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By Tajudden Ahmad Tijjani

The Bauchi State government has indeed taken the bull by the horns by suspending the license of all private NCE awarding colleges. It’s a fact that any society that does not prioritise education will retrogress.

The state government’s decision is a welcome development. All private National Certificate of Education ( NCE) granting institutions have had their license revoked in the pearl of tourism because of their negative contribution to the state’s educational development. The standard of education in the state is persistently getting lower. 

For the operators of such mushroom NCEs, losing their license will be a tough pill to swallow. Notwithstanding, it’s the right call from the government’s side because allowing them to continue operating results in the graduation of incompetent, quack teachers who are the benchmark of our state’s underdevelopment.
Indeed, anywhere In the world, the importance of education can never be overemphasised; quality education is essential for long-term development.

Last September, the United Nations (UN) ratified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to serve as benchmarks for every nation to ensure global prosperity, protection of the planet, and poverty eradication.

All countries and stakeholders acting in collaborative partnerships will implement the plan Goal 4—Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning.

The call for a Quality Education, not merely access to any education, by the UN is a great step in ensuring that all children and adults, not just those born with a silver spoon, have access to quality education.

Education is more than just a content delivery system; it is a system designed to help all children and adults reach their full potential and see themselves as contributing partners of society. The former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set the SDG process in motion in 2012 by declaring that every child must be in school. The quality of those schools must improve so that students are prepared to be productive citizens ready to lead the future. 

Indeed, supporters of our beloved state should applaud the Bauchi state government’s decision to not only renew the licenses of these schools but also to sanction any defaulting so-called institutions per existing laws.

 However, let the government ensure that standards are strictly followed, that rich content is provided, and graduates are produced who are assets and productive in the twenty-first century, rather than liabilities.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmud street, Kasuwar-kaji Azare, Bauchi State.

By Salisu Yusuf

Since becoming the crown prince and de facto leader in 2017, Prince Mohammed bn Salman (known as MBS) is stirring controversies in Saudi Arabia and making the country a battleground between the conservative Sunni and trendy Western values.

Immediately after assuming power, MBS declared that the return of ‘moderate Islam’ was key to his plans. MBS’s declaration is an affront to Islam because his statement gives credit to Western media, which categorises Muslim adherents as either ‘moderate Muslim’ or ‘Islamic extremism.’ Such labels are derogatory and indictment; to label somebody as either moderate or extremist Muslim is to say that extremism is an extension of Islam. Moreover, MBS’s statement is a subtle backing to America retaining Guantanamo Bay Camp, where many innocent Muslims are being held without a trial and tortured. 

In 2018, MBS lifted a ban on women drivers. Saudi, being the last country in the world where such provision existed. Many, including Muslims, commanded the move as there’s no available Qur’anic injunction or Hadith that prohibits doing so. However, shortly before the ban was lifted, many women rights activists who campaigned against the ban were rounded up and imprisoned.

Bn Salman is seen by many as a power monger. For example, he was seen in 2017 shortly after becoming the crown prince with the former crown prince, Mohammed bn Nayef, the former pledging allegiance. Bn Nayef is King Salman’s nephew. He’s, therefore, MBS’s cousin. Bn Nayef was seen kneeling and kissing his older cousin’s hand, a gesture disapproved in Sunni Islam.

Saudi annual billion-dollar US arms deal is making Saudi Arabia a laughing stock. Former US President Trump supports Saudi because of the deal, and on the other hand, US moral and financial unconditional support to Israel is a source of concern.

The latest controversy is the mosque speaker restrictions. The Saudi government asks Imams and Muezzin to lower their speakers to a third of their maximum volumes during calls to prayer and during the prayer itself. 

Opponents criticise the restrictions, saying cafes and restaurants could be heard blaring loud music all over the country. Authorities had earlier said they placed the restrictions because parents complained that the speakers disrupt their children while asleep. Even though modern means of a call to prayer, the outrageous number of mosques and airing the prayer itself could be contestable if they’re brought under strict Islamic legal spotlight, some see MBS’s attempt to give some consolation measures to Western nationals living in the Kingdom.

Prince MBS has stepped up his opposition to freedom of expression, arresting and jailing many critics. Some have paid the heavy price with their lives, like the US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was extrajudicially killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Many members of the ruling family were also arrested and imprisoned. They could only be released after paying the state some huge amounts of money, which authorities claimed was payback for alleged corrupt practices. In the past, substantial freedom of expression was allowed, especially on issues of check and balance.

Brazenly, Saudi Arabia has recently signed a 10-year professional wrestling contest show with an American World Wrestling Entertainment Company (WWE). So today, you can go to a stadium in either Jeddah or Riyadh and watch wrestling contests; Royal Rumble, Super Showdown, etc., are a daily occurrence as is seen in Texas, New York, and other cities in America.

Moreover, Hajj has been suspended since last year. The first time a Hajj was suspended since the creation of the Saudi Kingdom in 1932. Many Muslims criticise the move after watching the mammoth crowd that graced the 2020 Euro final played this month (July) at Wembley stadium. Over 60,000 spectators watched the final. Prior to kickup, thousands of Italian and English fans were shown walking en route to Wembley, overlooking the so-called Covid-19 protocols. If Europe, the epicentre of the coronavirus, could gather such huge crowds, they asked, why the international Muslim community could not be allowed to go to Hajj?

As Prince Mohammed bn Salman consolidates power and his father gets older, only time will tell for how long and which of the two contrasting values will win the battle in Saudi Arabia’s mainly Sunni, conservative community.

By Muhammad Sabiu

A 41-year-old man, identified as Hammawa Usman, in Ganye Local Government Area of Adamawa State has been apprehended by the police for beating Rabiyatu Usman, his wife, to death in a fight involving N1,000.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has reported that this was coming almost one week after a similar incident happened in the same state.

“The suspect angrily reacted by hitting her head against the wall… she fell unconscious and was rushed to the hospital where she was later confirmed dead,” Sulaiman Nguroje, Police spokesman, confirmed the incident in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday in Yola.

Mr Nguroje added, “The suspect was apprehended by the police following report received from a relative of the deceased and a good Samaritan.”

As the investigation into the incident is ongoing, the Adamawa State Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Alhaji, has commended the police and people of the community for facilitating the arrest of the culprit. He added that he would soon be prosecuted.

By MA Iliasu

In May 2021, a lecturer of Managerial Economics stood before his graduating students and raised a question: “What is the benefit of government intervention?” And as any man with as little as second-hand knowledge of the economic theory would expect, the response was dominated by arguments raised along market inefficiency corrections. However, the lecturer didn’t seem convinced. He asked once again: “What market inefficiency has the interference of the Nigerian government ever corrected?”. Similarly, the class went silent, a poverty of options so revealing for a graduating year that champions Keynes and government intervention. And for an endeavour so rich with controversy and a lecturer of investment-banking speciality known with open admiration towards a free market, the mood was that he was trying to discredit the whole notion of government intervention, as do many new classicals and monetarists at the encounter with Keynesianism. And who had sufficient reason to blame him?

Meanwhile, while the teacher had a point to discredit government intervention with evidence from Nigerian experience, the encounter also reminds us about the dilemma of the economic society in which unreasonable applied entities bring shame to reasonable economic principles. Indeed, learning the dynamics since the loop in 2008 warrants the argument of government intervening to stimulate the economy proving more viable and efficient than any policy prescription on the alternative, which exonerates the logic of intervention and asks what’s the Nigerian government doing? Yet, it equally seeks to discover what is wrong that’s demoralising the Keynesian tolerance and even the benefit of doubt borrowed by classroom experts?

Inflation in Nigeria is at an all-time high. Productivity is nearing an all-time low. Debt status is rising. The value of the domestic currency is depreciating. The exchange rate is unfavourable. Deficits are being recorded regularly in the balance of payment. At the same time, the impact of the unemployment rate is proving possibly the most threatening phenomenon seen in the country since the Civil War. Among many other disastrous economic signals last seen rallying together, they formed a coalition that devastated a whole economic society in Greece.

The economic culture in Nigeria proves childish at both national and individual levels. A beleaguered government that’s living beyond its means – expenses weigh more than incomes – taking loans from international institutions to cover its deficits with no respect for the weakening revenue base. The inspiration to sustain whose child play also comes from the expectation of bailout in the event the game can no longer be played – which is the likeliest outcome, which at this trend of the global economic crisis is also utterly ill-advised. And the cancerous logic is extending within the economic society.

The individual households whose position proves more difficult have been deliberately imitating the culture in their search for economic escapism. Records show when the Covid-19 loans were made available for employees and business owners to reduce the pain caused by the pandemic, the applicants rallied up to enjoy the incentives without thinking that someday they are expected to pay back. The popular belief is a satirical question that asks: “when the government comes looking for a payback from an insolvent beneficiary, of what grave would be the consequence?” – so much like an institution of government which lost the plot and economic agents who have resented to a carefree, self-destructive autopilot culture.

The fact is when a loan applicant predicts insolvency by the expected time of repayment before even securing the loan in the first place; questions need to be asked on the logic, responsibility and the economic motive behind it. Because it seems like a ploy to use the money on non-renewable and nonrefundable ventures – funding consumption deficits caused by inflation – which is an endemic culture so common among Nigerian economic households. One which was effortlessly taught and subconsciously propagated by the assembly of the states and federal governments that apply for foreign loans to service non-renewable and nonrefundable ventures, mainly covering deficits caused by a high recurrent expenditure that can’t be tamed by achievable income streams, which is also a consequence of the very actions both the government – that’s expecting repayment from people while in itself doesn’t know how to repay its own – and individuals who are swimming deeper into the norm. Such a devastating comedy of errors!

The circle eventually ends up like the Greece economy, where the government was cuffed by debt with no viable formula for repayment. Half of the populace was insolvent and unable to repay loans. The other half came together to endure the torture of the ever-rising inflation, causing more unemployment and a significant reduction in productivity. The unreasonable printing of money in the name of the so-called quantitative easing also destroying the effectiveness of monetary policies by causing the velocity of money to outweigh the productivity. The consequence is more inflation and even lesser productivity.

Meanwhile, such wasn’t the initial logic of government intervention. Securing loans to cover deficits was meant to fund renewable expenditures that shall bring back profitable economic value capable of boosting the repayment process and the fluidity of market efficiency. Rather than amputating the currency and foreign exchange values to secure loans that’ll not only be misused in servicing pensions and luxuries but paradoxically damage the work rate and the effectiveness of hardworking economic enterprise in Nigeria.

An intermediate macroeconomics lecturer once asked in a test: “would Keynes agree with [the] Nigerian government if he was to come back?” during my third year in college. As the lecturer taught, the correct answer was yes because the government embarked upon the Keynesian prescription of the budget deficit and fiscal intervention as unmistakably stated in the annual budget. But I trusted the application of the policy to be so wrong as learnt in the vivid results of the quarters that I couldn’t betray my conscience as to answer yes. No, in my results-backing opinion, Keynes wouldn’t agree with Buhari or any brain in the economic cabinet for that matter. The attempt, whether deliberate or not, is a mockery of the policy. Which instead of stimulating the economy, it’s ending up destroying the engine beyond an easy repair. The Greeks can attest by experience, as shall any Nigerian who’ll live beyond now. So if yes was the correct answer, then no was even a more accurate answer. If all were to be judged from it, Nigeria is the deepest loophole that happens to the logic of intervention. The economy just couldn’t have done any worse in total free-market mode.

Intervention means intervention anywhere in the world. But some interventions are closer in reason to the actual rationale behind intervention than others. To which Nigerian experience is immune. The comedy of errors witnessed in the country is no more than an institution of government subjecting the economy like a nomad does a cow to get milk. How sympathetic of a nomad to feed the cow and ensure its health before milking? Nigerian government can’t say the same with our economy with the direct negligence and the alarming-albeit-avoidable debt culture. A tragedy to the principles! A field day to the policy alternatives! And an absolute joke of applied departments! Lord have mercy!

MA Iliasu is an economist who writes from the ancient metropolis of Kano. He can be reached through his email: muhada102@gmail.com.

By Dr. Aliyu Isa Aliyu and Abdullahi Dogon-Nama (PRO KSA)

Former senator of Kano Central and governor of the state, Engr Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, decried how the current government destroys the state’s existing socio-political and geographical landscapes. He described the government’s leadership style as “amateur”, adding that its people “are always oblivious of the realities”. He disclosed this during a Sallah visit paid to him by the state leadership of Kwankwasiyya Scholars Assembly (KSA), at his Miller Road residence, in Kano State. The Assembly was led by its president, Dr Yusuf Ibrahim Kofar Mata.

Many important Kwankwasiyya dignitaries were in attendance during the visit. They include Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf (Abba Gida-Gida), the popular PDP Kano State governorship candidate; Comrade Aminu Abdussalam, Dr Yunusa Adamu Dangwani, Alhaji Rufa’i Sani Hanga, Barrister Aminu Dala, Prof. Umar Faruq, Alhaji Yusuf Bello Dambatta, Hajiya Ladidi Garko, Hajiya A’in Jafaru, Hajiya Amina HOD, Alhaji Alhassan Doguwa, among many others.

The main aim of the visit is to extend the association’s appreciation, Sallah message and warm greetings to the grand commander of Kwankwasiyya ideology. Dr Kofar Mata added that they were there to update Sen. Kwankwaso on another vital milestone Kwankwasiyya Scholars achieved. This includes showcasing the Assembly members who recently completed their PhDs at various fields of studies from different countries worldwide.

The new-minted PhD holders are Dr Najaf Auwal from Fagge LG (PhD in Business Administration), Dr Mustapha Balarabe Idris (Chemistry), Dr Bashir Ibrahim Linguistic (English), Dr Nura Shanono (Agricultural and Environmental Engineering), Dr Zahradeen Getso (Chemistry), Dr Jibrin Yusuf Habib (Zoology), Dr Abdurrahman Abubakar Dambatta and Dr Zahraddeen Kademi.

Recall that during the leadership of Kwankwaso as the governor of Kano, he sent thousands of the state indigenes with good results in their bachelor’s degrees to further their studies abroad. The programme has been applauded by many people in Nigeria and other important dignitaries around the world.

However, some local champions, especially the opposition politicians, challenged the move, describing it as a waste of money and resources. Moreover, some argued that such degrees could be obtained even in Nigeria. However, Governor Kwankwaso insisted and took the hardest decision of sending the students. As a result, today, even the former governor’s opponents witness the massive success of the scholars who return from different countries with PhDs, some of whom graduated as the best students.

During his speech, Sen. Kwankwaso thanked the representatives of the scholars but lamented the destruction witnessed in the state by the current government. “I have never thought, even in my dreams, that the spacious Kano Eid ground would be defaced as such. But, unfortunately, some anti-Kano politicians have made it a habit to destroy all the spaces and peace of the state for their selfish reasons.”

“Look at the pediatric hospital near the Emir’s house. The governor and his evil cronies are surreptitiously bastardising even the monumental Badala of Kano. I was recently told that Kano State Government had accrued a debt both local and foreign to the tune of 185 billion!” he added.

By Abu Haneef 

It is true that the North and South have rotated the presidency from the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999 until Jonathan truncated it in 2011 after the demise of Umaru Musa Yar’adua. Many have argued that it was practically challenging to stop an acting president from contesting just because of an unconstitutional gentleman agreement, which was put in place by not-so-gentle politicians to rotate the presidency between the North and the South. Although not a valid justification to scrap that agreement, the argument is not entirely incorrect; who could have stopped Jonathan if he wasn’t patriotic enough to put the country ahead of himself? No one.

All that is now history. But what isn’t history is how all the proponents of the rotational presidency during Jonathan are now speaking against rotation; in the very same manner, those that argued against the rotational presidency during Jonathan are now suddenly making a case for rotation. The way both sides exchanged arguments with the change of personalities proves that those arguments were never in favour of the reasons given in the first place. 

While there are some good arguments for and against the rotational presidency in Nigeria, there will never be a good argument for scrapping it when that benefits you, only to turn around and demand rotation when it does not. This double double-standard is against fair play. 

Now let us analyse the case. While the argument for the rotational presidency is valid on the grounds of national security and stability, there are many things wrong about how we are understanding and approaching the rotation—from its premises to our assumptions thereof and many things in between. 

Anyone who understands Nigeria’s politics knows that religion, rather than ethnogeography, is the biggest faultline, albeit with a bit of ethnogeographic connotations here and there. This explains why since 1999, almost all Northern Christians voted for Southern Christians (except where both contenders were Muslims, and even then, they preferred PDP simply for being “more Christian”), despite sharing the same geopolitical threats and opportunities with the Northern Muslims they rejected. Yet, notwithstanding this apparent reality, we chose to premise our rotation on ethnogeographical consideration rather than religion (I’m not making a case for religion here, I’m only analysing our presidential rotation). 

Now let us ask ourselves, what happens if we rotate the presidency to the South and a Muslim, backed by Northern voters, emerges as the president? He would have been a Southern president who would not give the South a sense of belonging. The same will have been the case if a Northern Christian emerges as president. So our current premise for rotation is faulty, and those responsible for it know this; they are only ashamed to premise our rotational presidency on religion because of the global stigma religion faces today. 

Another critical question we haven’t convincingly answered in Nigeria is population spread across Nigeria’s ethnogeographical constituents and religions. Doing this would have removed the heat generated on the polity by the many unrealistic demands currently put forward by all sections of the country. However, we have so many issues to solve, and the best way to start is to answer all the critical demographical questions we haven’t. Only then will every section understand its proper place in the scheme of things, as there are currently huge delusions by many country sections. 

Another problem with this rotation is our constitution, which does not recognise it. This is problematic because people at the opposite faultline can only surrender power based on trust. There is no guarantee that the other region will yield power according to agreed terms. We had seen that in 2011 when Jonathan contested against PDP’s zoning arrangement. Therefore, the question of constitutionality in rotating the presidency must be answered to address the current distrust in the polity. 

Another valid question to answer on presidential rotation is that of fairness, particularly with the way and manner we have seen many agitations for resource control, which led to the creation of 13% Derivation, Ministry of Niger Delta and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Suppose we agree that they deserve more resources only because God planted those resources in their land. In that case, the North can also argue that they deserve to retain political power because the same God that chose to bless Niger Delta with hydrocarbon decided to bless the North with a larger population. Suppose it is fair for Niger Delta to demand resource control. In that case, it is certainly reasonable for the North to require strict adherence to the democratic principle of majority retaining power at all times. That is one consistency of truth we must not skip in our national discourse. 

Conclusively, I submit that the only thing correct about the rotational presidency we argue for or against is the idea of having or not having it, but everything else has either been misunderstood, refused to be understood or deliberately misrepresented. And in these tiny details and questions we repeatedly miss lies most of the solutions we seek elsewhere. 

Abu Haneef can be reached via imabuhaneef@gmail.com.

By Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani

It’s no longer news that Nigerians across the country are lamenting the exorbitant cost of food daily. Those with the president’s ears should tell him the truth or are frightened to inform him his agricultural plans are failing the country’s teeming inhabitants.

Floods have undoubtedly destroyed an unimaginable number of farmlands around the country, significantly hurting farm production across some states of the federation. 

In fact, food inflation has become the norm; sadly, most Nigerians were unable to feed their families. 

The federal government has taken a significant toll on the economy under this administration, with policies that have failed the people. To drive the economy through agriculture, policies that are just, affluent, favourable, and prosperous must be developed and embraced by the majority who chose farming as their source of livelihood.

The President recently blames “middlemen for taking advantage of the local rice production to exploit fellow Nigerians”. One might wonder, are these middlemen ghosts or are they above the law that can’t be brought to book? Saboteurs should indeed face the consequences of their actions. We can’t allow unscrupulous elements to undermine our quest to attend food security. We barely grow what we consume because fertiliser isn’t only unavailable but also prohibitively expensive for ordinary Nigerian farmers. However, the anchor borrowers scheme has not assisted Nigerians in obtaining relief; in fact, it may have resulted in more casualties, given that our borders are restricted, and we are not yet cultivating what is required in the country.

Indeed, new policies must be implemented to ensure that ordinary Nigerians can afford to purchase agricultural commodities. However, I’m pleading with the government to focus more on subsidising agricultural implements to encourage people to embrace farming and find ways to bridge shortages so that food is cheap for the growing population. A hungry man is believed to be an angry man. Nigerians would soundly sleep if food is not only abundant but also affordable, and the problem of malnutrition will undoubtedly be reduced to a manageable level.

Indeed, one of the basic principles of governance is that it must undertake programs that benefit its subjects.

Tajuddeen Ahmad Tijjani writes from Galadima Mahmud street Kasuwar-kaji Azare, Bauchi State.

The Esu Chikun, Chikun Chiefdom area of Kaduna State, His Royal Highness, Dr. Danjuma Barde, passed on this morning. The late monarch died at an Army 44 Reference Hospital in Kaduna after a short admission, according to palace sources.

In a condolence message, Governor Nasiru El-Rufai described late Dr. Barde as “a peacemaker who did not flinch from the challenges of modernity but who fully embraced the possibilities of diversity”.

Tributes and condolence messages have been pouring in nationwide over the death of the Chikun Chiefdom paramount ruler.

I entered the market today to sample ram prices. The big one we bought for N70,000 last year is now N250,000 to N300,000. A medium ram is now N80,000 to N150,000. And a small one is around N60,000 to N70,000. These prices are all depending on the city and the market.

One interesting point that I want to make here is, I am presently in Kano and everything looks cheaper in Kano than in other states in the North and probably in Nigeria at large.

Therefore, what makes ram so expensive giving the fact that it has near 100% local content? First, it has to do with human greed and wickedness. Prices in Nigeria are influenced by approaching festive seasons not and not only the natural and conventional law of demand and supply. There was never a sallah with shortages of rams.

Second, it very clear that there has been food inflation in Nigeria. Rams feed on the by-products of local food staples like wheat, maize, rice, millet, Guinea corn and rice. If they are expensive, their by-products, the offal and chaps will definitely be expensive.

Third, is the devaluation of Naira. With the nation’s currency losing value and the government also officially devaluing it, the purchasing power of Naira will naturally drop, and it is drastically dropping everyday. Naira doesn’t hold much value today compared to last year. Take N20,000 to the market today and you will get 40% value of what it used to be last year.

Then last but not the least is the corruption components added to transportation of rams. The police, VIOs, state traffic agents and other security agencies are all out to make a kill by collecting bribes from all vehicles conveying livestock. There are also middlemen in all markets that impose tolls and illegal taxes on every head of ram.

So what to do?

The best way to go around it is either to buy an alternative to ram like sheep or goat that are cheaper or wait for the purchase a day after sallah when the market is becoming a buyer’s market. There are three days grace for layya. That way you can get ram 30% cheaper.

It is indeed obvious that life is generally not easy in Nigeria! If you are alive and healthy give glory to Allah and do what you can afford. Layya is only compulsory for those that have the means. If you can’t afford ram use your money and face other issues and pray for Allah’s blessings. Don’t overspend because after sallah you will still pay school fees. Those of us with children in universities should also brace up for increase in tuition fees. There is going to be increase in prices of petrol and electricity. The government is just bidding it’s time but mark my words, with crude oil price going up, the government will surely increase petrol price.

I wish all of us a very warm and wonderdul Barka da sallah.

Aliyu Nuhu

Abuja, Nigeria

Reports have indicated that security operatives have successfully apprehended the self-styled Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho) and his wife.

SaharaReporters, an online newspaper, has reported that Igboho was nabbed Monday night after fleeing Nigeria to circumvent arrest by the secret police in Nigeria.

A source in the know of the matter told SaharaReporters that, “Sunday Igboho has been arrested in Cotonou. He was arrested about an hour ago.

“He was supposed to travel to Germany through Cotonou this night. He wanted to leave Africa through Cotonou. He was arrested by security operatives in Cotonou.

“They are planning to bring him back to Nigeria.”

Recently, Nigeria’s secret police had declared Sunday Igboho wanted and was advised to turn himself in after a raid on his home in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The self-styled activist is known for his secessionist agenda and his agitation for the creation of a Yoruba nation, a move the federal government warned against.

This is coming weeks after another separatist, Nnamdi Kanu, was arrested and repatriated to Nigeria after he jumped bail in 2017 on treason charges.