our public universities on lock-down will re-open sooner than later are shrinking un-steadily second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day and month by month.

*ASUU, Federal Govt negotiating team 

Several persons have spoken and written and several more are still speaking and writing about this important issue that is now in the critical hurly-burly of our tertiary education. And after my last appearance here, I promised myself to keep quiet for sometime in the cherished hope that the constrictors who are gripping tightly the neck-muscle of our universities would withdraw their sphincters because they were more or less in touch with reality at last – especially after the Professor Nimi Briggs Committee honourably did their duty with unblemished integrity that the de-humanized constrictors in power never bargained for.

Nigeria: Motion Without Movement

 By Femi Oluwasanmi

It is common knowledge that the flashpoint of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and Federal Government face-off is the 2009 agreement, which has undergone a series of renegotiations with great controversy. However, what seems to be obscured is the impact of the impasse on the country, particularly with the continuous circumnavigation in the wilderness of war against insecurity and economic quagmire.

*Buhari 

On August 30, 2022, ASUU declared an indefinite strike after several rollovers that commenced on February 14. Some of its demands include the release of revitalisation funds for universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement and deployment of the UTAS payment platform for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers, among others.

Before the current face-off, there have been several industrial actions with results synonymous to a motion without movement. This has affected the career of most students by elongating their period in school.

How Scary Is UNICEF’s 20 Million Nigerian Children Out-Of-School Statistic?

 By Cheta Nwanze

It has been well acknowledged that primary school education is the foundation of individual and national development. The skills learned at that level are the base on which the capacity for future economic productivity is built. Primary School Education takes up the first six years of Nigeria’s nine-year Basic Education Curriculum which seeks to give every child resident in Nigeria an adequate foundation for a successful and productive life.

The nine-year Basic Education Curriculum covers 10 subjects: Mathematics; Basic Science and Technology; English Studies; Religion and National Values; Cultural and Creative Arts; Business Studies; Nigerian Languages; Pre-vocational Studies; French and Arabic.

Ukraine: US, NATO Must Be Held Accountable

 By Opeyemi Soyombo

For weeks, from CNN through BBC to Al Jazeera, we are fed the same diet on a daily ba­sis. We run the risk of being victims of intellectual kwashiorkor. Hence some of us have to cry out! This exercise is not in defence of President Vladimir Putin, a dictator of no mean measure. I reject fascism, communism, Nazism, militarism, sit-tightism and all forms of tyran­ny. Putin epitomises monocracy. 

*Zelensky 

I like democracy of the Westminster model. The United States presiden­tial system of government is fasci­nating. When it comes to the rule of law, freedom and right to dissent, I belong to the West (the US). I reject the strangulating, despotic govern­ments in China and Russia. They are an open sore on our humanity. The Kim Dynasty in North Korea must fall. Everything must be done to bring down autocracy everywhere in the world. The world must stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Myanmar (Burma), Chad, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso,etc. and take all legitimate measures, including use of force, to remove the unconsti­tutional governments and usurpers of political power.

Nigeria: Epitaph To A Dying Republic

 By Mike Ikhariale

Judging by the way things are going presently, it is only those who take pleasure in deceiving themselves that would ignore all the tell-tale signs of the imminent morbidity awaiting the Repub­lic. It is quite sad that Nigeria has rapidly be­come a theatre of unbridled anarchy, a society that is seemingly jinxed to stumble and fall, where government, through defective actions and policies, is actually at the forefront in the ignoble march to national ruination.

*Buhari 

The traditional constitutional schema for separating government powers and functions for the purposes of achieving stability and effectiveness in society, namely the Legisla­ture, the Executive and Judiciary as well as safeguarding us from an overbearingly tyran­nical government in the classic Montesqui­uean sense, ie, checks and balances has been corrupted in Nigeria.

It is, however, worth noting that the doc­trine of Separation of Powers is also a key el­ement in Nigeria’s constitutional architecture which was structurally designed to serve as a ‘feedback stabilization mechanism’ whereby the various organs of government routinely interact with a view to reinforcing their in­dividual and collective stability in moments of crisis and general constitutional/political turbulence.

2023: Between Atiku, Tinubu And Obi

 By Charles Okoh

For Nigeria, the year 2023 is just not another year. It is a year that will determine the fate of the nation. The campaigns by political parties would not commence until September 28, 2022 as provided by Sec. 94(1) of the Electoral Act 2022. But, the tension around the election has reached boiling point. What happens to this nation going forward would be determined by the choice we make in 2023.

*Obi, Tinubu, Atiku 

There are several reasons why 2023 could make or mar Nigeria. One of the biggest reasons why Nigeria and Nigerians must get it right is that for the past seven years we have been living the reality and facing the pangs that come with our wrong choice of President Muhammadu Buhari. In seven short years, Buhari has squandered the enormous goodwill he had coming to that office. That more than anything else, is the reason there is so much tension in the land. It is the reason Nigeria has remained on the edge of a precipice.

As the campaigns commence, it is imperative on all political parties and candidates to focus on issue-based campaigns. This way we can ensure that the polity is not unnecessarily heated up and it will also afford us the opportunity to assess the competencies and preparedness of those who seek to rule us in order to ensure transparent elections in which only the votes cast by citizens determine the winner. Sentiments, emotions and selfishness must take the backstage in making that vital decision.

Obidients: The Protest Before The Revolt

 By Tony Eluemunor

Keeping faith with the sorry saying that: "All things bright and beautiful Nigeria kills them all,” we members of the wasted and wasting generations (age 40 and above) are busy demeaning the only hope that Nigeria could ever hope to get it right as a nation.

*Obi

Nigeria is right now on the verge of a right thing. Ever lucky, Nigeria is hosting a new political and nationalistic and developmental Mojo; that magical phenomenon of Nigerian youth rising up to seize control of the political space and lead from the front, instead of following behind their fathers and mothers. Mojo? It is a slang for a magic charm, talisman or spell or magical power or supernatural influence or luck. 

Ordinarily, Nigeria has so failed and traumatized it’s youth that that segment of the citizenry should be totally alienated. But, here comes the young ones rising up to embrace and remake their fatherland. The political interest they have shown in the forth-coming 2023 election is out of this world, and could only have come from Nigeria, a country that breaks all the rules. 

Insecurity: Lai Mohammed, Where Are You?

 By Dan Onwukwe

He evokes different images to different people. He’s a talker and a tackler. He lives in denial just like the government he serves. Anybody who has been following his political career carefully and his comments, will understand that this man has an irritating habit of talking too loosely and telling yarn that amounts to nothing other than rough humour. That’s just one of his numerous personality traits. Other traits include peddling half-truths and outright lies. But there’s a darker side of living in denial.  It doesn’t give one the ability to look facts, very unpleasant facts – in the face – without deluding oneself with wishful thinking. 

*Lai Mohammed

Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture possesses these traits in abundance. As any management consultant will tell you: beware! These traits are the blinding lights of success. They are also the secrets of failure. But, Lai Mohammed keeps telling the same tale. Very often, he indulges in outright propaganda to hoodwink the undiscerning . However, the good thing is that half-truths have expiry date, no matter the short-term political gains. Let’s go a bit back in time. In the campaign leading to the 2015 elections, and desperate for power, Lai Mohammed was a forceful presence in the then opposition APC propaganda machine to demonize the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency and make it unelectable.