National

By Haroon Aremu 

Upon graduating from university, I eagerly anticipated joining the mandatory one-year national service with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). I shared my excitement with friends, but not all were keen to join immediately. One friend said he needed to hustle and build his career first. However, I wanted to finish it quickly and move on to my next life phase. So, I registered and subsequently got mobilised for a three-week-long camping/orientation.

Embarking on the journey to join the NYSC is more than just a transition to adulthood; it is a rollercoaster ride filled with unexpected twists and turns. 

Call up letter came, and it stated that  I was to camp at Niger State, Paikoro local government, Paiko camp, but after that three weeks, I am to complete my service in Abuja. I was happy and prepared to travel, as I had never been to Niger State before. I learned that Niger State is one of the largest states in terms of landmass. I thought about how beneficial it would be for the federal government to collaborate with NYSC and invest in agriculture to empower graduates to develop their futures. This would surely boost the economy at both the federal and state levels.

Before setting off, a friend’s cautionary words lingered in my mind. He chose to prioritise his career over immediate service, urging me to hustle first. However, my eagerness to dive into the experience outweighed any apprehensions. NYSC is a mandatory scheme for all graduates, except those over thirty, who are usually issued an exemption letter.

The night before departure, a subtle warning on the NYSC documentation reminded us not to travel at night—a precaution that resonated deeply. Despite the allure of reaching our destination quickly, we chose safety over haste, breaking our journey when dusk fell. This lesson applies beyond NYSC, reminding us that vigilance is key even in seemingly safe spaces.

As we embarked on our journey, camaraderie filled the air. The sense of unity was palpable while travelling alongside fellow prospective corps members. From shared laughter to prayers for safe travels, each moment cemented the bonds of camaraderie that NYSC fosters. My journey was fascinating, especially with a friend assigned to the same state. “Corpers on board” was boldly written on our vehicle, and the people we passed hailed and prayed for our safe journey. We chatted and played music, making the trip memorable.

Yet, amidst the laughter and anticipation, a stark reality halted us. Amid lush landscapes, armed men appeared—a stark reminder of the world’s unpredictability. It was a wake-up call, underscoring the importance of vigilance even in seemingly serene surroundings. We stopped at a canteen to eat a sumptuous meal, enjoying the privileges of being a corps member. Continuing our journey, we enjoyed the natural beauty of Nigeria’s landscapes.

However, amidst the tension, there were glimmers of hope. Security checkpoints operated by dedicated officers reassured us of their commitment to our safety. Their professionalism and integrity stood as beacons of hope on an otherwise uncertain journey.

The most unexpected twist came when a seemingly menacing encounter turned into a moment of levity. Startled awake by a tap on the shoulder, I found myself face-to-face with an armed security officer, his stern demeanour giving way to a shared joke. In that moment, fear melted into laughter, reminding me that amidst life’s uncertainties, moments of joy abound.

The journey left an indelible mark as we finally arrived at our destination. From cautionary tales to unexpected camaraderie, each moment was a testament to the importance of preparation and vigilance. As I shared my story with my hustling friend, who had chosen a different path, I couldn’t help but wonder what adventures awaited him. For in the journey of NYSC, every twist and turn is a chapter waiting to be written, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the bonds that unite us all. This is the essence of NYSC, preaching national unity and peace.

Apart from the interesting aspects of NYSC, I believe numerous advantages will convince you to join the program. If you want to know the funny joke the officer cracked with me, I guess you should also prepare to go to your NYSC to experience how interesting and memorable the journey was. As long as we take the necessary security precautions and avoid rough driving, NYSC ensures our safety because we are all dear to the government.

Haroon Aremu Abiodun is a youth Corp Member with PRNigeria centre, Abuja and wrote in via exponentumera@gmail.com.

By Lawan Bukar Maigana

The rise of Umar Bush, a popular Hausa skitmaker notorious for insulting people, to stardom is unbelievably incomprehensible, justifying Allah’s incredible ability to enrich whom He wishes regardless of their decency or otherwise.

It is Allah alone who knows how he got there. Many people thought his popularity was going to be short-lived, like that of Alhaji Rufai, but that is not the case. He’s now targeted by skitmakers in the Southern part of Nigeria. God is great! New deals are underway.

His unimaginable progress reminds me of the time when an elderly man looked at me in our area during Ramadan and said that I would become a governor. However, a few of my closest friends, whom I thought would be the first to say ‘Insha Allah’, were the ones who contested against me. Indeed, life is greater than our sentiments, and it shall happen if He wills.

When he first came to the limelight comedically, many people thought he was a madman who needed intervention from a psychiatric hospital because of the way he speaks and relates to people. Some netizens even donated thousands of Naira, amounting to over a million Naira, which was later transparently given to his relatives after he had a misunderstanding with his manager, who is also from Kano, labelling it as ‘his end.’

A day later, his manager posted on his personal Facebook page announcing their resettlement with Umar Bush, assuring their audience of their continued efforts to reach stardom.

Ahmed Musa, a renowned Nigerian footballer who plays both in and outside Nigeria, saw Umar Bush’s comical clips trending on Instagram and Facebook and decided to host him at his residence in Kano. Inviting him was a big drama, as he had many misunderstandings and disagreements with all of them, insulting his managers and tagging one of them as his ‘enemy of progress.’

When given lots of Maltina and asked to extend it to one of the team members whom he perceived as an antagonist, he started a fresh drama, insulting him unstoppably until Ahmed Musa intervened and gave him one million naira.

A few days ago, he allegedly signed a ₦100m deal with Ziptol, a company that produces powder detergent, among other detergents. He’s now a millionaire, and I foresee bigger deals coming his way.

Perhaps it is my turn to be insulted comically when he sees this article, especially if he is told that I demanded he pay me for writing about his uncommon sagacious rise to stardom amidst all odds. If you know him or know anyone close to him, tell him that he should pay for this article; else, I will join Sadiq to disturb his life.

Lawan Bukar Maigana writes from Maiduguri and can be reached via email: lawanbukarmaigana@gmail.com.

By Haroon Aremu

For nearly 50 years, we have sung “Arise, O Compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey……,” pledging our loyalty to one nation bound in freedom, peace, and unity. But now, we are directed to change our national anthem. Could it be a strategic way of following the popular saying  Changing Narrative to Change Society or does this mean as compatriots we are now handicapped and cannot listen and obey Nigeria’s call anymore? Does it mean there is no more strength, love, and faith to serve our fatherland? Does it mean the labor of our heroes past has been in vain? Are we no longer able to serve with heart and might?

These are the questions lingering in masses mind as the national anthem has been changed. Many Nigeria citizens are clamoring: of all the changes that needed to be made, why the national anthem, especially during such times of hardship? Has the message of the anthem adopted in 1978, created by the five members of the Nigerian Police Band, lost its relevance?

Some citizens have given up hope that Nigeria can ever be better. But should this be our attitude? Instead of succumbing to pessimism, we should strive to refurbish our nation with optimism and prayer. When Americans wake up, they say “God bless America.” When we wake up, we often curse our leaders and condemn our country, forgetting that such negativity can have repercussions bouncing back to us.

The compatriots who built this country are not here to witness its destabilization. If we do not want their labor to be in vain, we must practice the values preached by our new anthem. Nigeria’s growth concerns not only the government but all its citizens.

The legislature has said that the newly launched national anthem serves as a beacon of hope and reassurance, starting with “Nigeria, we hail thee.” Are we hailing our dear native land for enduring economic hardship and remaining patient as we face daily challenges?

Change begins with us, at the individual level. Why are we not standing in brotherhood, despite our different tribes and tongues? Are we truly proud to serve our sovereign motherland?

As a member of the NYSC, one of the core aims we are exposed to is to promote national peace, togetherness, rehabilitation, reconstruction, and reconciliation of a torn-up country. Part of the bedrock of good governance is for the citizens to be involved in governance and also promote it. 

The National Youth Service Corps has been a supportive system for good governance from inception till date and it will always be.  The NYSC stands as a strong pillar that advocate for  good government policy.  Despite the economic hardship and the challenges we face, the NYSC continues to instill a sense of optimism and duty among the youth. 

The NYSC’s role in promoting government policies, such as the change of the national anthem, is crucial since the youth are a very important tool for the promotion of government policy, and through the NYSC, people learn to practice the values of unity, peace, and justice, which are embedded in the anthem and are essential for national development.  

Recently, I watched an interview asking people in the diaspora about the laziest African flags, and some chose Nigeria, does our tendency to take our nation’s issues with a grain of salt and not take them seriously as a people have any thing to do with their choice? Should that be the case? They forgot that our flag’s colors represent something meaningful: the two green stripes symbolize natural wealth, and the white symbolizes peace and unity. We should be proud of our flag because it is our symbol that truth and justice reign. Let us strive to improve on truth and justice for our nation’s growth so that we can hand over a banner without stain to the next generation.

There is a saying that a river that forgets its source will dry up. Let us be hopeful that going back to our source anthem will be a turning point for Nigeria. We should continue to pray with this saying: “Oh God of creation, grant this our request, by helping us to build a nation where no man is oppressed, and so with peace and plenty, Nigeria may be blessed.”

Let us hope that in this era of renewed hope, we are on the path to greatness and prosperity in our dear country. Promoting togetherness, avoiding tribalism and religious nepotism, and coming together as one nation are essential. There is a glimpse of hope that Nigeria will be great again, but it starts with each of us doing our part, not by condemning others. The NYSC scheme fosters this spirit of togetherness and national pride, reinforcing that change begins with us at the individual level. 

Nigeria’s journey to greatness begins with every citizen committing to unity, peace, and justice. By working together and supporting each other, we can ensure that the labor of our heroes past was not in vain and build a prosperous future for generations to come. May Nigeria be blessed!!

Haroon Aremu Abiodun is a youth corp member with PRNigeria center, Abuja and wrote in via exponentumera@gmail.com.

By Dr Raji Bello

Our high-maintenance and strangely imaginative federal legislators have embarked on another fancy idea for solving our country’s problems – a single six-year term for federal and state chief executives. I have since realised that Nigerians would suggest anything as a way out of our problems other than the most pertinent one: defeating impunity. At the current rate that our National Assembly is moving, we will wake up one day to hear a motion to return the country to using miles instead of kilometres as a way to improve efficiency. 

Although I advocate for replacing our current system with a more centralised one, I have never doubted that the country’s most important problem is that its citizens can conduct themselves without any fear of consequences.

The fear of consequences has always moderated human behaviour and has brought peace, order, stability and prosperity to human societies. Even the most sophisticated countries in the world today have never thought of lifting the threat of consequences for law-breaking on their citizens. But Nigeria has decided that applying consequences for breaking the law is unkind and should be done away with. 

We are always unwilling to punish wrongdoing while also being unable to do so. As a result, we keep moving from chaos to dysfunction and back to chaos again. And each time we sit and ponder over potential solutions, we always look away from impunity – we feel that some cosmetic changes could rescue us while we allow our personally profitable culture of impunity to remain.

When our electoral system is not working, we think of changing electoral laws but without punishing those who broke the existing laws. Hardly anyone is in jail at the moment in Nigeria for sponsoring or perpetrating electoral violence, and the infamous former Adamawa INEC commissioner has still not been punished one year after he wilfully infused chaos into the state’s governorship election. 

We are incapable of punishing corruption by our VIPs; our most celebrated cases—Abacha loot, Alamieyeseigha, and Ibori—only happened because foreign countries assisted us. The Halliburton and Siemens bribery scandals were never punished in Nigeria, although both companies were prosecuted in their home countries for the crimes that they committed in Nigeria. 

It took the determination of the UAE and the US, not Nigeria, to finally put scammer Hushpuppi away. We have managed to convict kidnapper Evans after several years of trial, but there are now fresh attempts to arrange a plea bargain for him. As big as the problem of oil theft is in our country, only foreigners and other minor individuals have ever been convicted of the offence. 

A notorious bandit, who could not be arrested in Nigeria, was intercepted recently when he crossed the border into the Republic of Niger. If not for the help from the same Niger, we would also not have Abdulrashid Maina in prison by now. Nnamdi Kanu jumped bail and left Nigeria while our security looked the other way and it took the cooperation of Kenya to get him back. 

In the Boko Haram theatre, terrorist kingpins only die from infighting among their factions, not by getting killed by the authorities. Any terrorists that we actually capture are given a pardon and ‘rehabilitated’ in camps in our towns, where they end up living side-by-side with their terrified former victims. Over a dozen soldiers were killed on active duty in Delta State without any accountability by the culprits in that act, but we were surprised when five were killed yet again in Abia State. 

The few VIPs that we have managed to jail for corruption after long trials were given official pardons by the former president of Nigeria, whose pardon list also included ‘common criminals’ jailed for offences like the 419 scam. Donald Trump and Hunter Biden have just been convicted of, guess what, lying, but Nigeria could not as much as arrest and arraign Yahaya Bello for looting public funds and the famous case of our former Accountant-General Ahmed Idris has not taken off yet. 

Senator Omo-Agege was fingered by the police for the theft of the Senate’s mace but he got promoted to deputy senate president soon after. Ahmed Lawan has regained his senate seat without really participating in a valid electoral contest. He did not contest in the original primary but got his party to stage another one for him after he had decided that he wanted to be a senator again, not president. With his ‘victory’ in the arranged primary, he got the Supreme Court to support him via a 3-2 split decision. The same individual spoke to the BBC Hausa a few days ago as an elder statesman, where he proffered solutions to the problems of Nigerian democracy. There is no way that a country with such brazen industrial-scale duplicity would make any headway.

Open incitement is largely consequence-free in the country, and the perpetrators know that. Our Islamic clerics who went to foreign countries to study must have seen how public preaching is highly regulated in these countries. All Friday sermons are written by the state, and Imams get fired for merely letting substitute Imams deliver their government-authored sermons. But the same clerics return to Nigeria to assert their freedom to speak publicly in any way that they choose. For Nigerians, democracy is the same thing as lawlessness.

Well, there are no new laws or new political systems that could work side-by-side with impunity. We must defeat impunity first before anything else would work. Impunity begets even more impunity, unleashing a catastrophic loop. As long as the average Nigerian does not fear possible consequences for their actions, we will never be a normal country.

By Uzair Adam Imam

Former Kano State Governor, Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, has taken legal action against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to prevent his arrest. The suit, filed at the Kano High Court, has been assigned to Justice Yusuf Ubale.

According to sources, the lawsuit aims to restrain the EFCC from detaining Kwankwaso, who is currently under investigation for an alleged involvement in a N2.5 billion campaign fund fraud associated with the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP). The anti-graft agency had previously interrogated him regarding the matter.

Kwankwaso’s move comes as a preemptive measure to avoid arrest and potential detention by the EFCC. The case is ongoing, and further details are expected to emerge in the coming days.

In a related development, the EFCC has been actively pursuing cases of fraud and corruption, with recent arrests and prosecutions of suspected internet fraudsters and electricity agency officials.

This legal battle between Kwankwaso and the EFCC is a significant development in the ongoing fight against corruption in Nigeria, and it remains to be seen how the court will rule in this case.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Federal Government and the organised labour have reached an agreement on the minimum wage, ending the strike action that started on June 3, 2024.

The agreement was signed on Monday night after a meeting that started at 5:00 pm and ended at 11:00 pm.

Although the details of the agreement are not yet public, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, confirmed that the government is committed to paying a minimum wage higher than N60,000.

He also assured that no worker would be victimized for participating in the strike.

The national tripartite committee on minimum wage will meet daily for the next week to finalize the details of the agreement.

The labour leaders and government officials expressed optimism that the agreement would bring an end to the strike and restore normalcy to the country.

The strike, which started on June 3, had paralyzed economic activities in the country, with many businesses forced to shut down.

The agreement is seen as a positive development, and many are hoping that it would bring an end to the strike and restore normalcy to the country.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has urged the Organised Labour in Nigeria to reconsider their planned strike action scheduled to commence on Monday, June 3, 2024.

In a statement released by his media team on Sunday night, the Sultan appealed to the labour leaders to consider the potential hardships their action may cause Nigerians.

“The Labour leaders should consider the overbearing effects of the strike action they plan to embark upon on the wellbeing of the same Nigerians, whose interest they are fighting to protect, and therefore shelve the industrial action,” he said.

The Sultan emphasized the importance of negotiation, encouraging the labour leaders to continue engaging with the government.

“We appeal to Labour not to take the nation through another leg of hardship… They should try to listen to the government while the government should listen to them and both parties arrive at a conclusion that will be beneficial to all Nigerians, with the working class inclusive,” he said.

Drawing from his personal experience in past negotiations between labour and government, the Sultan acknowledged the labour leaders’ efforts to advocate for better welfare for their fellow workers.

However, he cautioned them to consider the potential consequences of their actions and to prioritize compassion.

“You are doing what is right for your class of fellow workers, but you should do it within the ambit of compassion and see strike always as the last option,” he said.

By Uzair Adam Imam 

Former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar expressed his satisfaction with handing power over to a democratically elected president in 1999.

Abubakar made this disclosure during an interview with journalists over the weekend. 

He stated, “Not at all! Not at all! Not at all! I am happy with what is going on. Yes, everything is not perfect, but here we are today, celebrating 25 years of unbroken democracy.”

Abdulsalami, who handed over power to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, acknowledged that while there are still challenges, Nigeria has made significant progress since 1999.

“We are not yet there but have come a long way since 1999. The only drawback we have in the system is people still sell their votes, and they do all types of things; they allow the politicians to use them in ballot box snatching here and there – unnecessary things that we should have overcome at this age.”

He emphasised the importance of voters holding elected officials accountable and lamented that some individuals still engage in vote-buying.

“Unfortunately, I still maintain, there are some very few people who abuse the process and they allow their votes to be bought. 

“And if they are buying these votes, certainly they cannot be called to be accountable, the people who are being so elected.”

Despite these challenges, Abdulsalami expressed optimism about Nigeria’s democratic progress and the growing awareness among citizens that their votes matter.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The Federal Government has stated that it cannot meet the labour unions’ demand to increase the national minimum wage from N30,000 to N494,000.

According to the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, the demand would result in a total wages bill of N9.5 trillion yearly for federal workers alone, potentially destabilizing the economy and jeopardizing the welfare of over 200 million Nigerians.

The government offered a 100% increase to N60,000, which has been accepted by the private sector.

However, labour is seeking a 1,547% increase to N494,000.

The minister appealed to labour to return to negotiations and embrace realistic wages.

The government prioritizes affordability, sustainability, and the overall health of the nation’s economy, considering the welfare of all Nigerians, not just workers.

By uzair Adam Imam

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST) Wudil has called off its two-week warning strike, which was launched to protest the state government’s handling of several issues.

ASUU had complained about the government’s reluctance to address issues related to university autonomy, staff welfare, and funding, despite efforts by the union and other stakeholders to resolve the matter.

However, following interventions by the Kano State House of Assembly, the House Committee on Higher Education, and the Governor of Kano State, the union has agreed to suspend the strike to allow for further dialogue and implementation of agreed-upon resolutions.

In a statement, ASUU-KUST Chairperson Dr. Aliyu Yusuf Ahmad said they appreciated the prompt intervention by the Kano State Government and relevant stakeholders.

He stated, “We appreciate the prompt intervention of the Governor and other stakeholders, which has created an opportunity for constructive engagement and resolution of the outstanding issues.”