Saturday, February 18, 2023

Nigeria: When Polls Are Rigged Before Election Day

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

President Muhammadu Buhari has stated for the umpteenth time that he desires to bequeath the country a legacy of credible elections. That seems to be the only low hanging fruit waiting for him to pluck as his disastrous presidency comes to an insalubrious end on May 29. He has made the promise not only to Nigerians but also the international community.

While commissioning a wide range of operational assets acquired by his administration to strategically improve the capabilities of the police, particularly in crowd control and anti-riot operations, on February 13, the president harped on the need for them to be professional while policing the elections.

Friday, February 17, 2023

Naira Redesign, Queues And Quest For A New Nigeria

 By Elvis Eromosele

The amount of queueing Nigerians have been subjected to in the last couple of weeks is unprecedented. It is equally unbecoming. It’s almost like the country had gone back four decades.

Fights have broken out in queues at bank facilities, filling stations and INEC and LGAs offices across the country. There are trending videos of people stripping naked in protest inside banking halls, others hitting each other with queue dividers and one person has been confirmed dead inside a banking hall, somewhere in Asaba. Nigerians born in the 2000s, GenZs, should be forgiven for thinking the end of the world is here.

Birthday Essay For Professor Akachi Ezeigbo

 By Tony Afejuku

Let me urgently make this open confession: the current condition of this land – this land, your land, my land, our land – has consigned me to nothing short of a pretty long time to dilemmas upon dilemmas – seriously speaking indeed. It would be unjust of me not to make this open confession to you my chief reader today (and readers) in order to escape an almost inevitable calamity.

*Prof Ezeigbo

As my today’s reader-in-chief and priestess-in-chief to boot you should help me, after hearing this confession, to wean me from anything untoward that would impair my judgment and essential character and value of my thought relating to our Emefielenic monetary stamp of bewildering proportions that would be of selfish benefits to his fellow politicians, no, polifoolicians, and cabalistic cabals than to our nation. 

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Rangers International And The Allure Of Soft Power

By Chidi Odinkalu 

“It was as if the football club wanted to regain through foot­ball what the Igbo ‘lost’ during the war.” – Segun Odegbami, MON


Nearly every Nigerian who was alive then remem­bers where they were at the end of 1976 when Al­yufusalam Rocks met Enugu Rang­ers International in the finals of what was then known as the Chal­lenge (Football Association) Cup. With a history going back to the Governor’s Cup, the first finals of which took place on 7 November, 1945, the Challenge Cup was the premier knock-out competition in Nigerian football. Although strict­ly inferior to the football league, the win-or-go-home traditions of the Challenge Cup captured pub­lic imagination in a way that the league did not.

Insecurity And The Depopulation Of Igbos

 By Lincoln Ogunewe

Security is the foundation for the existence of life that God has given to mankind. Nothing thrives in the absence of security and nothing grows. It is a big irony of life that security and its importance is only noticed in its absence. The situation in Imo State today and Ala Igbo in general gives credence to my assertion. Which way forward? Can the situation be reversed? The answer is Yes.

Every society respects the sanctity of life. Ala Igbo is not an exception. Life is such a sacred thing that religions and traditions abhor the taking of the life of anyone what more by violence. The Igbo culture ostracizes and banishes anyone that takes the life of his brother or sister. Today, Ala Igbo drips with the blood of her sons and daughters and all we do is stand and look helplessly. What has befallen Ala Igbo? What has befallen Ndi Igbo.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Celebrating Akachi Ezeigbo: The Mother Of Books

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Quietude sits well with Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, and calmness is the word for her, but the music was so compelling that she had to stand up and dance. The mellifluous music issuing forth from Gerald Eze and his Ichoku Ensemble put a smooth smile on the face of Prof Akachi and soft dexterity to her dancing steps. 

*Professor Akachi Ezeigbo 

Prof Akachi-Ezeigbo’s sister, Prof Chinyere Stella Okunna, who had been sitting beside the celebrant was held in rapt awe by the phenomenon. 

The date, Saturday, February 11, 2023, stays unforgettable because of the birthday party observed for prolific award-winning author, Prof Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, at a comfy venue called Awka Window on America at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State. The personable Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Charles Okechukwu Esimone, was on hand to conduct the rousing opening ceremony to the event sponsored by Abibiman Publishing UK, James Currey Society and intervolving the creative literary giants of Nnamdi Azikiwe University. 

Bank Officials As Public Enemy

 By Levi Obijiofor

When you hear about economic hardships battering the citizens of a country, you need go no further to search, locate and understand what the experiences might look like. We have the exact situation on the ground in Nigeria. The current cash crunch across the country, impishly engineered by the Central Bank and aided by commercial banks, has paralysed human and business activities in Nigeria and pulverised the welfare of ordinary citizens. This is an unsolicited experience no one in Nigeria would like to relive. 

There are visibly many players in the current game of infamy playing out in the country. At the head of the mischief-makers is Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, closely followed by chief executives of commercial banks, and supported by point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) vendors. They constitute the merchants of evil. They have made life unbearable for ordinary people. More important, the CBN and commercial bank officials must take full responsibility for the current economic instability. Their reputation has been sullied but they do not care about reputation.

If you were a bank customer in Nigeria and were asked to rank the following people and professionals, in terms of unethical conduct and dishonesty, which of them would top your list? 

Would you pick the dishonest and unfeeling bank manager, the corrupt police officer, the strong-willed army/naval/air force officer, the dubious Customs officer, the morally despicable pastor or priest, the heartless lawyer, the unlicensed and unqualified medical doctor, the junk journalist, the crooked construction engineer, the callous nurse/midwife, the licentious and lecherous university teacher, the devious trader or market woman, the mechanistic carpenter, the unprincipled chef, the headline-chasing newspaper editor and publisher, the fraudulent accountant, the histrionic advertising or public relations manager, the coldblooded pickpocket, the penny-pinching and amoral prostitute, or the duplicitous commercial vehicle operator? 

The persons listed above are not exhaustive, but chances are that you might select the pickpocket or prostitute as the vilest, most unethical, most dreadful and most dishonest person. Your choice would have been made based on how these people are perceived in public. Regardless of what happens, the point to keep in mind is that person perception is often far from reality.

When a similar study was conducted in Australia in 1996, the outcome was a rude shock to everyone. The study requested respondents to rank various professions in terms of how they were perceived for ethics, trust and honesty. Surprisingly, newspaper journalists were ranked second from the bottom. That study revealed for the first time a terrible image problem for Australian journalists, despite the essential role they play in their society. In that poll, newspaper journalists were ranked very low – they managed to beat used-car salespersons. 

Follow-up studies have been conducted since that time but the image of Australian journalists has not improved significantly. A study of Australia’s most trusted professions conducted in 2021 showed that doctors were the most trusted, followed by nurses, paramedics, firefighters, scientists, police officers, teachers, pharmacists, pilots and veterinarians. The same study placed journalists second to last (number 29), just one place ahead of politicians who were ranked last at number 30.

In the perception of the Australian public, journalists are still seen as untrustworthy, dishonest and unethical. The underlying message is that Australian journalists are not regarded highly by the public.

Each society places a different value on its institutions. Consider the following. In December 2000, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, regarded as the world’s largest selling newspaper, asked 2,000 people to list the institution they trusted most. The prime minister was ranked last. That said a lot about the extent of confidence the Japanese people placed on their politicians. Imagine the kind of ranking President Muhammadu Buhari and his ministers would receive if that kind of poll was conducted in Nigeria. 

Still in December 2000, a Gallup Opinion Poll conducted in the United States about the most trusted institutions showed that the military were ranked top and television was ranked 14th. 

I do not believe that a similar poll to that conducted in Australia would produce a similar result in Nigeria in terms of the image of newspaper journalists. In Nigeria, the public image of journalists is yet to be tested officially through a public opinion survey. But for bank officials and particularly university lecturers who engage in frequent rounds of sexual harassment of female students, a practice that has become widespread, we do not need such a test because there is unassailable evidence that shows that the battered image of university lecturers and bank officials is a direct outcome of their unethical and dishonest conduct in their professional roles. 

I am reminded of what a recent female graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri, said on video while thanking God for her success that was also attributed to the magnetic power of her sexual organ. 

For a very long time, we associated bank managers in Nigeria with honest and ethical conduct. Whenever you wanted to complete an official form (such as public examination form or visa/passport renewal form), you were directed to approach a bank manager or a police officer or a pastor to initial that application form. That requirement was based on the norms that existed and still exist in civilized societies where the bank manager or pastor or police officer represented in real terms an emblem of honesty, faith and good character. 

In Nigeria, the public no longer perceives the bank official as emblematic of honesty, integrity, principles or values. In fact, the bank manager and other bank officials are held in low esteem. They are demonised, derided, and portrayed as the ultimate agents of corruption and everything loathsome in the society. These perceptions are legitimate considering current experiences in which citizens are denied access to the new naira notes that are hoarded by banks, while members of the privileged class are given excess new notes. 

It is evident that bank managers are key players in illegal hoarding or stockpiling of the new naira notes. Investigations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), along with spot checks conducted by CBN officials have exposed the collusion by banks to deny citizens their right to access their money in the custody of banks. 

Similarly, I do not think university lecturers in Nigeria would stand the test of morality. Some of them see their female students as a kind of collateral or reward they should receive on earth. 

Corruption has eaten deeply into the souls of bank managers in Nigeria. The damage is beyond repair. Nobody can fix the problem. Training and character building based on ethical reorientation will not resuscitate the damaged character profile of despicable bank managers and officials.  

We cannot fight unethical and dishonest practices by bank managers and officials of other financial institutions. They are so deeply soaked in the ocean of corruption. Corruption is widespread in Nigeria, a dysfunctional society in which there is no law and order, a society in which people do things any way they like. In that environment, no one is accountable to anybody. No one is responsible to anyone. It is a country of “anything goes” in which the culture places a higher value on wealth and property acquisition. That is the pull or inducement that attracts bank managers and officials to continue to engage in corrupt practices.

*Dr. Obijiofor is a commentator on public issues

Nigeria: The Saboteurs Of A Sinking Ship

 By Kenechukwu Obiezu

If Nigerian politics had a single currency, language, sign language, or definition, it would be money. But very close to it would be the concepts of betrayal and opportunism.

To preclude political opportunism and fry the chances of its elite practitioners in Nigeria, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria makes salubrious provisions to arrest the vice of cross-carpeting. However, with many of the politicians who have engaged in it over the years getting away with it, it appears that judicial interpretation and enforcement have failed to stop the scourge.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

What APC Can’t Destroy…

 By Ugo Onuoha

On Thursday, February 9, South Africa’s embattled President, Cyril Ramaphosa, went to the country’s Parliament, braced heckling by the militant opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party to declare that the country was in a ‘“national state of disaster.” So, what was the problem with that Southern African country? They have been grappling with energy, particularly electricity, supply crisis for about two years. Yes, two years.

*APC leaders

The country has been experiencing load-shedding, read, power outages, where some consumers experience blackouts for up to 12 hours in a day. A mere 12 hours.

Last year, the country’s economic growth fell to 2.5%. This year, the projection is that it would shrink to 0.3%, the declines essentially boil down to South Africa’s electricity crisis. In parliament, Ramaphosa told South Africans: “We are, therefore, declaring a national state of disaster to respond to the electricity crisis and its effects.”

Nigeria: Lawan And Supreme Court Of Shameless Judicial Bandits

 By Farooq Kperogi

I was awoken on this side of the world by news of the reversal by the Nigerian Supreme Court of Senate President Ahmed Lawan's primary election loss. I was already mentally prepared for it after the same Supreme Court affirmed Godwin Akpabio's fraudulent primary win a few days ago. It's a well-planned judicial choreography. 

*Lawan 

 The Nigerian Supreme Court is straight-up the most hopeless Supreme Court in the history of the world's supreme courts. The same Court violated common sense and the will of voters and gave us a "Supreme Court governor" in Imo State who never even pretended to have won an election. 

Cashless Policy And The Cashless Banks Of Nigeria

 By Ezinwanne Onwuka

It was in October 2022 that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, announced its intention to redesign the currency, which it said was in the best interest of Nigerians to check terrorism financing, counterfeiting and imbalances in the fiscal space, and to enable the apex bank to take control of the currency in circulation.  

*Buhari and Emefiele 

As a result of the currency redesign, the CBN also set the maximum cash withdrawal limit via the Automated Teller Machines and point of sale, PoS, agents at N20,000 per day for individuals subject to N100,000 per week, instructing commercial banks to load only denominations of N200 and below into the ATMs. 

Nigeria: Supreme Hooliganism?

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

In June 2020, Malawians took to the streets and the judges joined to resist the attempt by President Peter Mutharika to fire Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda in order to enable him rig a presidential re-run. The people trusted the Chief Justice more than the president, so they got rid of the president in order to keep the Chief Justice. One month later, in Mali, an uprising began when an unpopular ruling party used the Constitutional Court to rob the opposition of its victories, eventually leading to the dissolution of the court and a military coup.

Judicial immersion in political disputes is hazardous and judges called upon to do it have a clear choice to either resist importunations that compromise their authority or canoodle with the politicians at the risk of irremediable damage to judicial office. Nigeria’s Supreme Court appears to have made its choice and the consequences are unflattering.

Monday, February 13, 2023

70 And Smiling: Hard Facts About Life

 By Ayo Baje

 “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.” – Margaret Mead 

What is this life all about, anyway? Why are we here in this world, for God’s sake? What lasting lessons does our all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, all –gracious and all-merciful creator want us to glean from the hustle and bustle, the grate and grind of our everyday encounters? What lasting lessons are we here to learn from the hands of history-for individuals, communities and countries? Let us begin with the common ones. 

*Baje

Why, for instance, is there so much hatred, so much anger, crises, agitations, anxieties, selfishness, greed, graft, power-poaching and thorny matters all leading into wasteful wars, which are supposed to be clearly avoidable? But that is not all. 

Oyoze Baje @70: Tribute To A Defender Of Nigerian Project

 By Charles Okoh

To attain the age of 70 in Nigeria at a time when the life expectancy of Ni­gerians is about 55 years is worth celebrating. To attain the Biblical three score and ten, in a country where the stress lev­els seem permanently on the in­crease and other attendant stress­ors seemed arrayed to snuff out life from the people is more than enough reason to celebrate and give thanks to God Almighty.

It is not often that people get celebrated while alive. It was the famous Nigerian musical icon Pa­toranking who insists that he is celebrated in his hit song in local lingo; “Celebrate me, now when I dey alive…”

For veteran journalist and cel­ebrated newspaper columnist, Ayo Oyoze Baje, who turned 70 years on Wednesday, February 8, it was an opportunity to celebrate a journalist who has remained undeterred and undaunted in his resolve to constantly lend his voice to the voiceless.

How Hunger Affects Education, Elections

 By Emmanuel Osadebay

Food security is an essential part of social wellbeing and social security, the absence of which results in health harms, severe social crisis, delayed development in young children and behavioural problems such as anxiety and aggression in kids through their formative years. 

Due to food poverty, many Nigerians and households have difficulties accessing sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary requirements for a healthy life. The effects of food poverty are represented by a spectrum of severity, including the negative consequences on elections, governance and development processes. When people experience severe food insecurity for a long period of time, due to various reasons such as lack of food or fund, it affects them physically, mentally and psychologically.

Let The Students Vote!

 By Nick Dazang

From colonial to contemporary times, students have played uplifting and progressive roles in our country’ storied existence.

Under the auspices of the West African Students Union (WASU), students were in the forefront of our decolonization efforts. In the course of military interregnums and interventions, students have fought gallantly against oppressive and anti-people policies. Even in the course of our democratic dispensations, students have been unsparing of governments whose policies were out of sync with the yearnings of Nigerians or which tended to reinforce suffering and failure.

Individuals, Not Parties, Will Decide The 2023 Elections

 By Ejike Anyaduba

It is becoming evident by the day that the February 25, 2023, elections will be decided by factors other than party affiliation. Psychological attachment of voters to parties may have some influence on the run of victory, but will do little to help its cause. The strength of victory will be decided by a contestant’s convincing power, his performance rating, diligence and the subtle manner in which he handles the people’s emotions in this trying time. 

More than that, the performance of each candidate will be a factor of perception and of grace that transcends mundane efforts.  Yes, it will be a tough election, and it is already bearing signs of disruptive change that may leave the self-assured vacuumed of confidence and grossly diffident.  

Surprise Is The Shot Of Peter Obi

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The greatest surprise of the political season in Nigeria today is without question the almost overwhelming presence of Peter Obi. The man has teeming admirers and unappeasable antagonists, but either-or, he can hardly ever be ignored.

*Peter Obi arrives Ilorin Airport (February 6, 2023)

A journalist’s duty is to almost always wade into every subject in popular focus, no matter how controversial – whence my decision to write on the Peter Obi phenomenon. I am not interested in doing a piece on his political campaigns of today – I would rather go to the past, in 2008, when the man surprised me in no small measure.

Naira Redesign: In Whose Interests Are These Politicians Fighting?

 By Charles Okoh

There can be no telling the measure of pressure faced by Nigerians at a time as this. What is not in doubt is whatever the intent of the presidency in pursuing the redesign of some currencies, the discomfort Nigerians suffer now, if nothing is done about it might as well get to a level where the people can no longer bear the pains and inconveniences any more. At that stage, nothing is predictable.

In spite of repeated denials by Godwin Emefiele, that the naira redesign is not political and not targeted at any politician, the reaction of the members of the National Assembly and governors, especially of the APC, suggest that, indeed, there may be more to it than meets the eye.

Friday, February 10, 2023

Nigeria: Mad And Dangerous Times

 By Sunny Awhefeada

These are mad and dangerous times for Nigeria and I must concede that we never saw this coming. Not even the famed prophets en­visioned the calamities now buffeting us as a people. Nobody foresaw or warned us. Those among us who lay claims to clair­voyance are largely charlatans who think about causes and effects of actions and offer surmises which they call predictions.

That is why they always turn around to tell us they were misquoted, quoted out of context or point at what they claimed they told us, but they never did. Charles Dick­ens’ Hard Times tells of a time of acute social insecurity and how the people were impoverished and pulverized. Like other narratives by Dickens, the novel mirrors the grim, dark and dreary side of life in a manner considered to be exaggerated.