Month: January 2023

Sumayyah Auwal Ishaq

The Kaduna Gubernatorial debate by the BBC Hausa Service has ended with four governorship aspirants airing their varied opinions on how to move the state forward. After Kano’s debate on the weekend, Kaduna is the second of the five selected northern Nigerian states BBC plans to organise the debate before the 2023 elections.

The debate was hosted at Kaduna State University. Leading participants included Senator Uba Sani (All Progressive Congress, APC), Isah Ashiru (People’s Democratic Party, PDP), and Sulaiman Uthman Hunkuyi (New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP).

The debate had the aspirants speaking on issues ranging from security, economy, infrastructure, education, job creation, and health, among others. 

While the candidates differed on the methods with which they would take Kaduna to a higher echelon, they agreed that peace and security would play a key role in driving the process of development in the state. 

After the debate, the candidates exchanged pleasantries and left the hall with their supporters.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, chaired the first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting for the year 2023 on Wednesday. 

The meeting was held at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Osinbajo stood in for his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, who departed the country to Nouakchott, Mauritania, to participate in the Programme of the Third Forum of the African Conference for Peace on Monday.

In attendance are the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha; the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan; and the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Dr Adeola Ipaye.

Most of the cabinet members were also physically in attendance for the first FEC meeting of the year. 

However, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi and the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Monguno were absent as they were on the President’s entourage in Nouakchott.

The President and his entourage are expected to return to the country on Wednesday.

By Muhammadu Sabiu 

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has been summoned by the 36 state governors in relation to the withdrawal policy and the repainted naira notes.

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, which embodies the governors, said on Tuesday that the scheduled meeting would take place on Thursday through its spokesperson, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo.

Recall that Nigerians were instructed to deposit their old notes in banks by January 31, 2023, under the CBN’s naira redesign programme, which was implemented in October 2022 of last year.

The spokesperson noted that the virtual meeting would concentrate on the most recent apex bank withdrawal policy and currency redesign.

“For the virtual meeting, the agenda is the Economic and Security implications of naira redesign and withdrawal policy.

“The discussion promises to foster involvement and dialogue among various stakeholders, including governments and civil society organisations, to devise a solution to the lingering issue,” he said.

By Umar Yogiza

The four writers are Tares Oburumu, Ruth Chidera Echewe, Sadiq Mustafa and Taiye Ojo, they arrived in the ancient town of Ilorin, Kwara State, for the first batch of the 2023 Imodoye Writers Residency programme. A statement issued by the residency manager said the writers are expected to be there for three weeks and an optional one week.

Tares Oburumu is a Bayelsa State-born poet and essayist, based in Warri, Delta State, Nigeria. He’s the author of 6 published chapbooks. Tares Oburumu is the winner of the GAP poetry prize 2018 and his chapbook ‘origin of the syma species’ won The Sillerman First Book prize for African poets 2022, to be published by Nebraska University Press, U.S., in fall 2023. Tares had been nominated for the Pushcart prize with Woven Tales Press 2019, and Ice Floes International literary journal 2021.

Tares Oburumu is in Imodoye residency to work and expand his three chapbooks: Erasure, Chatham House and Red: the love story of Annie Ernaux. As a child, Tares heard the nerve-racking stories of how brothers took to the Atlantic Ocean, going oversee, and it broke him to pieces hearing the manner they died in their attempt to escape the bedlam their country has become. His lens’ expositions focus on emigration and the attendant trauma not told by those who suffer from it. And to shine the light on how they ended, coffined in the dream of escaping Nigeria.

Ruth Chidera Echewe, (Unbreakable) is a writer, editor, media personality and professional blogger. She publishes potpourri of themes in unbreaky.comblog, her personal blog space is called UNBREAKABLE FEATURES. She’s a graduate of English and Literary Studies from the Federal University Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. An indigene of Abia State, Nigeria, but resides in Enugu State.

Ruth, Chidera Echewe is in Imodoye to complete her work: Sisters Series, prose, dealings with humans, certain bonds that sustained our existence and given us a different definition of life. She kindly follows various studies that have proven the strongest bonds emanated from the establishment of relationships. Ruth is motivated by her passion for creativity which has gone ahead to give birth to what she intends to manifest into a publishing, writing and editing firm in the nearest future.

Abubakar Sadiq Mustapha is a poet, art curator, documentary photographer, and community developer. He studied Geology and Mining at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, and currently rounding up his master’s program at the same Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State. Sadiq uses books, photography, and arts in driving social change from girl-child education, and gender-based violence to youth participation in politics and believes in the power of photography and how it can be used toward mental health, is in Imodoye to complete his manuscript: Home is my Mother’s Tongue.

Abubakar is also a photo columnist with Salamander ink magazine and the curator of the Abubakar Gimba literacy campaign. He’s the project lead for The Lapai Bookclub’s mobile library and school, a project that takes reading and arts to grassroots communities in Northern Nigeria aimed at increasing the literacy rate of the region and creating awareness in governance.

Ojo Taiye is a Delta base Nigerian eco-artist and writer who uses poetry as a handy tool to hide his frustration with society. He’s the winner of the Hay Writer’s Circle poetry prize, US, 2021, Calthalbui poetry prize, Ireland 2021. In 2020 Taiye Ojo was selected to participate in Capital City Film Poetry Festival, in Michigan and Poetry Introductory Series, in Ireland. His commissioned works include Belfast Photo Festival 2021, Winnipeg Fringe Festival and Leeds Poetry Festival.

Taiye’s recent works explore neocolonialism, institutionalized violence and ecological trauma in the oil-rich, polluted Niger Delta. His themes deal with the effects of climate change,
homelessness, migration, drought and famine, as well as a range of transversal issues arising from
racism, black identity and mental health. Taiye Ojo is in Imodoye to complete his poetry collection: Scoping Map.

Established by Dr Usman Ladipo Akanbi, the Imodoye Writers Residency is a private initiative for writers and visual artists keen on completing their ongoing work in a conducive environment at no cost. And as part of giving back to the community, during their stay in the residency, the writers are expected to mentor secondary school students in Ilorin in creative art/writing.

By Aisar Fagge

Dauda Lawal, a governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Monday held Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state to a standstill as thousands of his supporters defied security threats to attend his mega rally.

Lawal held the maiden rally after an Appeal Court in Sokoto reinstated him as the PDP governorship candidate, following the nullification of his primary election by a High Court in Gusau.

Thousands of the PDP supporters, from virtually all the 14 Local Government areas of the APC controlled state thronged Gusau to express their support to the party’s flagbearer.

It was observed that Gusau wore a new look on Monday following the huge crowd of the PDP faithful that graced the rally.

Business activities had been paralysed in Gusau as the crowd caused traffic gridlock around the city, especially on the roads leading to the venue of the rally.

Addressing the mammoth crowd when he arrived at the venue on open van, the PDP candidate promised to restore peace in the state ravaged by the activities of bandits.

He also pledged to improve economy, education, health and agriculture in the state.

According to him, Zamfara needs a robust and effective leadership to be revived, especially with the current insecurity bidevelling the state, noting that only PDP has the wherewithal to achieve that.

“Today is a historic day. Today true democracy is being played. We are overwhelmed with this massive crowd. This show that people of Zamfara are ready and want change.

“We will not let you down. We will not disappoint you. You know we impacted your life even when we are out in power. If you elect us, we will do better.

“If you elect me as your governor, i will ensure security is restored in our dear state. We have mechanism and strategies to achieve that.

“I will improve security, health, economy and agriculture, the glory of our state. We will restore our farming activities by God’s grace,” Lawal said.

Some of the PDP faithful that spoke to journalists said they would vote for Lawal because of his resolve to help the poor and the vulnerable.

They said the candidate had impacted the life of many of the people of Zamfara, especially the downtrodden.

“This man, has never been in power but he is doing what even the government is not doing. He helps orphans, widows, physically challenge, executed many projects in communities.

“This man has offered scholarships to hundreds of students, offered empowerment to women and youths, no wonder you see this massive crowd,” said Adamu Nuhu, a PDP supporter.

Another party’s stalwart, Mairo Magaji, said she came from Shinkafi to witness the rally because of what Lawal is doing to people.

She said she has reserved her vote for him in order to support him attain power to continue serving the people of the state.

By Safiyanu Ladan

In the last couple of weeks, Zazzau Emirate was thrown into a bewildering dilemma after the arrest of one Shehu Umar Ciroman Baraya (Emir’s servant) by the police for sodomising a minor and the arrest of Sama’ila Abubakar Rimini Tsiwa for allegedly gang-raping a would-be bride. Both incidents did not go down well with one of the oldest emirates in the country.

The reports of such an abomination, which occurred within a few days, drew condemnations within and outside the emirate. While commenting on the issue of sodomy, the emirate expressed ‘rude shock’, saying that as an institution that believes in the rule of laws, it will not allow any form of immorality to exist within its ambit.

It also appealed to the police and any other security agencies handling the matter to expedite action and ensure that the accused is prosecuted without further delay to serve as a deterrent to others.

While people are still contemplating the vast degree of damage the case of sodomy would bring to the palace following associating the culprit with the revered institution, another one struck. And it’s the most disgusting and disturbing.

Traditional institutions are the custodian of the people’s norms, values, and traditions. As such, people with questionable characters should not be allowed to associate closely with them because their immoral attitudes will tarnish their image and jeopardise their hard-earned values and norms. Therefore, the prompt action of the Zazzau emirate for the immediate dismissal of the randy palace guard and condemning the heinous act of homosexuality is commendable as it would serve as a deterrent to others.

Sexual exploitation in whatever forms are unacceptable. For these rapists to use their positions to obtain sexual favours from vulnerable victims is callous, and it, therefore, stands condemned. Given the current happenings and the rate at which cases of rape are being reported almost daily in our society, the lack of provision of a coherent and vibrant system that will deal ruthlessly with perpetrators to serve as a deterrent to others has aided its escalation.

While noting that the suspects were reportedly prosecuted and currently languishing in prison custody awaiting trials and judgement, I call on the Kaduna state government and other stakeholders not to relent. Instead, you should ensure that the cases are thoroughly investigated and that justice is served accordingly.

Safiyanu Ladan wrote from Zaria via uncledoctor24@gmail.com.

By Aliyu Yakubu Yusuf

Arsenal are far and away the best English Premier League team so far this season. Of course, football is always a team game, but whenever I look at Arsenal, I realise that their title aspiration rests on the form and fitness of five players: Saliba, Zinchenko, Partey, Odegaard, Saka and Jesus.

So far, Arsenal have been lucky with injuries. Their only casualty is Gabriel Jesus, for whom Eddie Nketiah has deputised admirably. But can Arsenal fare well if (or rather when) injuries strike? This is where squad depth comes in handy.

As it stands, Mikel Arteta relies heavily on his preferred starting lineup featuring Ramsdale, White, Gabriel, Saliba, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli and Jesus (Nketiah). If (and it’s a big IF) this group stays healthy and firing on all cylinders, Arsenal will walk away with the English Premier League title.

But has there ever been a coach whose preferred starting lineup stays healthy and firing throughout the season? Well, I don’t know any. So the onus is on Arteta to extract good performances from the likes of Tomiyasu, Tierney, Smith-Rowe, Lokonga, Vieira and Holding. If these fringe players follow the footstep of Nketiah, then Arsenal will be home and dry.

My conclusion is that if Arsenal are ever going to be stopped, it is going to be because of a lack of squad depth. If they are lucky with injuries, then the rest of the Premier League should just aim to be the best of the rest.

Aliyu wrote from Kano, Nigeria. He can be reached via aliyuyy@gmail.com.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Unknown gunmen have stormed the Enugu state office of the National Electoral Commission (INEC) and set the place on fire.

The attack, which was coming few days to the country’s general elections, also lead to the murder of a policeman, who was shot by the gunmen and breathed his last on the spot.

Festus Okaye, the National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, delayed the news go journalists.

He said that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Enugu State, Dr. Chukwuemeka J. Chukwu, reported the incident to the headquarters of the commission.

He added that, “The incident occurred around 9.12pm yesterday, Sunday 15th January 2023. The security gatehouse was razed. Of the two Policemen deployed to protect the facility, one of them lost his life while the other sustained injuries and is receiving treatment.”

“The commission prays for the repose of the soul of the deceased policeman and the speedy recovery of the injured. The attack is being investigated by the security agencies,” Okoye said.

He added that it was very fortunate that the attackers could not gain access to the main building as a result of responses from police and army personnel 82 Division.

By Muhammad Sagir Bauchi

Stabilization of prices and achieving full employment are among the core goals of every economy in their macroeconomic policies. In this case, there are two main approaches to curtail inflation, recession, unemployment and other negative macro-economic phenomena. These approaches are monetary and fiscal policies. While monetary policy refers to the central bank activities which are directed towards influencing the quantity of capital (money) and credit in an economy, fiscal policy refers to the government’s decisions on taxation and spending. Both monetary and fiscal policies are used to regulate economic activities over time. They can be used to accelerate growth when an economy starts to slow or to moderate growth and activity when an economy starts to overheat. In addition, fiscal policy can be used to redistribute income and wealth.

The overall goal of these monetary and fiscal policies is channelled to the creation of a healthy economic environment that could sustain economic growth, facilitate positive employment and stable inflation rate.

In a plain language, the main aim of these two policies is to steer an economy in the sense that the economy does not experience economic boom that could be followed by high period of low or negative growth, high level of unemployment and unstable price. In this situation, people can feel safe in their consumption, savings and investment decision and government could concentrate on economic decision making. And this is where the idea of Monetarist, Classical and Keynesian Schools of Economics come to play, where they have different views in respect to the effectiveness of the two policies.

PHILIPS CURVE FROM A SHORT GLANCE:

The issue of inflation and unemployment is not a new concept in the realm of economics and it’s one of the concepts that reflect the science of economics as a true reflection of reality, since that, almost everyone is feeling the impact of either of the two.

The history of Philips Curve can be traced to the research findings of A.W Philip, an economist who analyzed the relationship between unemployment and the rate of change of money wages in the United Kingdom in the years 1861-1957. At the end of his findings, he suggested that there is an inverse or negative relationship between wages and unemployment. In simple term, he meant that whenever there’s growth in unemployment, there would be a low level of inflation. And the rationale behind the justification of his idea is that wherein there’s employment, people have more money, which leads to high demand for goods and services, and eventually pushing prices up. On the other hand, when there’s a rise in unemployment, INFLATION will go down since there will be low demand for goods and services as there’s less money in circulation.

Philips and Other Economic Perspectives: there are different opinions with regards to the application of the curve and the measures to contain the phenomena.

According to Monetarist School, the issue of unemployment is a supply side phenomena, therefore, demand side measures cannot be used in curtailing them, and even if it occurs, it can be for a temporary and will accelerate price instability at the end. While to the Keynesian school, they argue that there can only be “demand deficient unemployment” And in the time of recession, demand side measures can reduce unemployment for long-term with little of inflation.

Nigeria’s Economic Reality:

In Nigeria, since its independence, unemployment and inflation are among the major distractions in the growth and development of the nation’s economy. This is evident as we are all witnessing a scenario where too much money is chasing few goods and another case of high supply of labor with low demand of it. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics NBS), Nigeria’s inflation rate has been consistently high, averaging around 11% in the past decade. The high inflation rate can be attributed to a number of factors such as the devaluation of the Naira, increase in the cost of imports, and a rise in fuel prices.

In an effort to curb inflation, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has introduced and implemented a number of monetary policies, such as the recent cashless driven economy module; through daily and weekly money withdrawal limit, increasing interest rates, tightening liquidity, devaluing the Naira, etc. However, all these policies have not been entirely successful in bringing inflation under control. Additionally, the Nigerian government has also implemented fiscal and monetary policies such as capping government MDAs cash withdrawals limit to minimal amount, increasing taxes and cutting government spending to curb inflation, however, the effectiveness of these policies remains uncertain and challenging. Same goes to the apex bank ongoing monetary policy, especially the weekly withdrawals limit policy, which is an unprecedented threat to urban and rural businesses due to poor mobile/internet banking mechanisms in the country. As such, the apex bank must address these concerns through shifting the effective implementation date until all the proper mechanisms required to operate a cashless economy are put in place. This can be done if the CBN reasons and constitutes a committee that includes technocrats, bankers and internet service providers, which will make sure that effective moblie/internet services are made available to cover the whole country before the policy kicks off and kicks up.

In conclusion, the relationship between inflation and unemployment as represented by the Philips curve is a complex one that is influenced by a variety of factors. The Nigerian economy is facing significant challenges in terms of cashless economy application, high inflation and unemployment rates, and finding effective solutions to these issues will require a rigorous political will and careful consideration of both monetary and fiscal policies. It is important for the government and the central bank to continue to monitor and analyze economic data and make adjustments to policies as needed, in order to create a stable economic environment that supports growth and employment.

Muhammad Sagir Bauchi, is a graduate of Economics from Sa’adu Zungur University, Gadau, Bauchi State. He can be reached via ibrahimsagir1227@gmail.com

 By Muhammadu Sabiu 
 
AA Ranos petrol station, on the Abuja-Lokoja Expressway, caught fire on Sunday.
 
The Federal Capital Territory police command’s spokesperson confirmed the incident Sunday.
 
She states that the fire broke out when a gasoline tanker was unloading petroleum products at the station.
 
She added that firefighters, police officers, and other emergency personnel are on the scene putting out the fire and making sure that no one or any property is harmed.
 
There is still no information on the havoc wreaked by the inferno.