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Through out last week, there were rising fears among the Sudanese as the military were about to intrude into the civilian spaces. Tension was so high, a situation that led to the closure of businesses, offices and many people remained indoors in the Capital city of Khartoum. However, earlier in the morning, there was a reported military coup.

According to CAIRO (AP) — Military forces arrested Sudan’s acting prime minister and senior government officials Monday, disrupted internet access and blocked bridges in the capital Khartoum, the country’s information ministry said, describing the actions as a coup.

In response, thousands flooded the streets of Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman to protest the apparent military takeover. Footage shared online appeared to show protesters blocking streets and setting fire to tires as security forces used tear gas to disperse them.

Protesters could be heard chanting, “The people are stronger, stronger” and “Retreat is not an option!” as plumes of smoke from burning tires filled the air.

A takeover by the military would be a major setback for Sudan, which has grappled with a stop-and-go transition to democracy since long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was toppled by mass protests two years ago.

The United States and the European Union expressed concern over Monday’s developments.

Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. special envoy to the Horn of Africa, said Washington was “deeply alarmed” by reports. Feltman had met with Sudanese officials over the weekend in an effort to resolve a growing dispute between the country’s civilian and military leaders. EU foreign affairs chief Joseph Borrell tweeted that he’s following events with the “utmost concern.”

The first reports about a possible military takeover began trickling out of Sudan before dawn Monday. By mid-morning, the information ministry confirmed that the prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, had been arrested and taken to an undisclosed location. Several senior government figures were also detained, the ministry said in a Facebook post. It said their whereabouts were unknown.

In other hallmarks of a takeover, internet access was widely disrupted and the country’s state news channel played patriotic traditional music. At one point, military forces stormed the offices of Sudan’s state-run television in Omdurman and detained a number of workers, the information ministry said.

Monday’s apparent takeover came after weeks of rising tensions between Sudan’s civilian and military leaders. A failed coup attempt in September fractured the country along old lines, pitting more-conservative Islamists who want a military government against those who toppled al-Bashir in protests. In recent days, both camps have taken to the street in demonstrations.

Under Hamdok and the transitional council, Sudan had slowly emerged from years of international pariah status in which it existed under al-Bashir. The country was removed from the United States’ state supporter of terror list in 2020, opening the door for badly needed international loans and investment. But the country’s economy has struggled with the shock of a number economic reforms called for by international lending institutions.

There have been previous military coups in Sudan since it gained its independence from Britain and Egypt in 1956. Al-Bashir came to power in a 1989 military coup that removed the country’s last elected government.

Among those detained Monday, in addition to Hamdok, were five senior government figures, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share information with the media.

Those detained included Industry Minister Ibrahim al-Sheikh, Information Minister Hamza Baloul, and Mohammed al-Fiky Suliman, member of the country’s ruling transitional body, known as the Sovereign Council, as well as Faisal Mohammed Saleh, a media adviser to Hamdok. Ayman Khalid, governor of the state containing the capital, Khartoum, was also arrested, according to the official Facebook page of his office.

After news of the arrests spread, the country’s main pro-democracy group and the Sudanese Communist Party issued separate appeals for Sudanese to take to the streets.

Separately, the Communist Party called on workers to go on strike in an act of mass civil disobedience after what it described as a “full military coup” orchestrated by the Sovereign Council’s head Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

By Aliyu Nuhu

Kano State governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje congratulated his predecessor and former boss, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, on his birthday. I feel Kwankwanso and Ganduje will surely one day reconcile. These people have come a very long way together. It is the political devil that is harassing their conscience and calculations. However, their supporters gave Ganduje’s birthday message different interpretations and are killing themselves over it.

Kwankwasiyya followers said it was hypocrisy and deception. Some of them viewed it as a nice gesture. On the other hand, the Gandujiyya followers said it was a respect for the former governor.

Either way, I see it as an important step in building bridges and mending fences. How I wish Kwankwaso will, one day, do the same!

The supporters of the two camps should sit and just watch the two gladiators keenly and carefully. They shouldn’t be fighting and insulting one another. One day they Kwankwaso and Ganduje will reconcile. There is no permanent enemy in politics.

I am sure with time you will see Kwankwaso hugging Ganduje and singing his praises. On the other hand, Ganduje has always reached out and is still referring to Kwankwaso as his political father.

With this kind of move, reconciliation is easy.

Who expected Abubakar Rimi and Sabo-Bakin Zuwo to become friends again? Who expected Atiku Abubakar and General Olesagun Obasanjo to come back together? Who knew Nasiru El-Rufai and General Muhammadu Buhari would be together again.

On the flip-side who expected Buba Galadima and Buhari or Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and Buhari to part ways. One day they will also reconcile.

That is politics for you. Don’t lose sleep over politicians and their fights. They are very selfish and deceptive!

By Uzair Adam Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari will leave for Saudi Arabia Monday, October 25, 2021, to take part in the 5th edition of the flagship investment event by business executives from Nigeria.

This was contained in a release issued on Sunday by the presidential media aide, Malam Garba Shehu, adding that the aim of the conference is to discuss issues on the future of investments across the globe.

However, Buhari is said to be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb Zubairu Dada; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva; National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen Babagana Monguno; Director-General of National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar and other public officeholders.

On the other hand, the conference will also host participants from private sectors like Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Tope Shonubi, Wale Tinubu, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, Hassan Usman, Omoboyode Olusanya, Abubakar Suleiman, Herbert Wigwe and Leo Stan Ekeh.

Shehu added that, after the conference, Buhari will perform a lesser Hajj before returning to the country on Friday.

By Hamid Al-Hassan Hamid

I wrote twice about possible attacks on our rail tracks; it is just a matter of time. This, in my opinion, is just a test run; expect more to come if we continue to neglect simple and sincere advice due to ineptitude and corruption. The rail tracks are not left alone, on their own, anywhere in the world. They are protected, monitored and secured. It is done through determination and sincerity of purpose. How many souls would have been lost had the rail skidded and crashed! How disastrous!

Again, with all our tech universities, we cannot build local drones to fly 24/7 and monitor at least our rail tracks. The only thing our professors are good at is attacking another person who became a professor that they do not like.

The technology we need to curb these security challenges is too expensive to buy; we do not have the money. But it is cheaper to develop, and we can do that locally.

I once reached out to MTN, asking how much it would cost me to connect drones that will fly across the country, especially our forest, for intelligence gathering. I will build the server, and they will provide the network, without the Internet data, I don’t need the internet. They gave me two options:

1. Pay 150,000 naira monthly to connect as many drones as possible nationwide.

2. Make them partners in the project, and I will not have to pay a dime.

They needed confirmation and approval from appropriate security bodies. It has been about a year or so now. Getting the interest of the appropriate security bodies alone is more complex than quantum physics.

In Africa, the only thing we love is physical cash, but I don’t blame us. I just pray that God cures our sickness soon.

We need to establish private tech defence companies that are private entities and not owned by the government.

Artificial Intelligence has more practical use cases in Africa. In addition, it will be easier to implement because the biggest fear against Artificial Intelligence is that it will compete with humans in jobs and take away those jobs.

Africans don’t want jobs; they just want to have something to eat throughout the week. Forget about the rampant cry of unemployment. As soon as you employ, you will begin to see. Artificial Intelligence will have no resistance in Africa, especially in security.

What shall we do?

I have been getting messages and comments from brothers trying to help with the Private Defence Tech Company Startup. Some proposed sending proposals to either Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Professor Ali Ibrahim Pantami or Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. Some also proposed promoting the idea in media houses until it reaches the ears of those in power.

First of all, I have access to Professor Pantami through childhood friends who can meet him whenever they want to. I also know people that can reach the VP. But I disdain the idea of sending proposals.

This is what I am doing at the moment:

I have a team of four individuals with backgrounds in the military and tech. We are making plans to partner with anybody (with genuine sincerity) interested in starting something simple that can be pushed into the market for testing and continue building from there.

At this point, what we want is to partner with the research department of any Nigerian university, military institutions like the Airforce Institute of Technology (AFIT), or the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). We want to start by building an AI that will be able to:

1. Identify faces at entrances through cameras.

2. Log check-in and checkout time of each face.

3. Determine if anyone checked in and did not check out, and report such cases to analyse the data to know why such checkout did not occur. The checkout may be missed because the camera did not capture the face or another exit was used, in which case we would like to know if the use of such alternate exits is valid and improve the AI to be more accurate with regards to missing faces.

4. Print out daily, weekly, monthly and yearly statistics on such check-ins and checkouts per individual and the whole entrants.

5. Try predicting possible movements of each individual based on the data collected as they grow.

6. Send silent alerts to mobile phones of respective security personnel on duty if a breach in the entry is detected, for example, an individual using an entrance or exit that is not within their jurisdiction.

We can develop the AI, create the server, and assist with the statistics as part of our responsibility.

We can start by using cheap Android phones as cameras at respective entrances and exits by connecting them to the server via wifi; this cuts down costs by far at the initial stage.

We want to grow the system gradually by later introducing drones to fly outside and see if they can recognise personnel that have been logged in the building at various entrances, identify the cars they use, log their car plate numbers, identify what canteen they like taking coffee within the vicinity and so on. Then gradually scale to state and federal levels.

It is very simple. But can corruption and corrupt individuals allow this?

Hamid is a social commentator, an expert in AI and writes from Sudan.

By Abdurrahman Muhammad

His Eminence, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar MNI, has honoured a Keke Napep rider, Malam Akilu Gangare in Jos, with the sum of NGN500,000, for returning NGN500,000 left in his Keke Napep to its rightful owner.

A passenger boarded Malam Akilu’s Napep to a particular place. After reaching his destination, the passenger hurriedly alighted leaving his back behind. A little while longer, Malam Akilu sighted the bag in his Napep after his passenger has disappeared. He opened the the bag out of curiosity only to see a large sum of money NGN500,000 inside.

Malam Akilu quickly turned back in search of the passenger. After he located him, he handed him back the bag with his money intact.

On receiving the news, His Eminence the Sultan made the necessary investigation and the information turned out to be true.

Yesterday, Saturday, 23-10-2021, His Eminence rewarded Malam Akilu in Jos with the sum of NGN500,000. The exact amount he honestly returned to the owner.

For His Eminence, this is not the first time of doing this kind of great gesture. He has done it several times before. It is his way of rewarding honesty and encouraging people to be good citizens.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Dear Buni,

We need to talk; governance is beyond speeches. It requires actions, commitment and foresight. There is no place in history for those that failed to deliver the mandate given to them in any democratic polity. The world’s political leaders continue to champion the ideal democracy, tell voters you know the best, use your voice to bring change and take ownership of your destiny in knowing the details and aspects of governance. This gives prudent leaders the zeal and passion for taking responsibility, for leading by example. To incorporate new ideas and creativities, which provide an avenue for feedback and to believe in criticisms. These are the attributes that make them stand out amidst many challenges.

However, if we are to measure the growth and progress of our society, the indices we can use is education because acquiring quality and functional education is the concern of every community. That is why scholars in the field of public policy emphasize that, when it comes to educational policy, the stakeholders and actors are paramount to the policy’s success. They need to be integrated, involved, and allowed to participate freely without hindrance from the policy formulation and implementation stage. All their ideas and contribution need to be examined, analyzed and incorporated into the policy. They need to feel important in every step of the policy process. This will give them ample opportunity to take ownership and responsibility for its success and bring about a higher level of commitment in implementing the objective of the policy.

You declared a ‘state of emergency on basic and secondary education’ on your assumption of office. We all cheered and understood something needed to be done to save the sorry state of education. We believe in your powerful speeches on the first-ever ‘Educational Summit’ held in Yobe state. You declared that “I know there are a lot of complaints about some teachers, who are not qualified to teach, and complaints about some teachers who are not able to speak or write well in [the] English Language. This has to change”. We all hailed again, thinking the messiah and symbol of hope had arrived.

From your oratory speeches, we develop confidence that today’s governance transcends what had happened in the previous administrations. We all got a sigh of relief and hoped new ideas and philosophies would guide your administration. The people of outstanding calibre would be called to serve the state, people with foresight and reason.

The problems facing the Basic and Secondary Education policy are many. The broad objective of the policy was in papers, and in practice, it did not demonstrate what it entails. The problem emanated from the formation of the team or committee saddled with the responsibility to craft the policy and to non-involvement and proper participation of actual stakeholders: Teachers, Headmasters/Headmistress, Education Secretaries, etc. Supervisors, Zonal Inspectorates, former and serving Principals and parents of the pupils/students. These are the most important actors and stakeholders alongside the legislative and civil society organizations (CSOs).

This action makes the policy a product of educational elitism or an avenue of wasting state resources. It did not reflect the wishes and aspirations of the general populace. It did not cover every stakeholder because most of the committee members are teaching in higher institutions of learning. They don’t have actual expertise in what it takes to make primary and secondary education functional. The committee lacks the wisdom or vision to go beyond their thinking to involve the real stakeholders in generating the policy ideas.

Since the signing of the committee’s report on January 16, 2020, by you, and declared that “all hands must be on deck to actualize the goals of the policy”, eleven months later, on December 16, 2020, Daily Trust released a survey of the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria by Nigerian Education Data Survey (NEDS). Yobe state has 57 per cent of school children in the country, and this figure corresponds with the technical committee’s report that 40% of Yobe children are out of school.

What have you done to improve the students’ enrollment and retention in the state, enhance teachers’ capacity, and employ new ones to fill the gap? The emergency is not about pronouncing a word; it requires action, and, in this part, you failed to lead and hold the oath of office you took to manage the affairs of state that you’re ready to make education functional and accessible. Leadership is all about making an impact in people lives you promise to govern.

I was surprised by the emergency in education, particularly the deduction of teachers’ salaries in August and September. Everybody knew there was uncertainty in revenue generated and allocated to the state, but this would not be an excuse. You need to understand, the critical stakeholders in achieving the goals of your policy are teachers. How can you declare an emergency on a sector hoping to improve it but end up eating their hard-earned cake?

You need to double teachers’ salaries and allowances, provide proper capacity building training, provide accommodation, and motivate them to work hard. This singular action smeared the image of your administration. Unless you reverse this policy of salaries deduction and apologize to them for the hardship and problem your administration causes them, you’re heading in the wrong direction.

Moreover, as we all know, the significant source of revenue to finance all the intended projects are Federal Allocation. Due to uncertainties in the global oil market, the government should review the policy and allow all relevant stakeholders to review and execute the policy. The government should cut the cost of governance, reduce unnecessary expenses, and accommodate all the projects you intend to achieve in realizing functional education in the state.

In all the projects done in some schools across the state, the major funders of these projects are donor agencies and development partners in collaboration with the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and North East Development Commission. However, what is the role of other institutions, especially the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, in complementing the efforts of these Donor agencies in making and realizing the objective of the policy? Unfortunately, we do not see their visibility, even the recruitment of SUBEB, for almost a year, there is no result.

Given the background above, we need to sit down and talk about governance. History is there to those who leave a golden legacy or otherwise ensure your government adopts a participatory approach to policymaking involving all stakeholders. The policy should be the product of citizenry wishes and aspirations by allowing them to participate in policy design and implementation, enhance teachers’ and administrators’ capacity with the sole aims of improving their productivity and increasing their salaries and allowances.

Funding is key to achieving the policy’s objectives; 26% of budgetary should be allocated to education and ensure proper utilization. In addition, you need to create a Basic Education Trust Fund (BETF), be managed by accomplished education administrators, and provide robust and proper collaboration and partnership with Donor Agencies and Development partners. What we want from you is action and taking responsibility to show you can do it.

Umar Yahaya Dan-Inu wrote from Hausari Ward, Nguru. He can be contacted via umarnguru2015@gmail.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

By Uzair Adam Imam

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to embrace peace, stating that Nigerian universities have had enough strikes.

Buhari, who was representated by Professor Ingnatuis Onimawo, made the plea on Saturday, 23-10-2021 as he was delivering a speech at a convocation ceremony in the University of Ilorin.

The president also stated that the dialogue is always better than the conflict as no any gain ever driven from crisis.

However, he added that a lot of time had been wasted as a result of Corona virus pandemic, thereby saying the university system cannot afford to withstand any crisis now.

1. The president was quoted saying: “Let me also use this opportunity to appeal to members of ASUU to embrace peace. They should realise that dialogue is always better than conflict. No one gains from crisis. While government alone cannot solve all challenges facing a society, this administration is willing to listen to complaints and alternative points of views to managing a situation.”

“The university system cannot withstand any crisis now considering the time it had lost to Coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

Speaking on the issue of Corona virus, the president said: “I expect our universities to conduct researches targeted at discovering an antidote to it. Universities are expected to focus their research on challenges facing our societies and find practical solutions within the context of national development.”

“I therefore challenge the Universities to give their best in the fight against this common and unrelenting enemy of humanity. I enjoin our researchers to collaborate among themselves and look forward to bringing an effective solution to this medical challenge.”

“The nation expects University of Ilorin to play a leading role in the research efforts to develop Covid 19 in Nigeria.

“The nation expects nothing less from the Nigerian University system”, he added.