Professor Moses Ochonu has criticise the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) rejection of the Federal Government proposed Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for university lecturers.

Professor Ochonu in a post published on his Facebook page wondered why ASUU is rejecting the payment system since it purpose is to stop a long-running scam in federal salary payments.

He said rather IPPIS is their enemy because it will expose their promiscuous moonlighting.

He further urged the FG to stick to its guns and for once calls the bluff of these selfish thugs, blackmailers, and hostage takers.

His post read, “Let us try to reason with ASUU, no matter how moronic and crassly selfish their reasons are for opposing the IPPIS biometric salary payment system, which has already been implemented across the federal government to streamline and bring transparency to federal workers’ salary payments.”

“The president of the union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, listed the following reasons for why they would go on strike if IPPIS is implemented for university lecturers:

“First, according to media reports, he described IPPIS as a scam while visiting Senate President, Ahmed Lawan.”

“This is typical ASUU bombast. They like to engage in wholesale condemnation without precision or specificity. How is IPPIS a scam? Why is it a scam? What aspect of its transparency mechanism is a scam? What aspect of its implementation is a scam? Who is it meant to scam when in fact it is designed, at least in theory, to stop a long-running scam in federal salary payments? And if it is a scam, why is ASUU not protesting its implementation in regard to all federal workers and is instead only opposing its implementation in the public university system? Expecting precision, specifics, and introspection from ASUU is like expecting water to come out of a stone. No wonder, most ASUU members are such poor teachers who cannot communicate.”

“Second, Ogunyemi “said forcing ASUU members into the system would destroy the education system in the country.”

“This is another drivel. How will a measure designed to weed out ghost workers and ensure that salaries and allowances are paid only to those who deserve and worked for them “destroy the education system”? What does this vague and extremely broad phrase even mean? How will transparency–or the quest for it–destroy the education system? At any rate, is the education system not already comatose and on the verge of implosion/destruction? Even if IPPIS is all that the dishonest ASUU folks say it is, how can it destroy a system that has already been destroyed by the same ASUU members?”

“Third, he said “forcing the university lecturers to get captured in the payroll system would take away the powers of the governing councils of the various universities.”

“Is the ASUU man saying that the governing councils supersede the federal government that appoints them and pays them? Are those councils not constituted and funded by the FG? Are the universities (especially the federal ones) not funded by the federal government? Has ASUU considered the fact that, as funders of federal universities, the FG can implement any salary mechanism it deems necessary as long as it implements it across all agencies and institutions of the FG? If university autonomy is a fetish that ASUU wants to worship and invoke to protect their impunity, how about demanding that universities become truly autonomous and self-funding entities?”

Researchers trying to trying to locate the origin of the belief in evil or the devil have linked it to people’s attempt to understand diseases and they have identified three countries, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Philippines in the world where such belief is strongest.,

It is weakest in the Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden.

Brock Bastian, an associate professor with the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne in Australia, led the scientists which sought out to test the hypothesis that areas of the world where diseases are very common are more often to believe that the diseases and illnesses arising therefrom are caused by some devil or malevolent evil spirits.

While such belief systems were prevalent in Medieval Europe during the Great Plague or the Black death, science had since shown that diseases are caused by microscopic pathogens rather than spirits.

However, the connection between religious convictions about good and evil and the presence of infectious disease lingers today, the researchers discovered. They found that, in geographic regions with high incidences of disease, people also demonstrated stronger convictions about agents of evil, such as demons and witches.

“It opens up new insights into the emergence of religion as a belief system that developed to explain natural threats or events,” Bastian said.

To test that hypothesis, the researchers conducted surveys and consulted archival data to assess levels of belief in evil. They surveyed more than 3,000 university students in 28 countries, investigating whether the participants believed strongly in the evil eye (a person’s ability to cast a curse “through a malevolent glare”), witchcraft, the devil and unspecified evil forces. Archival data from around 58,000 people across 50 countries, collected between 1995 and 1998, addressed the question of the subjects’ belief in the devil. In their evaluations, the scientists noted individuals’ social class, level of education, political orientation and strength of religious practice.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/11/01/nigeria-bangladesh-leads-the-world-in-belief-in-witchcraft-devil-report/

A curious debate is going on about the group name of the Yoruba nation, the name ‘Yoruba’. All sorts of strange and fanciful things are being said about this name. Also, many people are calling on me to intervene in the debate. I therefore hereby intervene. But I cannot participate in the more flippant levels of debate over this or any matter; I can only make known the results of my serious research. I might add that what I reveal here is a small peep into a very important body of research on the Yoruba nation, a body of research that will, hopefully, soon appear as a book on the profile of the Yoruba nation.

In modern times, the Yorùbá people in Nigeria have exhibited a remarkable degree and quality of unity as a people. Such strong unity is engendered primarily by their common love of, and pride in, their culture, their strong emphasis on development and modernization, and in their civilizational achievements in history and in modern times. It is also reinforced by their common identity with such ideals as love of freedom, respect for the individual, accountability of leadership and governance, the servanthood of rulers, religious tolerance and accommodation, hospitality towards all other peoples, tenacity in fighting for ideals, and a unique fixation, as a people, on progress in all facets of modern development and transformation.

However, the question is sometimes raised in modern times whether the Yorùbá did have a common national name for themselves in their early history – before modern times (specifically before the mid-19th century). The question how long in the past a people have had a common group name is, of itself, not a major or important question. Worldwide, many a nation in its early history had no common group name, though its members roughly recognized themselves as belonging to the group and as different from others beyond the group. However, in the context of the kinds of inter-ethnic relationships that are characteristic of Nigeria’s political and intellectual life, the question about lack of an early group name is repeatedly raised about the Yorùbá. The intention of such questions, often, is to cast some aspersion on Yorùbá claims and demonstrations of unity as a nation in Nigeria today. For instance, Idris S. Jimada, a Nupe author, in his book The Nupe and the Origins and Evolution of the Yorùbá, c.1275-1897, attaches interesting importance to the point. He wrote, “The name ‘Yorùbá’ was not an identity, for those who came later to be called Yorùbá, since the time of creation, or anytime before the mid-nineteenth century, as is so often misconceived nowadays”. Even though this point bears no real significance, I think the Yoruba people need to be given information that will mold their answers and attitudes to things like this.

It is known that from the middle of the 19th century, the rising literate class of the people now known as the Yorùbá began to popularize the name Yorùbá for their nation. But before then, did their nation have a common group name?

In the literature of the Atlantic trade (16th to early 19th century), we see some inclusive names for those members of this nationality that were involved in the trade, but “Yorùbá” was not one of such names. In some parts of the New World, some of them were identified with subgroup names such as Eo (Ọ̀yo) ̣́ or Euba (Ẹ̀gbá), etc. Others were identified in other places with group names coined from their cultural peculiarities – names such as Aku (coined from the phrase Ẹ kú which occurs in most Yorùbá greetings), or Lucumi (apparently from the affectionate Yorùbá phrase Olùkù mi, my dear friend). Still another identifying group name in some parts of the New World was Nago (probably derived initially from the name of the far western Yorùbá subgroup, Ànàgó, from among whom some of the earliest Yorùbá entrants into the Atlantic slave trade probably originated).

Yet, we also find that the name Yorùbá existed all that time. In the present state of our knowledge, the basic outline of what we know about the name Yorùbá would be as follows: First, there is some evidence strongly indicating that the name Yorùbá was in use in parts of the West African interior in reference to a people before the 16th century. That is, though the name did not occur in the records of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the New World or in Europe or on the West African coast, it did exist in the West African interior – in the Upper Niger territories in the Western Sudan where the Yorùbá had been going in large numbers since about the 5th century AD as long-distance traders. A written use of the name in reference to the group appears in a book published in Timbuktu in the Songhai Empire in 1615, written by an indigenous Songhai Arabic scholar, Ahmed Baba – author of many books, probably the most prolific Black West African scholar before the 19th century. The name Yorùbá was very probably in use there for the group before Ahmed Baba’s time.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/11/01/about-the-name-yoruba-by-prof-banji-akintoye/

Biological women in Kenya, Nigeria don’t matter to Always – Dr. Olufunmilayo

United Kingdom based Nigerian Medical Doctor and Social Commentator, Harvey Olufunmilayo says biological women in Africa, especially in Kenya and Nigeria don’t matter to Always.

Always is a brand of menstrual hygiene products, including maxi pads, ultra thin pads, pantiliners, and feminine wipes, produced by Procter & Gamble.

Doctor Olufunmilayo said this in a series of tweets on his official and verified twitter handle in reaction to People in Africa using #MyAlwaysExperience to talk about rashes they think were caused by Always pads.

According to Teen Vogue, using #MyAlwaysExperience, women in parts of Africa are alleging they experience itching, burning, and rashes when they use Always brand products, prompting some to wonder if the product distributed across the continent is different from the one available in America — an allegation the Always Kenya has denied. While #MyAlwaysExperience was seemingly started in February by people in Kenya, it has resurfaced on Twitter in recent days, with people from different regions of the world weighing in.

His tweet reads; Women in Nigeria lament high prices of @Always Sanitary Pads NOTHING was done.

Women in Kenya complain @Always Sanitary Pads gave them diseases. NOTHING was done.

But trans men told @Always to remove all women logos from all the Pads And it was done.

Life is really tough for women. Very very tough I must say. Imagine being a woman and the company that designs your own feminine products being dictated to, by people who no longer want to be seen as women. The company does NOT listen to you as a woman. But it listens to them.

Women in Nigeria and many impoverished places all over the world have lamented for years high prices of @Always
sanitary products.

@Always has NEVER bothered to listen to the actual pain, struggles and yearnings of all these women.
In their millions. These women don’t matter.

Women in Kenya achieved global recognition for bringing the attention of social media to the low-quality cheap sanitary pads which they said was being sold to them by @Always.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/28/biological-women-in-kenya-nigeria-dont-matter-to-always-dr-olufunmilayo/

Who really killed Alex Badeh amd why are his alleged killers not in court?’..A lot has become clearer

By, Umar Sa’ad Hassan

Barely 24 hours after my article titled Who Really Killed Alex Badeh And Why Are His Killers Not In Court? on the 25th of June,an announcement was made that a joint team of the DSS and military operatives had arrested another 14 suspects in relation to the murder.

The police had already arrested 5 persons in December 2018 with a video confession of one of the suspects going viral and adding another 14 persons from a different source at that point more or less appeared a confirmation of the worst; a cover-up was in play.

In addition to the lingering question of why the police would keep self-confessed murderers of the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff for 6 whole months without charging them to court,there was now a very glaring one on just how shabby and shameless the authorities were in what any right thinking person would deem a ploy to kill off the case.

Questions were now being asked and getting another fresh batch of suspects would suggest that investigations hadn’t been concluded.It didn’t matter that they were alluding to the lack of credibility of the process.

Not that it will suprise anyone but it has been 3 months since the latest arrests and 9 months since the ones before that.

Whoever isn’t coming out to publicly declare Buhari and his government the murderers of Alex Badeh is only holding back out of respect for the law.

Anyone would be excused for thinking back then that the Badeh family were overwhelmed by grief when they described the videoed confession of one of the suspects as a charade and adduced their reasons for doing so.

Not any more. Its obvious they knew what they were saying.Detained former AAC Presidential candidate and Sahara Reporters Publisher, Omoyele Sowore has said how he was denied the use of a phone to call his family in DSS detention while boko haram commanders had access to not only that but also to televisions and cable in their cells.

There has been nothing to suggest Buhari is a member of boko haram other than claims years before he became President that he and a number of northern elites backed the sect to help entrench islamic rule early on but withdrew when their activities got out of hand.

Boko haram in an attempt to make public mockery of him,named him among its mediators to a dialogue with the Federal Government arranged by President Jonathan in 2012.

Buhari declined.The sect is known to slaughter members that renounce it as traitors and that that was the reason for the attack on his life in Kaduna.It has never really gone past that.

But if at all boko haram commanders are now accorded VIP treatment in detention then it suggests an appreciable level of expertise in handling ‘friendly scapegoat’ situations.

Rather than waiting to be ridiculed for not prosecuting people you have arrested for a murder,why not just extend the deal to include a cozy detention and a hasty and harmless trial?.

Well, a lot could go wrong,true.

A spokesperson of the Badeh family gave a heart-breaking account of the travails of the former CDS’ before his demise.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/26/who-really-killed-alex-badeh-amd-why-are-his-alleged-killers-not-in-court-a-lot-has-become-clearer/

There are two demeaning and insulting names that the Fulani gave to Southerners: “Nyamiri” (meaning ‘fetcher of water’) in reference to the people of the South-East and “Yoruba” in reference to the people of the South-West.

The South-East rejected that name but the South-West accepted it. The name “Yoruba” derives from “Yoruba” and it means “shady and unreliable”. I reject that strange name and label and I hope and pray that the good people of South Western Nigeria will see the wisdom in doing so, too.

I am not a “Yoruba” or “Yoruba” but an “Omo Karo Jire” or an “Ooduwan” and my language is not “Yoruba” but “Anago”. We are what we call ourselves. We are not “shady and unreliable” (Yoruba) and we must not accept names that are given to us by our historical adversaries.

Any Omo Karo Jire or Ooduwan that continues to call himself a “Yoruba” is lost and does not know the implication of what he is doing to his own people. He is simply affirming and confirming an insulting label which has deep sinister, mystical and spiritual connotations.

The word “Yoruba” did not even exist until the 18th century and even then most of the tribes of the South-West, including the Oyo’s, rejected it due to its origin and meaning. The word “Yoruba” is alien to our culture and not known in the Anago language. Ooduwans please take note.

The first time the word “Yoruba” was used as a generic term for all people of the South-West was in the 19th century by Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. He did us a great disservice there given the fact that it derives from the word “Yoruba” which the Fulani used to describe our people.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/23/we-are-sons-and-daughters-of-oduduwa-not-yorubas-by-femi-fani-kayode-2/

SARS officers have lost their purpose, now rob innocent citizens for sport – Activist

EndSars lead campaigner, Segun Awosanya, also popularly as Segalink says Special Units are not a patrol team in sane climes.

He also said, SARS officers have lost their purpose and now rob innocent citizens for sport and nobody within the system is doing anything about it.

Awosanya said this in a series of tweets on his official twitter handle, in reaction to alleged SARS operatives harassment and extortion of motorists and commuters in Edo State.

He said, “SARS officers in Edo State are mounting roadblocks and harassing road users under the guise of recovering stolen vehicles. Is this what Special units are deployed for? What is the work of the @PoliceNG?”

I asked them if there’s any report of a stolen vehicle in the area that matched the description of the vehicle of the driver they were harassing but they allege I was teaching them their job. I asked if their job entails hanging about and indiscriminately accusing road users of theft of their vehicles? One of them said that’s what they do.

To put this in the right perspective. Nigeria’s SWAT team is hanging around on the highway seeking whom to victimize despite not having any distress call they are responding to. This explains the tales of woe of commuters in that state due to extortion & abduction of the innocent

This, however, is the IG of @PoliceNG’s doing. He repealed the protocol that kept these men at bay. Now they have lost their purpose and now rob innocent citizens for sport and nobody within the system is doing anything about it. Special Units are not a patrol team in sane climes.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/23/sars-officers-have-lost-their-purpose-now-rob-innocent-citizens-for-sport-activist/

President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘’rice revolution’’ is laudable. Before the ‘’crop rebellion’’, Nigeria spent about $1.65 billion annually importing rice from Thailand and India. But the country is not yet home and dry in food production.

In December 2018, Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said as of 2015, the country’s food import bill was $7.9 billion, but that the figure plummeted to $1.6 billion in 2018.

However in September, 2018, Audu Ogbe, former minister of agriculture, put Nigeria’s annual food import bill at $22 billion. The fact is, Nigeria was spending its future away importing food.

It is for this exigent reason Buhari’s directive to CBN ‘’to stop providing foreign exchange for importation of food into the country’’ is apropos. As he said, ‘’the foreign reserve will be conserved and utilised strictly for diversification of the economy, and not for encouraging more dependence on foreign food import bills.”

But what is our obsession with rice?

Do not get me wrong. The rice revolution is a good one. Nigeria’s dependence on foreign rice is whittling and our production capacity is burgeoning.

At the 25th edition of the Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA), President Buhari accentuated this feat.

He said: ‘’Rice importation from Thailand fell from 644,131 tons in September 2015 to 20,000 tons in September 2017, representing a 95 per cent drop. Self-sufficiency in rice is so important because it is the most widely consumed staple in Nigeria, and also because Nigeria’s daily expenditure on rice for over three decades stood at $5 million a day!”

Also, figures from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) showed that rice production has increased from an average of 7.1 million tonnes between 2013 and 2017 to 8.9 million tonnes in 2018.

But rice is not Nigeria’s only biggest import. Some of the country’s other huge food imports are sugar, wheat and fish. Of the quoted annual import bill of $22 billion, these commodities bite off a chunk.

According to Adekunle Oresegun, director of Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research Lagos, Nigeria spends about $1 billion annually on the importation of fish. This is about the same amount the country spent importing rice yearly.

“The truth of the matter is that Nigeria spends about one billion dollars annually on importation of fish. Because of our fish production deficiency in Nigeria, we want to increase the number of people who have the knowledge and skills to farm fish. The intention of this vocational training is to increase fish production,’’ the director said at a training in Ebonyi state.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/23/nigerians-shall-not-live-on-rice-alone/

USSD charges: Nigerian elite are looking to pass costs of their hedonistic lifestyles to the people – Expert

Cheta Nweze, Lead Partner and heads the research desk at SBM Intelligence Cheta Nwanze, says Nigeria is in dire financial straits.

He said this in a series of tweets on his official twitter handle, stating that ‘rather than cutting down on their expenditures, our elite are looking to pass the costs of their hedonistic lifestyles to us, the people.’

Cheta said, “On Monday on @Smooth981FM’s #FreshlyPressed981, I said that it was the bank CEOs that had insisted that the USSD charges be made, and offered the telcos a sweetener to ensure it went through.”

“In my analysis, I said that Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor was being disingenuous in berating MTN Nigeria.”

“As always, in the feedback, there were a few people who attacked. Typical. Nigerians are deeply xenophobic, and poor MTN Nigeriais a favourite whipping boy these days.”

“What we have to understand is the banks, facing extra charges, have done what most businesses will do, and passed the charges to consumers.”

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/22/ussd-charges-nigerian-elite-are-looking-to-pass-costs-of-their-hedonistic-lifestyles-to-the-people-expert/

United States based Nigeria Communication scholar, Professor Farooq Kperogi says the name Yoruba was not invented by the Fulani people.

Farooq made the statement in a series of tweets on his official twitter handle, in reaction to former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode claim that the name Yoruba derives from Yoruba and it means shady and unreliable in d Fulani language

Femi Fani-Kayode was reported to have said that he isn’t “Yoruba” because “The name ‘Yoruba’ derives from ‘Yoruba’ and it means ‘shady and unreliable’” in d Fulani language.

He said, “The meaning of the word “Yoruba” is “usurper, deceitful, shady, treacherous, cheating usurer and double-dealing bastard”. I reject that name. The good people of SW Nigeria are “Anagos” or “Omo Karo Jire’s” or “Omo Oluabi’s” or “Oduduwans” and we are NOT ‘Yaribas’ or ‘Yorubas’.”

Prof. Farooq in his tweets said, “That’s not true. The name “Yoruba” was first attested in a treatise by a 16th-century Songhai scholar by the name of Ahmad Baba al-Massufi al-Timbukti to refer to the people of d ancient Oyo Empire, which included present-day Oyo and Osun states—and parts of Kwara and Lagos states. The name was adopted and adapted by Muhammad Bello (who later became the Sultan of Sokoto).”

“He referred to Oyo people as “Yoruba” in his article on the Oyo Empire. In time, Yoruba became the word by which Hausa people called the people of Oyo. The people didn’t have a common collective name for themselves; they self-identified by such names as “Oyo,” Ogbomosho,” “Ife,” “Ijesa,” “Igbomina,” etc.”

“It was Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a returnee slave who claimed to be descended from Yoruba people, who in the 19th century actively worked to encourage the amalgam of related linguistic groups in western Nigeria to adopt the name “Yoruba” as their endonym.”

“So an exonym (name given to a people by others) was adopted as an endonym (name by which a group self-identifies) through the instrumentality of an outsider who made himself an insider. “Yoruba” is not a word— and doesn’t mean anything—in either the Fulani language (also called Fulfulde) or the Hausa language.”

“Nor does it mean anything even in Songhai, as I’ll show in my Saturday column. By the way, the Fulani don’t refer to themselves by that name, either. That’s the Hausa exonym for them.”

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/22/fulani-did-not-invent-yoruba-and-yamuri-prof-farooq-counters-fani-kayode/

After groundbreaking investigative report, Right Activist claims ‘State’ coming after Fisayo Soyombo

Human Right Activist and Lead Counsel for #EndSars campaigner, Abdul Mahmud says the judiciary, Nigerian Police and Prison officials are now working in cahoots to ensnare undercover investigative reporter Fisayo Soyombo.

Nigerian authorities according to an unconfirmed report is planning arrest him for his groundbreaking report into corruption at a Police Station in Lagos and the Ikoyi Prison.

The first instalment of the three-part investigation by Fisayo Soyombo, a former editor of The ICIR, The Cable and a contributor to Al Jazeera, detailed how Nigerian policemen and officers of the prison service “pervert the course of justice in their quest for ill-gotten money”.

In the second part of the investigation published on Monday by The ICIR and The Cable, he exposed “how the courts short-change the law, and the prisons are themselves a cesspool of the exact reasons for which they hold inmates.”

Mahmud in a series of tweets on his official twitter handle, said the state (Buhari led government) is planning to file a charge under the S.29 of the Prison Act 2018.

He said, “The gods have spoken to their Great Oracle. Fisayo, run; The ICIR run. The state is coming after you all for “espionage”.

Fisayo’s bail will be revoked. A charge will be filed under S.29 of the Prison Act 2018. The gods have spoken

The judiciary, prisons and police are now working in cahoots to ensnare Fisayo. So says the gods.

Disappear. Don’t play the hero!

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/22/after-groundbreaking-investigative-report-right-activist-claims-state-coming-after-fisayo-soyombo/

United States based Nigerian academic, Professor Farooq Kperogi says President Muhammadu Buhari has a reputation for philandering.

Farooq said this in a series of tweets on his official twitter handle.

He said, “I honestly wouldn’t have bothered with this issue but for the number of well-meaning people who seem genuinely incredulous that Buhari could have extramarital affairs (as if he were some unerring saint) and, worse, reward his mistresses with appointments.”

“Buhari’s womanizing is well-known to both his former military colleagues and people who have been politically associated with him since 2003. It doesn’t bother me, frankly, because we all have our weaknesses. I’m only concerned because he allowed his weakness to influence his politics and policies.”

“Someone who knows Buhari intimately shared this excerpt of page 10 of Dr. Dele Sobowale’s book titled, LETTING A THOUSAND FLOWERS BLOOM (IBRAHIM B. BABANGIDA 1985 – 1992) and added that it faithfully captured Buhari.”

“Sobowale wrote: “Buhari never drank nor smoked. His only known vice was women. He must have been some sort of a sexual athlete. One officer who served with him in two stations had this to say: ‘You can leave your money, bottle of hot drinks or packets of cigarettes with Buhari, go away for several months and return and find nothing would be missing.”

“But leave your girlfriend or sister with him and you might return to find her pregnant.’ That might be an exaggeration but he had that reputation.”

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/21/buharis-womanising-is-well-known-says-farooq-kperogi/

By Inibehe Effiong

The purported impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Simon Achuba, by the Kogi State House of Assembly, and the alleged nomination of one Mr. Edward Onoja as his replacement by Governor Yahaya Bello, are acts of constitutional vandalism and a nullity and should be deprecated by all lovers of democracy and adherents of the rule of law.

Without much ado, let me say clearly that the futile impeachment proceedings initiated against Mr. Achuba by the Kogi State House of Assembly ended by operation of law (automatically) the moment the House received the Report of the 7-man Investigation Panel dated the 18th day of October, 2019 which completely exonerated Mr. Achuba of (all) the 5 allegations of gross misconduct brought against him by the House.

Impeachment is not, and not never be deployed as a malignant weapon for insatiable political vendetta. It was not the intention of the framers of the 1999 Constitution to give a House of Assembly omnipotent powers in the process of removing elected governors and deputy governors. This is apparent from the role ascribed to the Chief Judge of a State and the institutional independence given to the 7-man Investigation Panel under Section 188 of the Constitution.

There are only two definitive conclusions that the Panel is mandated to reach under the Constitution, and they have variant implications. The Panel must arrive at one of the two conclusions without ambiguity.

First, the panel can report to the House that the allegations of gross misconduct against a governor or deputy governor as the case may be, have been proved. In that case, the House “within fourteen days of the receipt of the report, the House of Assembly shall consider the report, and if by a resolution of the House of Assembly supported by not less than two-thirds majority of all its members, the report of the Panel is adopted, then the holder of the office shall stand removed from office as from the date of the adoption of the report.”. See Section 188 (9) of the Constitution.

Second, “Where the Panel reports to the House of Assembly that the allegation has not been proved, no further proceedings shall be taken in respect of the matter.” See Section 188 ( of the Constitution.

I have perused the Report submitted by the 7-man Investigation Panel constituted by the Chief Judge of Kogi State on the 26th of August, 2019 to investigate the Allegations of Gross Misconduct brought against the Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Achuba. The Report was signed and endorsed by the Chairman, Mr. John Baiyeshea, SAN, and by all the six members of the Panel. In its conclusion, the Panel stated and reported to the Kogi State House of Assembly as follows:

“In line with Section 188 ( of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) quoted herein before, we hereby report to the Kogi State House of Assembly that the allegations contained in the Notice of Allegations admitted in evidence by this Panel as Exhibit C7 have NOT BEEN PROVED.”

It is a settled principle of constitutional interpretation that when the words used in the Constitution are clear and unambiguous, they should be given their plain, literal, ordinary and grammatical meaning and interpretation. See the case of DANGANA & ANOR v. USMAN & ORS (2012) LPELR-25012(SC) where the Supreme Court opined thus:

“In the literal rule of interpretation, Courts must interpret words in the Constitution in accordance with the intendment and certainly, not in a way opposed to the purpose intended for the enactment. There should be no divergence but a strict confinement within the ordinary meaning of the words used in the Constitution unless it is at variance with the intention of the legislature to be gathered from the words used or leads to any manifest absurdity or repugnance. Fawehinmi v. I.G.P. (2000) 7 NWLR (pt. 665) pg. 481. Awolowo v. Shagari (1979) 6-9 SC 51.” Per ADEKEYE, J.S.C (Pp. 32-33, paras. F-B).

From the relevant constitutional provisions reproduced above, it is beyond disputation that the Kogi State House of Assembly is barred by Section 188 ( of the Constitution from deliberating, vetting, supervising or in any manner reviewing the conclusion of the Investigation Panel. Indeed, the House is not in a position to express any opinion on the report.

The Constitution has expressly determined the destiny of the impeachment proceedings upon the exoneration of the subject of the investigation by the Investigation Panel. There is no ambiguity as to what should happen where the Panel reports to the House of Assembly, as in the instant case, that the allegations have not been proved. The Constitution states that “no further proceedings shall be taken in respect of the matter”.

However, the course of action would have differed if the Panel were to report that the allegations against Mr. Achuba have been proved. Since the opposite conclusion was reached, the only permissible consequence is that no further proceedings can be taken in respect of the matter.

To avoid any mischievous argument in favour of the constitutional delinquents in Kogi State, one point should be clarified. Section 188 (10) of the Constitution states that “No proceedings or determination of the Panel or of the House of Assembly or any matter relating to such proceedings or determination shall be entertained or questioned in any court.” This ouster clause on the face value suggest that steps taken by the House of Assembly in relation to the impeachment proceedings cannot be questioned in court.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/20/the-constitutional-vandalism-in-kogi-state-must-end-now/

By, Fredrick Nwabufo

Why are Nigerian politicians ravished by the thought of election? They complot and machinate over it. And when they eventually get into office, they spend four years scheming for another turn instead of honouring their contract with citizens.

There is always a blue-print for the next election, but a subterfuge for governance and duty. The last general election was held in February, and just eight months after, there are already ‘’crusades and evangelism’’ ahead of the next one in 2023.

How can we make progress this way? We need to ask ourselves some uncomfortable questions? Do we keep reprocessing the same class of predators every four years? Do we consider a single term presidency? How do we reduce the cost of elections?

Our elections are about the most expensive in the world, with the cost ballooning from about N2 billion in 1999 to more than N240 billion in 2019, trumping India’s — a country much bigger in size and in population than Nigeria.

Really, the argument of former President Goodluck Jonathan on this climacteric issue reverberates with me. He foregrounded the paradox of our elections at the constitutional term limits summit in Niamey, Niger Republic.

“Four years is quite a short period for a country that is developing for a person who wants to change the country to do much. In Nigeria we just finished the election and some people are already talking about 2023 election. It is distracting,’’ he said.

“That is why some people come with the idea of a single tenure; so a president can sit down and plan all his programmes for the good of the country. We are too distracted with these elections. Why must we waste money every four years to elect a leader? Those are the things that agitate our minds.”

I think, a single term of six years may not be outrageous. Whoever is president will have to buckle-down and work, instead of thinking of the next election, which is distracting.

Also, I believe, this should apply to other elective offices. I know some lawmakers who have become fossils at the national assembly – every four years they buy their way into the legislature but with nothing to show for their perpetuity in office. Should this continue?

Electing credible candidates is a different matter entirely. As long as ethnicity and religion are the kernel for electing persons to public office here, competence and credibility will always be extraneous.

The current administration is yet to clock a year, but some agents of ‘’the presidency cabal’’ are already crusading for a ‘’pretender to the throne’’.

Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation, who is a consort of the rulers, principalities and powers of present-day Nigeria, has kicked off the crusade with evangelism for Bola Tinubu.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/19/if-presidency-goes-to-south-west-in-2023-osinbajo-not-tinubu-will-get-my-vote/

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed Nigeria’s closure of its borders with some neighbouring countries over issues bordering on illegal trade.

Mr Abebe Selassie, the Director of the African Department at the IMF, gave the position at a media briefing on the sidelines of the World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Washington.

He was responding to a question on weather the closure negates the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Selassie said although free trade was critical to economic growth of the continent, it must be legal and in line with agreements.

`On the border closure in Nigeria which has been impacting Benin and Niger, our understanding is that the action reflects concerns about smuggling that has been taking place.

“It is about illegal trade, which is not what you want to facilitate,’’ Selassie said.

He said the IMF was hoping for a speedy resolution of the issues as the action was already taking a toll on the economies of the country’s neighbours.

“We are very hopeful that discussions will resolve the challenges that this illegal trade is posing.

“If the border closure is to be sustained for a long time, it will definitely have an impact on Benin and Niger which, of course, rely quite extensively on the big brother next door,’’ he said.

On Wednesday, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said the borders were closed to curb illegal trading activities by Nigeria’s neighbours.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/19/imf-backs-buhari-border-closure/

Former Minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka says Onitsha is an ungoverned space; divided by artificial boundaries of Local Governments, unattended to by a visionless State.

Chidoka said this in a tweet on his official twitter, stating that the State lacks a coherent development plan.

The Peoples Democratic Party Chieftain (PDP) statement is in reaction to the petrol tanker explosion that killed unknown number of people in Onitsha, Anambra State.

According to reports, the fire started after a tanker laden with PMS feel into a ditch and spilled its content, resulting in multiple explosion that also affected Ochanja Market in Onitsha.

Onitsha is an ungoverned space; divided by artificial boundaries of Local Governments, unattended to by a visionless State, lacking a coherent development plan, unloved by residents who lack a sense of community. The fire today is symptomatic of deep seated urban challenges.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/18/onitsha-is-an-ungoverned-spaces-says-osita-chidoka/

Imagine your country as a circus. Behold those you saddle with governance humouring and amusing themselves with slapstick comedy, entertaining nobody. Citizens who endure hardship and seek escape don’t find any entertainment in their pantomimed foolery. The circus is a national pastime. Those who spare a moment to behold the circus, and for whom governance is serious business (of statecraft), can’t fail to observe the itinerant awada kerikeri who have reduced governance to a curious mix of pantomime and politics: a counterculture they delight in, outdoing and outperforming each other with the clownishness of Clarus and Gringory.

They can’t fail to observe what they do, although I am confident they will be sad to see how politicians now enrich the humour mill at the expense of statecraft. Ignore the circus at your peril. And there is worse. Think of what they do: governors who sit beneath chandeliers, nodding their heads to bands of praise-singers, singing their praises to the heavens, while sipping expensive wines.

There are others who exhibit unmagisterial behaviour, the kind that would make King David – the murderer of Uriah – envious were he alive today, and compose bad habits which bring out the worst in them. The worst which they have in common is what they defend against those who disrespect them; constituted authorities – a sad case of the condition, conduct disorder.

Is it any wonder that a governor threatened to kill any citizen who blocks his right of way? “Next time the ADC should order for a shoot. It is very illegal to block the governor. If anybody is killed in the course of that, it is allowed in the law”, Governor Umahi is reported to have said.

But, there is a more insidious connection this time between King Saul and our governors, as the anecdotal evidence shows. My attempt at connecting the spirit-possessing Saul with our politicians is neither dubious nor, in the context of politicians doing awada kerikeri, conjectural. There is evidence, beyond conjecture, which points to the spirit that makes our politicians, like Saul, wayward. The spirit that makes them look and act stupid also draws them towards things that calm them. These things may be incomprehensible to many, but they make meaning to our politicians, who find delight in the acquaintance of something therapeutic: music.

If music is the food of the soul, play on, they insist. Saul insisted, as the holy book reports in the First Book of Samuel: “and so it was, whenever the spirit of God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, the distressing spirit would depart from him”.

“If you are musical, you are likely to do something more musical than musicology”, the famous music critic, Hans Keller, once expressed. Though Keller omitted to suggest what was “more musical than musicology”, but we now know, drawing from the holy book that it may well be “spiritual deliverance”- a sort of “cognitive behavioral therapy”.

As if taking a cue from Saul, Governor Masari was only recently reported to have issued a letter of appointment to one Ukashata Suleiman, the leader of the ludicrously named Masari Modern Singers Association. The letter reads in part: “I have the pleasure to convey the approval of of His Excellency, the Governor of Katsina State, Rt. Hon. Aminu Masari, GFR, for your appointment as Special Assistant, Modern Singers”.

Knock knock. Who is there? David? No, Ukashata Suleiman. Imagine Ukashata Suleiman stepping into the governor’s court, accompanied by a band of “modern singers.” Picture him squatting at the feet of Governor Masari as he renders a line from that great lutist, Ishaq al-Mawsili (also called “Isaac of Mosul), who played at the court of the renowned fifth Abbasid Capliph, Harun al-Rashid: “I can sing for you what no ear has heard before”. Picture the Governor, calm, retiring to the sanctum of his court. It isn’t hard to glimpse the effect of Ukashata’s soulful song on the governor.

If Ukashata’s appointment parodies our politicians, it also explains their irrational behaviour. Beyond that it also serves two useful purposes. While on the one hand it ridicules politicians and makes governance crass, on the other hand, it draws some connection between humour and truth. In amusing themselves, the truth of how scarce public resources are wasted on expensive personal liftestyles is revealed.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/17/clowns-without-borders-by-abdul-mahmud/

In 2015, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released a list of 41 items prohibited from being imported into Nigeria with FOREX sourced from the CBN. The intent of the policy was simple – the CBN was seeking to utilize the FOREX (FX) market to support the import substitution policies of the FGN.

The 41 banned items included commodities such as rice, tomato paste, cement, meat, eggs and private jets. Milk has also been added to this list. If importers cannot access CBN FX, they will have to buy foreign exchange from the parallel market at a higher price. The CBN hopes the higher prices on imported food will make them too expensive for the Nigerian market. This will then incentivize the food importers to restrategize their operations and begin local production in Nigeria and avoid expensive FX for imports.

The President of Nigeria further “directed” the CBN to cease providing dollars to importers. In essence, Nigeria does not want to subsidize food imports.

There are three problems with this.

Local food costs will rise; local food supply is inadequate; and monetary policies alone cannot fix this.

To be clear, imports for final consumption tend to be economically bad. Imports weaken the local currency. When a nation imports, she sells her currency and buys the currency of the exporter nation, thus the local currency loses value and falls. Imports also kill local jobs. The President and the CBN are not wrong in principle but they are attempting to cure an economy generating less than 5000mw for 190 million people with FX bans.

A FX ban works where the local market can meet local demand but cannot operate at maximum capacity because imports are cheaper and gain market share from local producers. A forex ban makes those imports more expensive, thus allowing local products to regain market share.

If local supply cannot meet local demand as in the case of rice and milk, then a forex ban simply raises food inflation because those imports of essential stable food items will still come in but at a higher price. A policy that simply increases the prices of local products is an incomplete policy.

Nigeria used to be a massive importer of cement until President Obansanjo banned the importation of bulk cement. This led to local cement companies like Ashaka and WAPCO and a new entrant called Dangote Cement to invest to expand local cement capacity in Nigeria. Today, Nigeria manufactures all the cement she needs locally.

Success? Not quite.
Nigeria’s self-sufficiency in cement has come as at literally a high price. A World Bank report titled “breaking down barriers” published in June 2016 found that African cement prices are 183% higher than global prices, on average, a bag costs $9.57 per 50kg bag compared with $3.25 globally. The question to ask is if a strategy that creates local jobs for cement and rice producers but increases costs in the entire economy is worth it. Food remains a major component of the inflation Consumer Price Index (CPI).

In 2015, Aliko Dangote set up a tomato processing plant in Kano to process approximately 900,000 tons of tomatoes produced locally in a bid to cut imports of about 300,000 tons imported yearly from China. The Dangote factory has not optimally operated continuously since inception, a key reason is that the local farmers could not meet the demand of the tomato factory, according to Abdulkareem Kaita, the Managing Director of Dangote Farms Ltd.

Hold on, we just read the total local production of tomatoes is more than local demand, Yes, but all those tomatoes have to be harvested, packed all over Northern Nigeria, and transported to Kano to the Dangote factory. In the absence of a functional cold chain or rails that can move bulk cargos, most tomatoes simply waste on account of bad rural roads. A ban on FX for tomato imports does not solve the problems Dangote Tomato factory is experiencing in Kano. Zero imports do not create local logistics or rural roads, the FX ban simply makes tomato import substitutes more expensive, raising food inflation.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/16/what-cbn-should-do-instead-of-closing-borders-banning-fx-by-kalu-ajah/

It is 9:10am, and former President Goodluck Jonathan arrives at the mouth of the aircraft at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. His hat gives away him too soon as he saunters into the waiting metal bird. I cast a piercing glimpse at him, and said to myself, ‘’that was once the most powerful man in Africa, and perhaps, the most misunderstood’’.

We then journeyed on the wings of the bird from Abuja through Abidjan to Niamey.
But wait.

I was an irrepressible critic of Jonathan, yes, and I exercised this right as a citizen of Nigeria maximally under him. I was not arrested, detained or had minatory messages sent to me by his supporters or agents. I was not afraid to speak up or ”wail”. Other critics, including those who called for protests or even revolution during his administration were not hounded and dispatched to court for trial on farcical charges of treason. I enjoyed freedom.

However, under President Buhari, I cannot exercise my rights to freedom of expression, thought and opinion without the nagging fear of arrest, and the paranoia of secret service agents waiting for me at the airport for being a loud mouth or for wearing a banned T-shirt — since the DSS is now a fashion police.

Although President Jonathan had his challenges and failings; he is an exceptional gentleman and a democrat. He brooked opposition and harboured no political prisoner.
For two days, I have listened to him speak at the Constitutional Term Limits Summit taking place in Naimey, Niger Republic, where I am a participant. So far, he has exuded brilliance, keenness of mind, understanding of the issues and their corollaries.

Really, I have always wondered why he is tepid about national issues unlike some past leaders of the country; so I asked him the reason for his taciturnity.

He said:

‘’Let me thank you for asking me that question. That means you want to hear my voice, otherwise you would not have asked why I have been a bit silent on national issues.

‘’I may not be 100 percent right. I believe a former president has to be careful in commenting on national issues; otherwise you become a nuisance to society. Because having being the president of the country for a period of time, there is a number of information available to you; you do not always expect a sitting president to do things exactly the way you do, and sometimes, when you try to comment on national issues, of course, there are people that will defend the president, sometimes, they leave the subject matter and begin to castigate some aspects of your administration they observed weaknesses in, in order to divert the attention of the general public from the issue.
‘’Yes, former presidents should make comments from time to time on our national issues, but it should be issues that are quite critical; issues you think, you will not be able to reach out to the president; if you reach the president and have conversations with him, you do not need to go to the media and discuss the issues otherwise you will create more problems in your country. In Nigeria, we have this platform; the council of state that former presidents belong to, it could be a good platform to discuss issues.
‘’I do not advise that a former president should be active in political commentary; it will create more problems than solving the problem.’’

Also, I had asked him if he regretted conceding to President Buhari. My interrogation was to test for little annoyances. But it turned out negative. He appeared assured in the decision he made to accept defeat.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/10/why-i-dont-comment-on-national-issues-president-jonathan-tells-fredrick-nwabufo/

By, Fredrick Nwabufo

One man can induce rippling change in a system. One man can stop illegal detention, arrests, and govern the impulse to clamp down on free speech and citizens’ rights. One man can rebuild relationships and cause harmony to exist among disparate peoples. That man is the president; If only he is willing.

In Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, the young, charismatic prime minister, has effectuated expansive reforms in the country. He brooks opposition and harbours no political prisoner.

In fact, one of his first assignments after becoming prime minister was to order the release of political prisoners. He appointed women to about 60 percent of cabinet positions. And after decades of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, he made peace with the neighbouring country.

The Ethiopia-Eritrea hostility had seemed intractable and defied international interventions, until Abiy’s rapprochement. It is for this lofty action, including his peace initiatives in his country, that he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

One man can change the world.

But what can 78-year-old President Muhammadu Buhari glean from the leadership engineering of 43-year-old Abiy?

Buhari congratulated the Ethiopian prime minister on the global recognition. But has the president taken his time to study Abiy’s leadership style? Does he see his failures in the young leader?

‘’President Muhammadu Buhari congratulates Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was declared winner of 2019 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in Oslo, Norway, saying it portends a good sign for the peace processes within countries, and across borders on African continent,’’ a statement issued by Femi Adesina, presidential spokesman, read.
‘’The President reiterates his belief that African development is strongly tied to peaceful co-existence, and deliberate efforts by governments and people to sustain harmony within and between countries, urging more concerted and collective partnership on peace in the continent. President Buhari prays that the global recognition will spur more interest on issues of peace in Africa, and drive home the immeasurable benefits.’’

I read the president’s statement and was stupefied by the hypocrisy it emits. In four and a half years, what has President Buhari done to foster unity among Nigerians? Nigerians have become perilously divided along ethnic and religious contours.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/13/ethiopian-pm-bags-nobel-peace-prize-buhari-what-legacy-will-you-leave-behind/

By Ademola H Adigun

He got married 16 years back. Married an innocent lady or so he thought. He let her run the house. She managed all the funds. All he took was pocket money. Sometimes he would give her investment tips. She would listen. Three kids. Two boys and a girl. Life went on.

At some point, things changed. Income dropped. He had saved money. Asked his wife for some. There was none to spare she said. He thought liquidity. Actually none!

How could that be? An average of 2m a month for 48 months? How? Where are the investments? There was none. He did not run mad. He took it slow.

He relocated the family. Placed them in Lagos. He moved to a smaller place to get his life back. Then the stories started.

His carpenter told him he could not do repairs in the house. The driver resigned abruptly. Why?

His wife was sleeping around. With anyone and all men. She did not hide it. Carpenter walked in on her. As did others. Shame for him did not wish them to go back there again.

All those she introduced as family were actually mostly lovers. It had started even when times were good. He could not believe it.

He went on a 20 day dry fast. It brought revelation to him. Episodes and all that. He confronted her. She confessed. She apologised. She said her problem was spritual. They sought spritual cure.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/13/he-abandoned-his-family-for-love-raising-funds-to-conduct-a-dna-on-the-three-kids/

An aide to President Muhammadu Buhari, Tolu Ogunlesi says the mass emigration of Nigerians abroad shouldn’t be equated with an apocalypse as people are only taking advantage of immigration opportunities to move abroad.

Ogunless ssaid this in a series of tweets on his official and verified twitter handle in reply to a tweet by the founder of Online printing platform, Printivo, Oluyomi Ojo, lamenting mass immigration of Nigerians abroad.

Ojo had said, “A friend pinged me with a +1 number today. He’s gone too. A business I know is shutting down, founder is moving with is family. Someone tried to sell me a generator (100KVA). He’s selling everything off and moving too. These are dark days.”

But Ogunlesi in his reply said people are relocating in significant numbers to Canada & elsewhere from countries that are much more prosperous than Nigeria – China for eg.

He said, “I find it genuinely puzzling how people taking advantage of immigration opportunities to move abroad has come to be equated with “dark days” or an apocalypse. There’s nothing apocalyptic about it. People will always move in response to perceived better opportunities.”

“People are relocating in significant numbers to Canada & elsewhere from countries that are much more prosperous than Nigeria – China for eg. Let’s quit this apocalyptic outlook. People will always migrate in search of a better life, new opportunities, a 2nd passport, etc.”

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/03/nigerians-emigrating-abroad-are-only-taking-advantage-of-immigration/

Financial Analysis and CEO of AfriSwiss Capital Assets Management Limited, Kalu Aja says Nigeria will continue to export Cocoa beans and import Chocolate unless there is a change of mindset about agriculture.

According to Aja, there are not just enough success stories at the local level to encourage Nigeria’s best and brightest students to go study agriculture and apply modern techniques to grow, store, process and distribute food.

I once had the pleasure of being in a room with Nigerian Multimillionaires, they were discussing investments, i listened. The Nigerian were having a discussion with a Mexican from the SanCarlos Company, the Mexican selling agriculture as a business to the Nigerians

The Mexican invested in a pineapple farm in Enugu, & now exports pineapples from Nigeria. The Mexican explained to the Nigerians that Nigeria enjoys excellent trade terms with Europe & the US, SanCarlos Pineapples are “Nigerian” thus allow them enter d EU under those trade terms.

The Nigerian millionaires were not convinced The Mexican went on, he was making good volume exports from Enugu, his dollar cost were lower in Nigeria than Mexico, he exports and earns same dollar per tonne for Pineapple. The Nigerian millionaires were still not convinced.

The Mexican moved unto Tomatoes, local demand for tomatoes was constant in Nigeria, but supply of tomatoes was seasonal, any investor could set up greenhouses and supply tomatoes all year round locally, great opportunity. The Nigerian millionaires were not convinced.

Carlos continued, “ok , i will make a deal with you all, invest in tomatoes, i guarantee i will buy up all your output”.. The Nigerian millionaires were not convinced The Mexican got an A for effort but he was facing a tough crowd.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/02/nigeria-will-continue-to-export-cocoa-beans-import-chocolate-unless-financial-expert/

As the last bugle sounded on that May day in 1999, there was hope that chains and jackboots would forever pass into oblivion. As expected many cried and danced as the sound of the bugle receded into the hills beyond the Promised Road ahead. The nation was alive with the cry, “the soldiers you see today, you will never see again;” a cry with the familiar refrain taken from Moses.

Indeed, the hope our people had wasn’t misplaced, at least, to the extent that the bugle and jackboots have disappeared. Not the chains though. Beyond hope, there was the promise which the silencing of the bugle – a symbolic reference to the end of tyranny and the beginning of the march of freedom – heralded. So, our people, having lived through the hellhole of tyranny, were expectant that life would be good, freedoms would flourish, the rule of law would become the “be-all and end-all”, the nation would return to its grand narrative; a narrative grand in its telling that recognises the nation’s collective narratives. Much as our people were expectant, they were also convinced that fidelity to democracy would mark the rebirth of our nation.

Drawn to the mirror, the image of the reality our people glimpsed was mistaken for the promise. The soldier who stood in front of the mirror and the agbada-wearing politician that stared back should have warned our people of the confidence trick: the anti-democrat presented as a democrat in the mirror and the sad spectacle that would emerge with the return to civil rule. The hard truth, here, is that our people persisted with their expectations, wrongly balancing their expectations with reality, and becoming victims of their undoing. Even if they were not discerning enough as they looked at the mirror, the inverted image of the man in the mirror should have warned them of what was to come. Maybe, it didn’t. Maybe, it did. They didn’t heed the warning. Maybe. They didn’t hark back to memory to recall how the man standing in front of the mirror morphs from stationary bandit into a roving bandit, while christening himself “Executive Chairman this, Executive Governor that, Distinguished Senator that and Honourable this”. Mancur Olson is right: “These violent entrepreneurs do not call themselves bandits but, on the contrary, give themselves and their descendants exalted titles”.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/02/notes-on-tyranny-by-abdul-mahmud/

Today, Nigeria – ‘the giant of Africa’ – is marking its 59th independence anniversary but it is unable to keep the lights on.

I just checked official data and gathered that power generation in the country stood at 3,146.4 megawatts as of 6.00 am today. Can you beat that?

After almost six decades of being governed by our own people, debilitating blackouts are still the order of the day in most parts of the country.

The country achieved its highest electricity generation of 5,375MW on February 7, 2019 at 9.00 pm, according to data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

Our population (201 million) is more than three times that of South Africa, but we have less than a third of South Africa’s installed power generation capacity. We have 12,910.40MW, according to the TCN, compared to over 51,000MW in South Africa.

Ours is a country that has what it takes to produce sufficient electricity – which is essential for economic development – but has continued to fall behind in tapping its massive energy resources.

Aside from being Africa’s biggest crude oil producer, Nigeria boasts the largest natural gas reserves on the continent.

Only eight countries in the world – Russia, Iran, Qatar, Turkmenistan, United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela – have more gas than Nigeria.

The country has about 202 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves plus about 600 TCF unproven gas reserves, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Sadly, only about 25 per cent of the nation’s gas reserves are being produced or under development. Worse still, a large percentage of the gas produced are exported.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/02/nigeria-59-trillions-of-gas-but-millions-in-darkness/

To mark Nigeria’s 59th Independence Day today, I bring you the original article Flora Shaw, Frederick Lugard’s girlfriend (and later wife), wrote titled “Nigeria” in The Times (of London) on January 8, 1897 on p. 6 where she first proposed the name we are still known by. I requested my friend Professor Moses Ochonu to help me get a copy of the article when he went to the National Archives in London in May this year.

As you can see, Flora Shaw didn’t intend for the name “Nigeria” to refer to all of what is now Nigeria. She proposed the name for only the area that is today known as Northern Nigeria, which makes sense since that was the only area her boyfriend administered at the time. It wasn’t until 1914 that the Lagos Colony, the Southern Protectorate and the Northern Protectorate were administered as one country.

This article clearly gives the lie to the conspiracy theory popularized by one Natasha Akpoti that the name “Nigeria” is derived from “Nigger-Area.” As I pointed out in two previous columns debunking this unfounded conspiracy, “nigger” was not a racial slur in 1890s England, so Flora Shaw couldn’t possibly use it to intentionally insult us, although her article contains racist put-downs of the peoples of Northern Nigeria.

In 1890s England, “nigger” simply meant a black person, as it did at some point even in the US. A proof of this exists in the fact that in the same year that Flora Shaw’s article was published in The Times, famous Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad wrote a novella titled The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’. Because “nigger” was already a racial slur in America at the time (and it wasn’t in England), his publisher changed the title of the American edition of the book to The Children of the Sea: A Tale of the Forecastle.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/02/the-first-article-that-proposed-the-name-nigeriaby-farooq-kperogi/

Temie Giwa-Tubosun, the Chief Executive Officer of Life Bank Nigeria says Nigeria is consistently getting better.

LIFE BANK is a Nigerian startup focused on developing a smarter way to deliver blood to Lagos hospitals

Tubosun said this in celebration of Nigeria 59 Independence celebration on her official twitter handle.

She said, “I have lived in Nigeria for 7 years As far as I’m concerned, the country is consistently getting better! It’s still hard to live here, but it’s getting better. I don’t know where the despair comes from, the oil crash has been hard…yes,

Meanwhile, Tubosun tweet generated angry reactions from some Nigerians, who felt she was being insensitive to the plight of ordinary Nigerians.

Among those who commented is Ayo Bankole, a popular social commentator who said “It’s so important that in our attempts at optimism, we don’t become cynical and insensitive to the plight of the 87million Nigerians living in extreme poverty, the millions of others living in moderate poverty, and everyone struggling with decadence.”

Tubosun also in a reaction to some replies to her tweet, said, “There’s LSTEF, Wecylers, LifeBank, Tradermoni, Nerc, Fatoyinbo being held to account, The new VAT being rolled back, People making govt back off on subsidy removal (even though removal would’ve been god) The train in Kaduna, the Abuja airport train, the train connecting the SW!”

“Second Niger Bridge, El Rufai and Makinde’s govt, innovation in Akwa Ibom, That office that improves business environment, LIRS and FIRS, peaceful 2 party regime change! Progess! Small but progress nevertheless! Particularly since this country has a recession just 4 years ago!”

“El Rufai stood up to Teachers Union, and cleaned up education for kids in Kaduna! This is literally progress! Real measurable change that wasn’t present 7 yrs ago! Akwa Ibom partnering with http://Hotels.ng to train young folks. GEJ’s Agric ministry had a lot of progress!”

“If we do NOT admit what is working, how will we scale them? Small progress, scaled, equals a changing country! Imagine that we gathered all great project and worked to scale them in all states in Nigeria? We will have progress!”

“Goodluck Jonathan’s Government basically created the foundation for the little energy progress we have today! This current government has refined it! That’s progress! I have used the NERC / Disco platform as a consumer for a while and believe it WORKS better than NEPA platform!”

https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/02/lifebanknigeria-ceo-says-nigeria-is-consistently-getting-better-get-angry-reactions/

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has said the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari administration is the best in post-independence Nigeria.

MURIC in a statement on Tuesday, by it director, Ishaq Akintola, said corrupt elements in society have also been fighting tooth and nail to frustrate the efforts Buhari.

Adjudging Buhari’s government as being transparent, the group said the government helped clear accumulated arrears of workers salaries and pensions running into billions of naira, and also ensured that Biafran veterans were paid off.

According to him, Buhari has been fighting corruption since 1983 when he had a stint as a military head of state.

“We adjudge the Buhari administration as the best in post-independence Nigeria. Everyone agrees that corruption is the bane of Nigeria’s development. All other factors are peripheral but corruption is tangential. This implies that Nigeria will overcome all its challenges once corruption has been reduced to its barest minimum,” the statement read.

“This explains why President Muhammadu Buhari has been consistently consistent in tackling graft since his days as military head of state (1983-85) till today. Apart from the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), the period heralded transparency, probity and accountability in the public sphere.

“Unfortunately corrupt elements in society have also been fighting tooth and nail to frustrate his efforts. These include, but are not limited to, rapaciously greedy civil servants, a superfluously voracious business class and avariciously glutinous politicians.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/01/we-adjudge-buhari-as-the-best-in-post-independence-nigeria-muric/

Financial Analyst and UK based Nigerian accountant, Feyi Fawehinmi has said Nigeria will continue to be oil dependent until it is completely impossible to be dependent on oil.

He said this in a series of tweets on his official twitter handle in reaction to statement credited to Former Central Bank Governor, Chukwuma Soludo that Nigeria should restructure in anticipation of oil ending.

According to him, truth of the matter is that oil is going to end the same way the slave trade ended – forcibly taken away.

He said, “Listened to Soludo saying Nigeria should restructure in anticipation of oil ending. Truth of the matter is that oil is going to end the same way the slave trade ended – forcibly taken away.”

“If you can suspend the ridiculous comparison of human beings with a commodity for a minute, the circumstances are eerily familiar.”

“A movement that started small begins to campaign against a particular trade/commodity. It grows into a large movement and even looks like a religion. In the end, governments are no longer able to ignore them and they succeed in making the trade/commodity untenable.”

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/01/oil-is-going-to-end-the-same-way-the-slave-trade-ended-financial-analyst/

Social Commentator and Lead campaigner of #EndSARS, Segun Awosanya popularly known as Segalink has said Nigeria is is far from independence and not free.

Awosanya said this in a series of tweets on his official twitter in response to Nigeria 59th Independence celebration, stating that the country is under the worst of aberrations ruining lives.

He said, “Today should be a day of colorful celebration when we tell our children stories about the labors of our heroes past and how we are working to build on it. But sincerely, Nigeria is far from independence and we are not free. We are under the worst of aberrations ruining lives.”

“Most of our respected voices have assumed the “siddon look” position in fear of being harassed, violated and persecuted for speaking the truth. Govt have lost their conscience and ruined our institutions with the installation of their demagogues. They no longer serve Nigeria.”

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/01/nigeria-59-nigeria-is-far-from-independence-activist/

Kyke Davies engaged me on phone yesterday for more than 20 minutes on the need to speak out more about our society. It is pathetic that parents have abdicated their responsibilities of raising children right. Since some of us have significant following, we can use the platform to teach and educate. I agree with her. I have been doing that for a decade now and I will not stop.

I know most of us and those before us, were taught and raised right. Somehow, most of us did not pass it on to our children. Now, we have Ajantalas (petulant Veruca Salt Children) all over the place. The issue of Tacha on Big Brother Nigeria (BBN) is a case study. I do not watch BBN. Outside CNN, History Chanel and the likes, I don’t venture. I am actually poor at watching TV. My TV is on, only to catch breaking news. So, I had no idea who Tacha is until a few days ago when I read she was DISQUALIFIED. Even DSTV understood the damage her win could have done to their brand.

I understand, that my morality is not your morality. I also appreciate that we cannot legislate morality or behavior but we also know that social cohesion is based on certain norms of acceptable behavior. There is order even in the jungle. There is something systemically wrong, if someone like Tacha is hailed in a society. There is something wrong when the youth segment sees rudeness, being totally uncouth, disagreeable and brash as attributes to celebrate.

We know survival is the hidden code in generational poverty. We know that fights is the way scores gets settled in poverty. With limited possessions, and with survival in mind, people is the only thing that can be possessed. That is why fights are so intense in generational poverty. I understand that. If you must aspire to free yourself and rise above your beginnings, you must learn the rules of the game and tame your emotions.

That people hail Tacha, raises a lot of concern over our systemic loss of values. Most importantly, it tells me how poverty has become weaponized and democratized in a conservative society. Do you want a wife, sister, aunt, daughter, niece like Tacha? Novelist Paulo Coelho wrote: “How people treat other people is a direct reflection of how they feel about themselves.”

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/09/30/is-rudeness-now-acceptable-by-bamidele-ademola-olateju/

A software Developer, with the name Toni Astro has shared on Microblogging site how operatives of the Nigerian Police Force harassed and robbed him of his money.

Toni shared his shocking story in a series of tweets on the 28th of September, 2019 on his official twitter handle , saying that he was physically harassed for no reason.

See his tweets below…

So yeah, SARS messed up my Saturday and I get to be locked up because I’m a software developer.

I grabbed a bike via one of the bike hailing service in Nigeria from Abiola gardens to Ketu. So I could get a BRT from there home.

About getting to ketu, two men in police like uniform stopped the bike, and told me to get down. I immediately did with the mindset that the bike guy did something wrong.

They asked for my phone and I unlocked it and gave them. They told the bike guy to end the trip and go. So they gave me my phone to pay the guy from the mobile app. After 20 seconds they said I’m going with them to the station.

And I was like what station?

Next thing they pointed guns at my leg, telling me to enter another bike they stopped and go with them to their station. I entered and one of the men asked for a million naira and he’d let me go.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/09/28/they-pointed-their-guns-at-my-leg-man-shares-his-lagos-sars-story/