Nigeria

By Mukhtar Garba Kobi

Communication is one of the fundamental means people command, caution and interact with one another. It is as old as human beings because the first created beings (Adam and Eve) communicated. Primitive generations used so many ways in sending signals or messages to other people. They include beating metal gongs, lighting fires on hills, blowing flutes, beating local drums, firing Dane-guns, intense ululations, especially during marriage ceremonies, etc. Moreover, communication passed through generations. More advanced platforms and channels are created to enable people to interact with fellows in far and near places with ease from their comfort zones. 

Every day, sophisticated communication gadgets are invented and taken to markets. The more advanced features are added to social media platforms, the easier messages and information are conveyed to target audiences. According to Global Digital Overview, Facebook has 2.910 billion users, Instagram has 1.478 billion, Twitter has 436 million, TikTok has 1 billion, and WhatsApp has 2 billion active users.

With smartphones and data, people interact live through video calls, share pictures, upload movable images and audio messages, and get instant replies. Yet, despite these developments, youths in Africa and other parts of the world are so addicted to social media that some could not spend 30 minutes without logging in instead of studying for a better future, assisting parents with chores, learning skills to be independents, etc.

Regrettably, some users enjoy chatting in darkness by offing light, not knowing the brightness from phones screens harm their eyes. An eye doctor working with Makka Specialist Hospital in Bauchi, Abba Salisu Abba, explained that the pupil constricts when the light is more than what eyes can accommodate. But when the light is too low or in the darkness, the pupil dilates to search for available light. He further revealed that frequent staring at a light could result in itchy, watery, reddishness of eyes and, if nothing is done, could lead to blindness.

Some parents purchase phones, laptops, and tablets primarily to aid studies of their wards without regular supervision; it is unknown to them that most of their wards use such devices for irrelevant chatting or streaming pornographic content in late hours.

These days, young ladies in recent years shamelessly upload videos of them on TikTok dancing seductively in half-naked dressings; the act pushes some youths to rape teens, work sexually for sugar mummies or pay to satisfy themselves in brothels. Unfortunately, hours spent interacting with friends on social media platforms by students are high compared to the short time given for their studies or research; that has contributed hugely to mass failure during exams. A student from the State Polytechnic even told me that he often sacrifices his meal money to buy data primarily for chatting with friends. Sadly, many lost their lives after applying for jobs advertised on social media. They were pushed to early graves by their employers in unspecified locations. 

Shallow-minded adults and teenagers who heavily use social media platforms tend to believe whatever they come across and easily influence peers, thereby influencing them to snatch phones, kidnappings, or do other criminal acts to possess what celebrities have been bombarding them with on social media platforms. Consequently, most people in Nigeria believe that building crime-free societies is a collective responsibility, but only a few contribute in that direction. Parents no longer check the kind of postings, comments, pictures being uploaded or whatever their children are doing on social media platforms but are good at condemning others.

In summary, it is sacrosanct upon parents to be acting as watchdogs over the activities of their teenage sons and daughters on social media platforms. Parents should be collecting their devices and keeping them from them for days to know the messages coming in or people they are interacting with; this would help them determine the best decision.

Social media laws should work on all and sundry irrespective of positions, backgrounds or influences. The law should provide punishment for users sharing violent content, abuse, or false accusation to innocent individuals or groups to serve as a lesson to others. Furthermore, posting educational content on social media should be encouraged and youths doing that need to be rewarded by authorities; doing so would significantly improve students’ academic performances, thereby leading to good results.

Mukhtar Garba Kobi Wrote from Bauchi State.

By MA Iliasu

More than seventy years ago, the American or rather the undeniably global economist for all that he has influenced with his precise textbook, Paul A. Samuelson, wrote an article titled “Intellectuals”. He uncovered the fallacies of the established Intellectuals of the American society. To him, how they author books that only their friends and students can read, venture discourses only they can engage in, and prescribe policies that have zero respect for emotions, feelings, cultural intelligence and any mortal touch that may agree with common decency epitomises their names: “The Intellectuals”.

In Nigeria, we’re not short of them. Currently, we’re in an international political menace in which Russia put efforts to decimate Ukraine. The moral, ethical, physical, metaphysical, philosophical, epistemological, and even the economic motives and justifications flow freely on the internet. I will not tell you my own, but I’m relaxed knowing about others’. However, “The Intellectuals” are only interested in prescribing books and journal articles, publishing eccentric articles with dense grammar to vividly show they’re not for public consumption but only produced to satisfy the demand of their inner circle. Meanwhile, they bastardise, thus urging the public to take every piece of information on the conflict they may get from the BBC, VOA or CNN with a pinch of salt like the tyrannical antisocials they’re, despite not giving the public any alternative. That’s “an intellectual” for you.

To be precise, this is not a musing on Russia and Ukraine. It’s about the nerve-racking fuel scarcity that has bamboozled the Nigerian federation over the previous month and current. The one started with the speculation of the economically controversial subsidy removal that triggered the ever wicked economic class into succumbing to their Animal Spirit through hoarding. After all, which non-God-fearing mogul would allow the chance to double his revenue off the oppressed lower class without any effort? There’s none!

Discussions on the Nigerian political economy, especially outside university classrooms, are more dominated by the fake, impractical ideal of national consciousness and patriotism. And it takes place even though at no point does the term “Nigeria” ever mean the same to everybody; the poor wanderers, the profit makers, capitalist exploiters and the political hoodwinkers. And still, the Intellectuals want to build our economic skeleton upon that nonexistent psychological pillar. Is it possible?

Nigerians are the brilliant species who have gained relevance by declaring “Economics nothing short of common sense”. And that’s why they despise efficiency and efficacy despite their horrible love for eccentricity. But, if that’s not the case, how do you justify persuading people to buy what’s expensive when what’s cheap and of superior quality is available?

Through patriotism, they say. After all, people should use their hard-earned money to fund the ego of the anti-logic system of governance. For in the future, they say, there’ll be wonders. Meanwhile, the only wonders we’ll ever see is the one that reflects on the ironic, unethical, inefficient and anti-liberal, unreasonably orthodox, the often mix of the two, logic of the Nigerian Intellectuals that I’ll disclose below:

“Let’s stop importing fuel till we achieve self-sufficiency. That should be our way. A country with the mineral muscles of Nigeria should not be importing fuel. Let that be our moral standard. Let’s endure all the suffering for now. Let’s be patriotic. We’ll be alright shortly afterwards.” – isn’t this a lovely musing?

Do you disagree? Yes, I know you do. You’re an economist! What I want to ask is, why do you agree with the same pattern of thinking and logic when it’s used on Rice? – One reason:

Fuel scarcity & inflation is pressing every aspect of my society, up to the bottom, thus the outrage. And mostly the rich, who have limousines and Corollas to drive home from work and to the wedding evenings at the city parks, to power gigantic generators for their freezers and air-conditioners, and to calm their nerves from the so-called working stress. Then the industrialists who power their workshops and trade zones. And the artisans who harness all the profits. And that’s why nobody wants to hear anything long English Language, solution or no!

But rice scarcity & inflation, that one only press the poor, the bottom tier. That’s why every time we speak, they quote the models of David Ricardo & Keynes. That’s the only time they remember Ricardo and his comparative advantage or Keynes and his misunderstood, poorly-implemented government intervention. That’s the only time they want to disagree with Audu Ogbeh. So maybe Economics is more than common sense, after all. Thus they even go deeper into the mathematical models of Euler and Nash.

Everybody is acknowledging the need for government to take off its hands from fuel because it’s unfriendly for the lords at the top and the intellectuals at the middle, which is a policy prescription that sanity has advocated forever. But nobody wants to acknowledge the need for government to take its hands off the food industry, perhaps because the top dogs eat what they want from wherever they want, while it’s the bottom tier servants of God that are dying of hunger and historical inflation.

But why the lack of consistency?

Confusion is the reason, which can also disclose the lack of coherence along with discussions of such relevance. In Nigeria today, you’ll see an acclaimed intellectual who’ll die for his liberal romanticism supporting the economics of border closure. It makes me curious how possible it’s for Friedrich Hayek and Paul Samuelson to eat at the same table without arguing? Well, I think that’s the probability of the logic being consistent & cogent. Likewise, the essential orthodox wondering around the idea of ‘unpolice-able’ modern technology despite every magnum opus of their scholarly background suggesting otherwise.

The problem of the American society we love to imitate when it suits us (to quote Chinua Achebe) is that they believe in economics too much. But, interestingly, in Nigeria, they don’t believe in economics at all. And that’s why both are paying the price of extremism while hiding behind Keynesianism. In their experience, greed has taken over everything. But in our own, the economy has become a prison. And the wardens holding the keys are the intellectuals who will rationalise anything.

MA Iliasu wrote from Kano via muhada102@gmail.com.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has created a new directorate, named the “Office of Directorate of Politics and Governance.”

This development was contained in a memo dated February 28, 2022, and signed by the Assistant General Overseer Administration and Personnel of RCCG, Pastor J.F. Otedola.  

“We write to formally notify you that the mission authority has created the Office of Directorate of Politics and Governance in the RCCG. Further to this, Pastor Timothy Olaniyan (PICP Lagos Province ) has been appointed to lead the Office” The first paragraph of the memo reads.

Pastor Otedola also requested for provincial officers to be appointed for each province of the RCCG and all levels of the church with utmost urgency in respect of the new directorate. 

“You are kindly requested to appoint with immediate effect a Provincial Officer for your Province and also ensure that same is done at all levels of the Church – Zone, Area and Parish. The essence of this Directorate is to help coordinate the engagement of our people who are willing to be involved in Politics as well as mobilise support for them when required,” the memo further reads.

Nigeria’s Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, maintains a father and son relationship with RCCG General Overseer, Pastor E. A Adeboye, is in charge of the Lagos Province 48 (Olive Tree Province Headquarters) of the RCCG. The recent development coming from the church cannot be unconnected with his 2023 presidential ambition.  

People have expressed different views on politics and religion and the active participation of the church and religious bodies. 

According to Mr Peter Onah, “they are biblical figures that participated actively in politics”. He added that religion and politics are two different things that can go together.

However, Mr Nurudeen Bukar, who was confronted by the Daily Reality on the issue of politics and religion, expressed a different view. According to him, “it is best when religion focuses on its primary mandate of preaching and guiding people”.

Bukar argued that partisan politics is not suitable for religious groups as it will distract them from their religious obligations.

By Uzair Adam Imam

The National leadership of Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah wa Ikamatus Sunna (JIBWIS), has urged the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to desist from sticking its nose into politics.

Recently, CAN said that there must be a presidential power shift to a Christian to succeed President Buhari in 2023, a comment that continues to generate mixed reactions from Nigerians.

But in a statement on Thursday, 10th March, 2023, the National Leader of the JIBWIS, Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, said the decision as to who should succeed who should be the business of registered political parties not CAN’s.

Bala Lau warned that CAN should not abdicate its responsibility of preaching peace and national stability for politics.

Bala Lau said: “The attention of JIBWIS Nigeria has been drawn to the widely circulated news of Christian Association of Nigeria insisting on a Christian successor for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

“This is as ill-timed as it is dangerous. The position of CAN as widely reported by Nigerian newspapers has elicited reactions that seem to have further overheated the polity. Jibwis Nigeria notes that this, a wrong move, is what you get when religious leadership indulges in decidedly-partisan campaigns.”

According to Bala Lau, CAN’s campaign of the presidential power shift to a Christian successor will not augur well for the country.

He added, “Like any responsible organisation, JIBWIS Nigeria carefully reviews the implication of CAN’s campaign for a shift of Presidential power to a Christian in 2023 with deep concern.

“To begin with, the campaign in favour of a Christian successor for President Buhari does not make sense, if we reflect on the historical reality of where and how power has resided in recent years.”

“It is common knowledge that from 1999 to date, we had Christians dominating the democratic space for 14 years. Break it down: Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian was in power for 8 years and Dr Goodluck Jonathan had 6 years. Conversely, if we look closely, the Nigerian Presidents who were Muslims were two – Alhaji Umaru Musa Yaradua governed for 2 years and Muhammadu Buhari is now in his second term of 8 years. Unlike CAN, JIBWIS Nigeria is not mounting undue pressure on any political party or group by insisting on a Muslim candidate as a matter of entitlement. All we ask for is that political parties must insist on a competent, capable and upright Nigerian to be fielded.”

“CAN should not court the trouble of the nation’s political party leadership, who have the mandate to screen and nominate candidates and wait for the final verdict of the voters.”

“Most importantly, CAN should be viewed as a respected religious association and not a political party with mandate to determine what qualifies one to be a Buhari successor,” Lau concluded.

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari

It is the grass that suffers when two elephants fight. This is the sad situation of students in Nigeria’s public universities. Students find themselves suffering anytime ASUU goes on strike.

The innocent Nigerian students bear the brunt of the impasse of the duo – the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government. At the end of every fight for a better condition of service by ASUU, their remuneration is paid, but the students are left to compensate themselves for the time they lost and the emotional trauma caused by the strike.

As legitimate as ASUU’s demands may be, keeping students at home to pursue these demands does not appear logical to me. As for the government, their attitude reminds me of Gbemisola Adeoti’s poem, “Ambush” where the literary genius described the land using many metaphors to demonstrate how dreams are murdered.

Students dreams are unceremoniously halted whenever ASUU embarks on strike. Some lose interest in education altogether, and others continue with less enthusiasm. Clichés like ‘school na scam’ seems to then make sense and many students embrace crimes like cyber fraud popularly known with the sobriquet ‘yahoo yahoo’ as an alternative to education. This is among the many problems usually caused by strikes.

Adeoti was right in his poem when he said, “The land is a giant whale that swallows the sinker, with hook line and bait aborting dreams of good catch fishers turn home at dusk blue peter on empty ships” Many students often try to escape this land that consumes dreams, they seek education in small neighbouring countries like Togo, Niger and Ghana etc. Some stay back to attend private universities they can afford while politicians and wealthy people send their children to Europe to get education. ASUU’s strike is not only demarketing our public universities in Nigeria. This attitude slowly kills the dreams and the universities, as anyone with a choice will not consider the option of attending one.

ASUU’s strike put students at a disadvantage in the pursuit of their progress, happiness and other life aspirations. It causes them unnecessary delays. They watched their peers in private universities graduate and take on the next steps in their lives while they are consoled with the saying that God’s time is the best. The Nigerian student is often stared in the face with the reality of George Orwell’s saying that “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others. A country that is seemingly careless about the education of its people is breeding the ground for poverty and crimes.

Quality education is no doubt the key to the greatness of any nation. But, sadly, it is not on the priority list of our leaders. While the government takes the most considerable blame for why universities are always on strike; we cannot wholly excuse ASUU for their complicity in killing the university education in Nigeria by going on regular strikes which often leave students stranded and confused.

Please ASUU change your strategy, we suffer every time.

Ahmad Deedat Zakari can be reached via ahmadzakari111@gmail.com.

By Habib Korede

Restructuring has been a topic on Nigeria’s news headlines for decades, and as the 2023 general election approaches, ‘restructuring’ is one optics for political campaigns. However, the unification of Nigeria, which has continually stirred this debate, results from the colonials’ avarice but has fortunately been a blessing.

Before the colonials, Nigeria was home to over 300 ethnic groups, with Hausa in the North, Igbo in the South-East, and Yoruba in the South-West, as the three dominant ethnic groups. These ethnic groups operate under various separate entities such as ethno-religious, geo-regional, and political nationalities under caliphate, kingdoms, and empires,

The colonials amalgamated these entities through divide and rule policy on 1 January 1914, following Frederick Lugard’s recommendation. The colonials take full advantage of their exploration of the country by sternly concentrating power at the centre to favour their political and imperial interests instead of laying a good foundation for nation-building. This has become a puzzle for Nigeria in the post-colonial era. 

Struggles for inclusion at the centre and resource allocation have resulted in many heated controversies, distrust, compromise, and violent conflicts. These include the crisis that emanated in the 1959 and 1964 federal elections, the January and July 1966 coups, the three years civil war of 1967–1970 when the Igbo region wanted to secede into Biafra, followed by several bloody coups and counter-coups.

The unity of Nigeria has also been threatened by various ethno-religious conflicts resulting from bad governance, such as the Kaduna State Zangon-Kataf crisis in 1987, 12 June 1993, Moshood Abiola’s presidential election annulment crisis, and return to the military junta in November 1993.

The return to the democratic system of government under the leadership of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, which gave birth to the presidency of Obasanjo in May 1999, led to a rapid paradigm shift in Nigerian political history.

Deterioration in the governance of the country sparked several protests. Protests like the 2012 fuel subsidy removal and the 2020 #EndSARS that resulted in the death of protesters are only a few examples.

From 1999 to date, every region of the country has shown dissatisfaction with the status quo. This dissatisfaction has led to several agitations and overheating of the country’s polity, which metamorphosed to ethno-religious and inter-communal crises, such as the year 2000 Kaduna crisis, the 7–13 Sep. 2001 Jos crisis, and so on.

These crises triggered the formation of several ethno-militia groups such as the Oodua Peoples Congress, Indigenous People of Biafra, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, Niger Delta Avengers, the Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and the coordinated Fulani/Herdsmen-Farmers conflict. These militias are agent provocateurs that simultaneously unleash terror in the country to disrupt governance, leading to several national conversations, such as restructuring, decentralisation, creation of state police, and separation. 

The rising agitation for a restructured Nigeria results from perceived marginalisation, discouraging national leadership, identity crisis, ethno-religious intolerance, the concentration of power at the centre, and lack of patriotism.

However, different scholars have interpreted the word ‘restructuring’ differently, and both the antagonists and protagonists for a restructured Nigeria dissent on its meaning. Though, I see restructuring as ‘using an efficient medium to restore a collapsing building to save everyone in the building.’  

From 1914 to 2014, eleven constitutional conferences were held to strategise the most favourable federal system and resource sharing policy to keep the regions satisfied and united. However, the 2014 national conference confirmed inequality in the demand of all the country’s parts. Each region demands a policy for their vested interest even when it disfavours the unity and progress of the country. 

The Southern region suggests the country should revert to the regionalism of the 1963 constitution. Still, this suggestion was frayed by the fear of dominance and marginalisation of the minorities from future governance of the majority in these regions. 

Besides, the founding fathers of Nigeria were more selfless and patriotic than the current group of leaders, and the country’s population is higher than it was; these will make regional governance in contemporary Nigeria impracticable. 

Decentralisation of power and the emergence of state police, as suggested by many, will aid in the production of a pool of authoritarian state governors whose misuse of power will decline the country’s democracy. But, as mentioned by the former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, ‘the stronger the boat of (democracy), the more it is able to meet the challenges of its voyage and deliver on its promise to citizens.’

Notwithstanding, the Northern region focused on creating additional states and power rotation among the six geo-political zones. Obviously, creating more states will further deteriorate the already weak economy because of the unnecessary administration cost. 

It is noteworthy that the clamour for creating a new state is not for developmental reasons but political purposes. This will abet the emergence of unproductive parasitic state elites, lead to the agitation for creating additional states, and eventually actuate the aggressive Balkanisation of Nigeria. Like Yugoslavia, East Timor, the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and South Sudan. 

The systemic restructure of Nigeria will be insurmountable. The 1999 constitution stands as a considerable constraint to the systemic and resource restructuring because of the intricate processes involved in amending the constitution. This is one of the reasons the 2014 national conference ended in a stalemate; Nigerian leaders benefit from the current state of affairs in the country. They manipulate the system for their selfish interests. These leaders capitalise on the gullibility of the average Nigerian by using ‘restructuring’ as a campaign strategy to divide Nigerians, to amass votes at the polls after every four years. 

Because Nigeria has remained an indivisible entity for over 100 years shows the unity of the country. The many challenges Nigeria is facing arises from the selfishness of the leaders and the mindset of the citizens. It is eminent that Nigerians should recognise the power in population and diversity before it is too late. Thomas Malthus explains that: ‘The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power on the Earth to produce subsistence for man’.

Nigerians yearn for a prosperous Nigeria, and Nigerians need to know that prosperity comes with unity, sacrifices, and patience. ‘The cost of disintegration (of Nigeria) is higher than the cost of being together. We have everything to gain by being united than disunited,’ as stated by the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo.

The perennial agitation for restructuring and separation ensues from bad governance, corruption, insecurity, nepotism, and ethnic intolerance.

Achieving two concurrent goals will solve these problems: the first will be to intensify the country’s social structure, which will aid in reconciling Nigerians and redefine the perception Nigerians perceive Nigeria. The second will be strengthening the central government by building robust institutions where no one is above the law and where meritocracy always supersedes mediocrity.

Social restructuring of Nigeria is achievable under different progressions: by prioritising civic education and history at the basic education level; refurbishment of unity primary and secondary school across the country; the national youth service corps should continue to aid the youths of the country to explore the diverse cultures and enhance pragmatic multicultural solutions to the country’s problem; there should be an effective orientation agency that will be responsible for sufficient enlightenment of the masses, particularly on peace and unity of the country; and investing in intercultural dialogue.

When there is an unarguable socially restructured Nigeria, patriotism will augment, and every other thing will fall into place.

Most of the 36 states governors are doing a lot of things wrong. Still, the centre always receives the blame because of the rising weakness in the capacity of the central government to sanction the misappropriation of resources and bad governance by the state government adequately. Building powerful autonomous institutions will strengthen the central government.

Powerful institutions will enhance check and balance in the activities of the other arm of the government, which will help filter the best candidate for the leadership position in the public sector, and will unquestionably prosecute the guilty ones.

Powerful institutions will promote democracy and credible leaders. In the words of Chinua Achebe, ‘Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.’

Nigeria, a country with the fastest growing economy in Africa, the highest GDP on the continent, and the sixth most populous country globally, has all the potential required to become the world superpower. Good governance will enhance an excellent economy, peace, stability, and prosperity.

According to Ibrahim Index of African Governance, good governance is ‘the provision of the political, social and economic goods that any citizen has the right to expect from his or her state, and that any state has the responsibility to deliver to its citizens’.

Therefore, when the citizens are getting all the social and economic values they are expecting from the government, no region will have the urge to clamour for restructuring or separation of the country. However, there cannot be good governance when there is no equity, equality, transparency, inclusiveness, accountability, justice and responsiveness in the country’s activities

Habib Korede is a BEng (Hons) Civil Engineering graduate and a writer. He authored Propelling Success, and The Kalahari Review has featured his work. He can be reached via habibkorede247@gmail.com.

By Professor Abdelmalik Abdelghaffar Amoka

ASUU in 2008, provided pictorial documentation on the state of infrastructural decay in public universities to the Federal Government (FG). After several struggles and strikes, FG put together a Committee on the NEEDS assessment of the public universities, headed by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the then TETFund Boss. Prof Mahmood Yakubu’s committee after a thorough work recommended that 1.3 trillion naira is required to revitalize all the public universities (Federal and State universities) to make them suitable learning environments for the normal human being.

Just like the 2021 visitation panel report and the 2021 report of the renegotiated 2009 agreement, the NEEDS Assessment report was dumped somewhere till ASUU declared another strike in 2013 for the report to get attention. An agreement was then reached between ASUU and FG after the 2013 strike that the fund will be spread from 2013 to 2018. GEJ’s government released 200 billion naira for 2013 before he was voted out and Buhari’s government took over in 2015. As of 2013, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, Mal. Adamu Adamu, Mal Nasiru El-Rufai, Alh Lai Muhammed, and APC as a party believe that the government of Jonathan was “irresponsible” for their failure to implement the agreement reached with ASUU on public universities. They gave all sorts of convincing supporting reasons why FG can meet the demands of ASUU. El-Rufai was in OBJ’s government and he knows how government works. So, hypocrisy did not come to people’s mind, they didn’t see any point in doubting his position and his 2013 post on the ASUU strike went viral.

The general public is always on the fence during these fights for university revitalization. Some choose who to support based on where their loyalty lies at that moment. That is the reason why those who were against the FG on the ASUU strike in 2013 and now supporting FG on ASUU strike on the same issues. Since 2015, the APC government has refused to release the funds for public universities. After about 4 ASUU strike actions for the last 7 years of the government of President Buhari, they have not been able to release up to 100 billion naira for universities revitalization. Meanwhile, they are adding more universities.

There is this class of public school beneficiaries that believe that FG does not have 1 trillion naira to fix our universities to make them attractive to any student except through the introduction of tuition fees. But some of us think that the people, including civil servants, are too poor to afford tuition for University education, else it will become an elitist institution. Public schools produce us and some of us are super-rich. So, if we believe that FG is actually broke to fund education, then we can intervene to revitalize the public universities in the interest of national development and for the love of the country.

Nigerians are cheerful givers. Our business moguls, media celebrities are fond of gifting their friends. Not sure if it’s for show-off. For example, Nightlife boss, Obinna Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana got cash and other gifts worth over 250 million naira for his mother’s burial in July 2021. David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido in November 2021 raised 200 million naira within hours that he donated to the orphanage. I recently saw an unconfirmed impressive list of donations for the Attah of Igala coronation from my brothers. There are several of such donations. This is evidence that Nigerians are cheerful givers.

Nigeria’s generous donation of one million dollars to the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan shows that even the government is generous. Only a cheerful giver will use 100 billion naira to rehabilitate non-functional refineries that are still not functioning. Only a cheerful giver will pay 69 billion naira as salaries to refinery workers that generated zero revenue and only go to work to warm their office chairs.

The public primary school system is dead, the public school system is dead, and the public university system has nearly collapsed. But why don’t we extend this generosity and cheerful giving to the education of the ordinary Nigerian? why can’t the elites donate a fraction of the money they sent abroad to educate their kids?

The agreement in 2013 was for FG to release N210 billion naira every year for 5 years. 9 years later, not up to 23% of the fund was released to the universities after 9 years. Maybe FG is actually broke even though they are establishing more universities and the key players are getting richer. A poor and broken man doesn’t add to his responsibilities.

Let’s apply the principle of our supposed generosity and cheerful giving to solving our education problem. Let’s open a public schools revitalization endowment fund. Let’s get 100 thousand cheerful givers from politicians, businessmen, captains of industries, Bank CEOs, celebrities, and the noisy “Abroadians” to donate 200 thousand naira every month for a year. That will give us 240 billion naira revitalization fund annually. Do that for 5 years and we’ll have 1.2 trillion naira to revitalize public universities.

Put up Board of Trustee and Fund management team from the donors to ensure that the fund is shielded from mismanagement. Nobody wants to see his money misused. Then, ASUU won’t have to go on strike for revitalization and will limit ASUU’s demands to welfare. The government won’t be looking for tuition fee that is not there or students’ loan that is not sustainable, students won’t have to stay at home for months due to strike. The university will be good enough for our big men that ship our money abroad. The industries will get a quality workforce. The universities will be attractive to international students and we’ll start earning forex from education.

But unfortunately, our cheerful giving in Nigeria does not extend to public education. Public education made us and we are either part of those destroying it or watching it destroyed without any slight resistance. It’s like a case of climbing to the top through the public education ladder and destroying the ladder after getting to the top. And unfortunately, the supposed middle class, a class that is nearly wiped out, that needs the ladder is afraid of the oppressors but blames ASUU.

Amoka is a social analyst, prolific writer and a Professor of Physics, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.

Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) has declared the recently approved hijab by the Nigerian Police as illegal. The legal luminary made the declaration in a public statement issued yesterday, March 5, 2022. However, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has responded by telling the Nigerian Police to ignore Adegboruwa’s comment.

MURIC spoke on Sunday, March 6, 2022, through its chairman in Akwa Ibom State, Ustadh Jibril Ayu-Akpanim.

The statement reads :

“Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) yesterday declared the recently approved hijab by the Nigerian Police as illegal. Of course, we know his antecedents. He has never shown any support for the civil rights struggles of Nigerian Muslims. His opposition to the approval of the hijab in the police force is therefore understandable. Adegboruwa is simply staying in character. Our considered opinion is that the Nigerian Police should ignore his razzmatazz.

“How can a whole SAN oppose a matter of fundamental human rights? It is paradoxical that those who know the law are the ones who adopt prejudice against civil rights matters. Adegboruwa’s vituperation sprang from personal acrobatic religiosity. His articles and comments on the hijab crisis in Kwara and other places symptomize bias, intolerance and pathological hatred for Muslims.

“Is this the same senior lawyer who has been articulate on human rights in Nigeria all these years? We are appalled that he has elected selective justice. It means Adegboruwa’s definition of human rights is exclusive. Muslims must not enjoy human rights. Muslims have no place in his concept of equal rights, freedom and justice. Adegboruwa has exposed himself as a Muslim-hater nulli secundus.

“Adegboruwa should be stripped of his SAN title. A senior lawyer who ignored the tyranny of school principals and teachers who have been persecuting innocent school girls over an ordinary headscarf for decades but jumps up within 24 hours to oppose a window of liberty for them does not deserve the highest decoration in his profession.

“The SAN is asking how Catholics and Anglican women police should dress now that their Muslim colleagues have been allowed to use hijab. He should tell us how catholic and Anglican policewomen dress in Britain, America, Canada, etc. By the way, is Adegoruwa telling us that he has never seen pictures of Mary, the mother of Jesus (peace be upon him)? Has he ever seen Mary without a hijab on her head? Bigotry is indeed an almost incurable disease.

“Adegboruwa should ask catholic and Anglican policewomen to demand their own form of dress code if such a thing exists in real life. He will be surprised to see that Nigerian Muslims will not oppose their demand. Islam condemns pettiness and selfishness. It teaches Muslims to live and let others live. Anyway, Adegboruwa may advise Catholic and Anglican policewomen to dress like Mary, the much-honoured mother of Jesus (peace be upon him).

“Adegboruwa should know that the current uniform of the police satisfies Nigerian Christians because it was designed ab initio by the British colonialists who, essentially, were Christians. That is why Nigerian Christians have never complained about uniforms in schools and security agencies.

“Muslim interest was not taken into consideration by the colonialists when they were designing uniforms for schools and the security agencies. Justice and the need for inclusiveness demand that the design should be reviewed in the post-independence period. That is why even the recent approval must be seen as belated.

“Quarter-finally, has Adegboruwa forgotten the outcome of the hocus pocus created in Osun State when the court approved hijab and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) incited Christian students to wear ridiculous garbs like a church choir, Sango, Oya and masquerade dresses to school? How long did it last? He should go to the state today to see how the female Muslim students shine with their hijab. No matter how fast falsehood runs and for how long, the truth will catch up with it in a single day.

“Semi-finally, we advise Adegboruwa to go to court if he feels so strongly that Muslim female policewomen have no right to use hijab. He may also want to go further by approaching the international court at the Hagues to stop British, American and Canadian policewomen and soldiers from using the same. Islamophobia in the legal profession is not new to us. The Amasa Firdaus matter on our minds. The learned silk may do well to consult his colleagues at the highly esteemed Council of Legal Education and the Body of Benchers before plunging into his prejudiced, ill-advised, ill-fated and anti-Muslim adventure.

“Finally, we congratulate all female Muslim policewomen in Nigeria on their newly won freedom. Nigerians have seen many of them on the streets wearing the hijab with their uniform in the past few days. They look awesome, fantabulous, fantasmagoric and fantaslamic. We urge them to continue using it. Without a court pronouncement, no lawyer from anywhere can force them to remove it. Not even a SAN.”

By Muhammad Sabiu

Nigeria is now ranked sixth in the Global Terrorism Index, as the country’s struggle against Boko Haram insurgents gains more victories.

According to the report, Nigeria fell two spots from fourth place, which it had held since 2017.

Nigeria, Syria, and Somalia are the only countries among the ten countries most hit by terrorism to increase their scores from 2020 to 2021, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) issued by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), an independent and non-profit think tank.

The report reads, “Total deaths from terrorism in Nigeria fell to 448 in 2021, the lowest level since 2011. Terror-related casualties dropped by almost half compared with the previous year.

“However, the number of terrorist attacks increased by 49 per cent between 2020 and 2021. 36 per cent of attacks were claimed by ISWAP, Boko Haram being responsible for eight percent and 44 percent not attributed to any group.”

By Ahmad Deedat Zakari.

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved $8.5m dollars for the evacuation of Nigerians stranded in Ukraine.

This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Foreign affairs, Zubairu Dada on Wednesday, March 2 shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting, he said the president approved $8.5 million for the evacuation exercise.

” The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs wrote a memo to the president seeking funding to enable us conduct this exercise. The memo was to the tune of $8.5 million which Mr President has graciously approved. That Provision entails an arrangement to evacuate no less than 5,000 Nigerians” he said.

According to him, the pickup flights would be headed to four countries, which are : Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.