Last  Monday, the nation was once again in the throes of anger and desperation following the abduction of students of Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, by Boko Haram. The incident came four years after the same terror group invaded a female school in Chibok, Borno State, taking into captivity, more than 200 girls. Up till now, more than 100 of those hapless girls remain in captivity, despite the repeated promises by the government that it would secure their release after a tripartite negotiated freedom for a number of their colleagues last year. Although the terrorists have sustained their sporadic attacks on mostly soft targets over time, the Monday onslaught on Dapchi College is most frightening, and virtually all the concerned authorities are enmeshed in panicky measures and cacophonies.  None has been able to provide concrete clues on the circumstances surrounding the abduction, particularly the actual number of the “unaccounted for girls.”

In particular, the government’s conduct has fuelled public anger and made the parents and guardians of the abducted girls to question its capacity to manage crisis. It is totally unreasonable and callous for the government to preoccupy itself with fairy tales, claiming that some of the girls yet to be accounted for might be hibernating in the villages to which they fled after the onslaught on their college, instead of making serious efforts to track their whereabouts.

We believe that the Dapchi abduction is not just another national calamity and embarrassment but an avoidable tragedy. If the various authorities had done the needful more diligently and faithfully, the back and forth between the state government and the military over security lapses before the incident and the rescue operation would have been entirely unnecessary. At this stage, it is important to caution that the Dapchi abduction should not be allowed to degenerate in the manner that the Chibok Girls saga did. Enough of buck-passing among the concerned authorities; the girls must be rescued without further delay. The somberness on the part of the Presidency must translate into quick re-uniting of the students with their families.

Lastly, the whole episode should be investigated   and  whoever is found culpable should be sanctioned appropriately to show the place of discipline, professionalism and decorum in public service. Those who shirked their responsibility to protect life and property must not be allowed to go scot-free.

Tribune

CBN’s order to banks on dividend payments could not have come at a better time

Worried by the tide of rising Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last week directed Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and discount houses (DHs) with huge bad loans and low capital base to stop payment of dividends to shareholders.

Part of the letter dated January 31, read: “Globally, retained earnings have been identified as an important source of growing an institution’s capital. Advantages of retained earnings include being a source of long-term finance; being easier and cheaper to raise than external finance; curtailment of financial risks; and improving liquidity and profitability.

“However, it has been observed that rather than take advantage of this beneficial means of capital generation, some institutions pay out a greater proportion of their profits, irrespective of their risk profile and the need to build resilience through adequate capital buffers.”

“Any Deposit Money Bank or discount house that does not meet the minimum capital adequacy ratio shall not be allowed to pay dividend.

“The DMBs and DHs that have a Composite Risk Rating of ‘High’ or a non-performing loan ratio of above 10 per cent shall not be allowed to pay dividend.

“The DMBs and DHs that meet the minimum capital adequacy ratio but have a CRR of ‘Above Average’ or an NPL ratio of more than five per cent but less than 10 per cent shall have dividend pay-out ratio of not more than 30 per cent.

“The DMBs and the DHs that have capital adequacy ratios of at least three per cent above the minimum requirement, the CRR of ‘Low’ and the NPL ratio of more than five per cent but less than 10 per cent, shall have dividend pay-out ratio of not more than 75 per cent of profit after tax.”

The directive, apart from being explicit, is certainly timely. Aside underscoring the seriousness that the apex bank attaches to the issue of rising cases of bad loans, it comes as an emphatic signal that the corporate derelictions which allowed the problem to fester would no longer be condoned. After all, to say that the situation is bad is to put things mildly. At a time the CBN’s prescribed minimum NPL threshold is five per cent for banks, the level of NPL had long hit 15.18 per cent as of September 2017 – a leap of 50 percent from N1.6tn in December 2016 to N2.4tn.

The directive therefore comes across as a necessary dual-edged sword – one meant to sift the wheat from the chaff, while offering a lifeline for marginal performers to shore up their capital bases.

Understandably, there are those who would baulk at the idea of ‘punishing’ the hordes of investors for the poor credit decisions of the banks’ management. In other words, why go after the hapless investors while sparing the executives behind most of the poor credit decisions of the regulatory axe? While the question is no doubt legitimate, no less legitimate is whether the shareholders are themselves not complicit in their acquiescence to a number of the questionable decisions by the management of the institutions.

This leads to the question of whether the CBN can afford to do nothing. The situation, as it appears, comes basically to the simple choice – between the festering cannibal rage on the ailing entities on the one hand, and denial of current earnings on investments to guarantee the entities a chance to thrive on the other. Between the former and the later, it should not be difficult to see which of the alternatives the lesser evil is.

The Nation

THE directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stopping the payment of dividends to shareholders by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Discount Houses (DHs) with huge bad loans and low capital bases is a welcome approach to the strengthening and protection of the financial services sector.

Concerns have been mounting over the declining assets and solvency of some banks and discount houses in recent years, and the CBN has a responsibility to address them. According to the directive dated January 31, 2018, and signed by the Director, Banking Supervision Department, Mr. Ahmad Abdullahi, the apex bank said it had observed that rather than grow their capital by retaining earnings, some banks pay out a greater proportion of their profits, irrespective of their risk profile and the need to build resilience through adequate capital buffers.

To avoid this risk, the regulator said banks and discount houses with Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) above 10 percent must, henceforth, stop paying dividends to their shareholders. While noting that “globally, retained earnings have been identified as an important source of growing an institution’s capital,” the CBN reminded the banks and discount houses of the advantages of retaining their earnings. These include the fact that the retained earnings will be a source of long-term finance that would be cheaper and easier to raise than external finance. They will also help with the curtailment of financial risks and improve liquidity as well as profitability. The banking regulator further said that rather than take advantage of this beneficial means of capital generation, some of the financial institutions follow the narrow, short-term path that is fraught with risk by ingratiating shareholders via dividend payments.

In addition, the directive said “the DMBs and DHs that meet the minimum capital adequacy ratio but have a CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) of ‘Above Average’ or an NPL ratio of more than five percent but less than 10 percent, shall have dividend payment ratio of not more than 30 percent.” This CBN intervention is a helpful initiative that should steer our banking and other financial institutions away from the stormy waters many of them are sailing into.

It is instructive that the minimum NPL threshold for banks is five percent. This means that lenders’ bad loans should not exceed five percent of their loan books. But, as the CBN’s Financial System Stability (FSS) report showed in February, 2017, some of the banks far exceeded this threshold. While this may not necessarily call for panic, it clearly indicates that all hands should be on deck to strengthen the fundamentals of the banks in the critical areas of assets and capital planning, adequacy and generation.

Undoubtedly, it is every shareholder’s joy to get good dividends at the end of every financial year. Coming a few days to the release of the 2017 financial year annual reports by commercial banks and discount houses, the CBN directive seems a killjoy. However, the stability and solvency of our financial institutions are fundamental and should be protected by all necessary means.

Currently, the declining assets and bad loans of the banking industry are becoming worrisome. For instance, figures from the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) show that as at September 2017, the banking sector’s NPLs stood at a disturbing 15.18 percent. They had shot up from N1.6 trillion in December 2016 to N2.4trn in September 2017.

Shareholders will certainly not like what the CBN has done. The move, however, is also for their protection as it is in their best interest to keep the institutions stable and profitable on the long run. The directive mirrors the state of affairs in the concerned institutions. The FSS report already referred to measures the soundness of the banks using indicators such as assets quality, capital and income adequacy and the ratio of NPLs.
In almost all these key indices, many Nigerian banks have not performed well. Discount houses are, perhaps, worse. Over the years, the banks’ NPLs have been increasing steadily. For example, in 2016, bad loans amounted to N2.08trn. In the 2015 NDIC Annual Report, banks’ NPLs increased to N648.8bn, from N354.34bn in 2014, an increase of 82.8 percent. There is no doubt that bad loans are dangerous to the health of financial institutions.

The banks and discount houses must, therefore, strive to check their NPLs and keep their capital bases at the required levels so that they can pay dividends to their shareholders. The shareholders should not be the victims of the institutions’ failure to meet the criteria set out by the CBN to pay dividends.

All in all, the decision of the CBN should not be seen as harsh on shareholders. Rather, it is one of the measures rolled out by the regulator to put the financial institutions in good stead and keep them focused on their core mandates. The current economic environment in which commercial banks and discount houses are operating makes it expedient to continuously keep them in check through reasonable regulatory measures.

Sun

In a country where all the tiers of government are bereft of ideas on youth employment, job creation, human capital and natural resources management, how many former governors, serving state chief executives and public office holders have addressed the country’s unemployment superfluity as much as Asiwaju Tinubu? All that we get to read in the newspapers and hear on the electronic media are primitive acquisition of onshore and offshore property and money-laundering irrefutable facts in safe places like Switzerland, South Africa, USA and lately Dubai involving the above categories of thievish Nigerians!

On a declarative note, if all former governors had invested half of their loot here, instead of overseas, this country would not have been in a currency of stagnation. With the exception of just a few of the former governors, like Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Dr. Shehu Shema and Alhaji Sule Lamido, who were already opulent before assuming the reins of government because of their robust professional and entrepreneurial antecedents, most of them were paupers as at 1999.

The eminent like of Tinubu, as you will read presently, had “touched” (excuse the parlance) money in all its thresholds. So, Asiwaju Tinubu’s famed financial comfort in all its critics’ inflation has a verifiable pedigree of nobility.

All the fables about Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu recanting on Asiwaju Tinubu are balderdash to this writer and signpost idiocy because Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo (retd.) abused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in dealing with his political opponents, former friends and erstwhile military colleagues, especially those who did not support his third term tomfoolery! It is unfortunate that Ribadu associated with clownish Baba and allowed himself to be used by his callous principal to execute vendetta and domestication of queer leadership.

Even Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr., a supranational investor and global financial prodigy, was among those recklessly harassed because of Dr. Adenuga’s long-standing friendship with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (the rest of the story is being documented about now by historians) and their stout rejection of the third term misadventure. A manifest demonstration of preposterous pettiness by the Owu title holder from Abeokuta! Never again! Punitive leadership is aberrational, retrogressive and hallmarks incivility.

Of all the well-deserved accolades and titular bestowals that have so far come the way of this messianic enigma who was recently appointed the peacemaker for the disintegrating All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Tinubu, a man dogged by moronic misconceptions and erroneous classifications that are drunkenly spun to discredit and diminish his person, the one I like most is “the Asiwaju (Leader) of South West Politics” and, by extrapolation, contemporary Nigeria—as the National Leader of the ruling party. When Prof. Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first African to achieve that global feat, the late Prof. Chinua Achebe, in his reaction, declared that the award did not make him the Asiwaju of Nigerian Literature!

The contextual application of that title made me to take morphological and historical note of that prefix ever since.

But, in the matter of Asiwaju Tinubu, I think there should be a lexical reversal of that leadership circumstance as perceived by the master story teller. There is no doubt that in the case of Asiwaju Tinubu, the title is quite befitting in the light of recent political developments in the South West geopolitical zone with the former governor of Lagos State playing a critical role in virtually all the transformative manifestations—even far more than he did as an executive governor for eight years and his inspired evolution of a revolutionary successor.

Of course, there are tepid controversies and chimerical allegations maliciously woven around this unusual troubleshooter. This writer holds the view that no politician of Tinubu’s status and clout (and, indeed, all politicians for that matter) will function in this warped arena without attracting all manner of opprobrious references in rascally contextualization. The issue is, what is the veracity of some of these moonlight tales and how do they impact on the APC re-engineering and the country’s overall human development index? Or, are they just for purposes of witch-hunt and travesty of democracy? And why is Asiwaju Tinubu the biggest symbol of character assassination in the country today?

As a member of the National Media Tour Team under the distinguished leadership of the then Information and National Orientation Minister Prof. Jerry Gana in the first term of the Obasanjo second presidency, I had the rare privilege of going round the entire country on an assessment of the delivery of political dividends in the Second Republic.

With all sense of responsibility, I honestly reaffirm here that some contemporaries of Asiwaju Tinubu in sane climes would have been shot dead for brazen incompetency, unquantifiable and indescribable graft and gross underdevelopment of their states. Comparatively, most of his peers at the time had state headquarters that resembled Lagos Ajegunle or Maroko of yore. Even the governor of one of the oil-rich states in the South South with all its mind-boggling revenue ran away on the arrival of our inspection team in his state capital because of his mismanagement of the huge resources that had accrued to the state running into billions of naira! Last month, the state got the highest allocation.

Asiwaju Tinubu may not be a saint, just as he may not be a sinner, too. I take solace in the scriptural realm that says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The essence of our existence is the impact we make on society and the level of atonement we make, ultimately. The matter is not about canonization or holier-than-thou attitudinal disposition. And the question of martyrdom does not arise in this clime. I know full well that the fading clan of hypercritics of Asiwaju Tinubu will call for my head for doing this unusual conflict-resolution piece. I am, however, satisfied by the fact that we do not know each other, have not met before and do not share anything in common remotely or visibly. The only time I saw him from a distance was at the presentation of a book by master-satirist and senior friend of mine, Dr. Olatunji Dare, at the Agip Recital Hall of Muson Centre sometime ago.

As long as you are in the public space, it is impossible to carry on without pugilistic criticisms, wild allegations, baseless rumours, sundry suspicions and outright malice. Innuendos, tantrums, vilification, diatribes and vituperation, et al, must inevitably come your way. Some people will just hate your guts for no plausible reason except for the mirage of corruption and oppressive potentialities!

So, Asiwaju should understand this public-life matrix and its concomitant jaundice and ignore them or respond sparingly when there is absolute need. In this breath, it does not make sense exchanging vitriolic statements with men of straw. Foul communication tarnishes a leader’s reputation. Public outbursts are for minions. We all have our foibles.

It gets to a stage in one’s life when his works speak volumes of his person and contributions to societal development. That, gladly, is the irreversible point that this Asiwaju of South West and Nigerian politics has astoundingly arrived at, against all odds. As I round off this profiling of the APC peacemaker, there are tales doing the rounds that this emerging South West leader dismembered both the Alliance for Democracy and Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural organization, for his own selfish political ascent. Time will tell.

I wish Asiwaju—the aristocratic and indisputable “owner” of Lagos—the best in his reconciliatory assignation.

Does President Muhammadu Buhari know that some Nigerians associate his name with hardship? Trending on the social media is a recommendation that the Oxford dictionary should consider adding the word ‘Buhari’ to its lexicon.

The suggested meanings are: hard, hardship, difficult, harsh, and tough. An adjectival example of the word goes thus: “How was your exam?” “It was Buharific!”

In the same token, I suspect that the 2019 general election is going to be Buharific! To die-hard Buharists, the President must go for a second term. This is because, as Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State put it, the 24 All Progressives Congress governors are ready to support his re-election.

Apparently to show the seriousness of this re-election project, Bello bellowed some inanities against the Catholic bishops for daring to tell the President that things were hard for many Nigerians. He reportedly told the bishops that those who opposed Buhari were corrupt Christian leaders who were unhappy because looters were no longer able to pay tithes to them. He has since recanted and apologised to the bishops.

Many other people and groups have also vowed to compel the President to seek re-election. In expressing its support, the Buhari Campaign Organisation (BCO) said the President had fulfilled most of his campaign promises, particularly in the areas of security, war against corruption and revamping of the economy.

Let’s examine these three broad areas the BCO has identified. The first is security. On this score, there are some improvements. For instance, the government claims that the nation’s major security threat, Boko Haram, has largely been decimated. To an extent, this is true.

However, the terrorist organisation still carries out pockets of raids in different parts of the North. Last Monday, for instance, they abducted scores of young schoolgirls from Government Girls Science Secondary School, Dapchi, Yobe State. The number of kidnapped girls is not certain but some reports indicate that they are over 100.

This is outside the almost daily menace of Fulani herdsmen. They have struck in Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu and many other parts of the country, killing and maiming. Their activities are capable of engendering a civil war, but nothing much has been done to stop them.

The rising rate of other criminal activities, some of which arose as a result of the hardship in the country, is also worrisome. Ritual killings, kidnappings and armed robberies are typical examples. On some occasions last year, luxury bus drivers had to block the Benin-Ore expressway to protest incessant robberies on that road.

The second plank upon which many people support Buhari is his assumed war against corruption. Yes, he might be upright as a person, but a lot of water has passed under his anti-corruption bridge. Today, Nigerians use snakes as a metaphor to describe the level of corruption in the country. Remember that a sales clerk in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board office in Makurdi, one Philomena Chieshe, revealed recently that a mysterious snake swallowed N36 million left in the vault of the board in Makurdi.

Many prominent government officials have also swallowed huge sums of our money and nothing serious has happened. Last year, whistleblowers discovered some N13 billion inside a flat at Ikoyi, Lagos. So far, nobody has been arrested or prosecuted for that.

More pathetic is the National Health Insurance Scheme case. Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, suspended Prof. Usman Yusuf, who happens to be the executive secretary of the NHIS, on account of alleged fraud, for which he is being investigated by the anti-graft agencies. Pronto,President Buhari reinstated him.

Even the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) of the present regime has been marred by fraud as revealed recently by the Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment Programmes, Mrs. Maryam Uwais. Lopsided appointments are a story for another day.

To cap it all, Transparency International, in its latest annual Corruption Perception Index, noted that corruption in Nigeria worsened between 2016 and 2017. The country ranked 148 out of 180 countries assessed in 2017. The index showed that out of 100 points, Nigeria scored only 27. In 2016, Nigeria scored 28 points and ranked 136th in the ranking of countries.

On the third plank, which is economy, Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, believes there are improvements. He said the Buhari-led administration has given more support to state governments than any other government since 1999. This support runs into about N1.91 trillion as at September 2017.

Prof. Osinbajo added that, despite 60 per cent less revenue, the Buhari government had made the highest capital spend in the history of the country in the sum of about N1.3 trillion. The Federal Government, for instance, is building the Lagos-Kano standard gauge rail and has signed up for the Lagos-Calabar rail project. Work on the Second Niger Bridge is said to be ongoing.

The Federal Government has also claimed to be doing close to 15 million metric tons of paddy yearly. It cut rice importation by about 80 per cent, and boasted about its Social Investment Programmes.

Part of the sing-song is that, under the immediate past administration, Nigeria generated a lot of oil revenue, but, under Buhari, the revenue declined. They would tell you how previous governments frittered away external reserves and savings, how our direct foreign investment declined and so forth.

Today, sympathisers of the government would tell you that foreign direct investments have picked up, external reserves boosted, and savings increased. Besides, there is the agricultural revolution. The Treasury Single Account (TSA) has plugged financial loopholes. And trillions of looted funds have been recovered. The President is said to have liberated the country from an impending economic doom, and he has succeeded in repositioning the economy from dependency on oil to other sources of revenue such as agriculture.

But the question is, how have all these impacted on the lives of ordinary citizens? As the director-general of the International Labour Organisation, Guy Ryder, put it, access to decent work opportunities for all is the best way to lift people out of poverty, reduce inequality and drive economic growth.

So, how many Nigerians have this access to decent work opportunities? The statistics are not salutary. According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s unemployment rate rose from 14.2 per cent to 18.8 per cent in 2017. The labour population, the NBS said, increased from 83.9 million in the second quarter to 85.1 million in the third quarter of 2017. In simple terms, many people have lost their jobs.

Recently, Osinbajo enthused about rising foreign investment flows. But what he failed to mention is that the bulk of the inflow is portfolio or short-term equity investments by hedge funds and other institutional global fund managers. As my friend and economist, Teslim Shitta-Bey, put it, most of this fresh investment flows represent ‘hot’ money and adds little, if any, long-term value to the economy by way of infrastructure and employment.

I may not be an economist, but I know that many Nigerians are going through excruciating times today. Personally, I receive a lot of calls from people whose children are at home because school fees have not been paid. For some, even to get food to eat is a big problem.

The NBS, in its poverty report published late 2016, said about 112 million Nigerians live below poverty level. This represents 67.1 per cent of the country’s total population of about 167 million. Poverty has actually robbed many Nigerians of their dignity. Physical and mental illnesses have become the order of the day.

Last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) came out with a damning report about depression in Nigeria. Depression is a mood disorder, which causes persistent feeling of sadness.

According to WHO figures, 7,079,815 Nigerians suffer depression. That is 3.9 per cent of the population. And these are people who were once rated the happiest on earth. About 4,894,557 others suffer anxiety disorders.

This is why suicide has climbed to an alarming rate in the country. Recently, a lecturer with the Kwara State University and a 300 level student of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, committed suicide. Last October, a 54-year-old director in the Kogi State Civil Service, Mr. Edward Soje, killed himself. He was owed 11 months’ salary arrears.

According to the WHO suicide ranking, with 15.1 suicides per 100,000 population in a year, Nigeria is the 30th most suicide-prone (out of 183 nations) in the world and the 10th in Africa.

Unfortunately, this government has been playing the blame game. Nigerians knew there were problems. They elected Buhari to solve those problems, not to give excuses, not to commit further errors.

As Prof. Wole Soyinka said recently, Buhari appears to be in a trance and has committed so many unforced errors. Some other prominent Nigerians like former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida have pointed out some of these errors.

I know the President means well for Nigeria. But his age, health and poor understanding of the economy have hindered him from offering his best. In the interest of the nation, he should shame those who say his name means hardship by bowing out honourably. He should not listen to those who, largely for selfish reasons, say he must re-contest. We are in a digital age and we need a digital President.

Senator Hope Uzodimma, in this interview said the South- East should be given the chance to produce the country’s president in 2023. He said if President Muhammadu Buhari was re- elected next year, he will do another four years, to complete the maximum eight years of the north, saying it would be in Igbo’s interest if he gets re-elected. The senator however denied planning to join the All progressives Congress (APC), saying he does not need to be a part of the ruling political party to work for his people.

For some time now you have been quiet, giving room for a lot of speculations. For instance, there is the notion that you will soon leave your party, the PDP. What is happening?

You addressed me right now as a PDP senator and you’re asking me if I’m still in the PDP. I believe that if I have left the PDP, it will not be a secret. It will be known to all and sundry, including the media. So, the question is not really necessary. However, I’m sure some of you are asking the question because, you are aware of the crisis in the PDP or maybe the side I stood in the legal battle for the leadership of the party. Whichever one is the case, what I can say is that the PDP has not managed the politics of the post Supreme Court judgement very well and the conduct of the national convention did not help matters either. So, you can see, you have a situation where, say in Imo State, my supporters are feeling unwanted in the party. They are treated like second eleven members of the party and in this kind of situation; our patience may not be so elastic it cannot last forever. There must come a time when we will decide what to do and I think that may be very soon.

Can you confirm that you will be running for the governorship of Imo State come 2019?

First of all, I think it is only God who can confirm anything because when you are in a position to confirm anything then you must be God. Confirmation means that whatever it is must happen. Secondly, I think there is nothing wrong if I aspire to be the governor of my state. But you and I know it is God that chooses kings and so we can all aspire but God enthrones. However, I can tell you that very well meaning Imo people have been making representations to me urging me to contest for governorship. I can also tell you that I am listening to them and putting everything in prayers too. At an auspicious moment, I shall, by the grace of God take a stand on the matter.

Talking of Imo State governorship, your state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha is reported to be backing his son-in-law to succeed him. How do you react to that?

If what you said is correct, then I must say that such is the product of human thinking. As human beings, we are always in the habit of arrogating so much myth to ourselves, particularly when we are in power. But as I said earlier, it is only God that enthrones. As human beings we can have fantasies, or what I would call wishful thinking, or day-dreaming. It does not add or subtract from divine will. So, the much I can say is that there is nothing wrong with fantasies. Everyone is entitled to it, but in the end I think that it is God, using Imo people, that will have the final say.

How do you rate the performance of your governor so far?

I think Imo people are in the best position to do the rating. But as an Imo son and representative of the people, I hear them complain of hunger and poverty. They tell me that local government elections have not been held in seven years and they do not know how their funds are used. They tell me that their buildings have been demolished without compensation and their lands taken forcefully. They tell me that pensions have not been paid contrary to government propaganda and that salaries of workers are paid whimsically without regard to civil service rules. So, when you look at the litany of woes, then I think that the rating has already been done. And all I can say is that I stand by the people.

You have always been a champion of the need for Ndigbo to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023. What informed this position?

Every political party has zoning as a cardinal principle. All politicians therefore agreed to the principle of rotating the presidency from the north to the south and vice versa. Now, if you check your records, you will find that since this political dispensation, the north has the presidency at least twice. The south has it twice. In the south, the south-west produced former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who ruled for eight years and the south-south produced former president, Goodluck Jonathan who ruled for six years. Now, the north is currently in power and is entitled to a second term which will end in 2023. After that the presidency will naturally return to the south and when it does it certainly will come to south-east, because South-West and South-South have already had their turn. So, I think this is a simple reality. And that is what informs my position.

But some people may accuse you of campaigning for the re-election of President Buhari-won’t that be correct? Why?

Because Buhari is the only northerner who will do another four years if re-elected.
Well, since that is the case, my answer is, why not? If they say I am campaigning for Buhari, so be it. I don’t owe anyone any apology for that. After all, it is only logical that as an Igbo man who is clamouring for the presidency to come to the south-east in 2023, I should support the candidate who I am sure will not be standing for re-election in 2023. Why should I support another northern candidate who will want to do another eight years and make Ndigbo wait till 2027 before producing the president of Nigeria? Yes, apart from the fact that President Buhari is good enough for re-election, he is the only northern candidate who, if elected, must relinquish power in 2023 thereby paving the way for the south-east. So, yes, I support his re-election and I think every right thinking South Easterner should do the same.

So, you will join APC to actualise the re-election of Buhari?

Well, I am not sure I must join APC to pursue the interest of my people. It is on record that political parties may adopt candidates outside their parties because it is in their best interest to do so. For instance, APGA did it for Jonathan and I see them doing same for President Buhari. So I don’t need to join APC to pursue the noble agenda which will favour Ndigbo. But you know, in politics you never say, never! So, let us see how it goes. Time can change everything, you know.

Why is it so important for Ndigbo to provide the President of Nigeria in 2023?

You see; it is supremely important because that will assure Ndigbo that the ugly events of the civil war have been truly put behind us. If by 2023, the presidency returns to the south and by acts of omission or commission, it eludes Ndigbo, then that will only be a confirmation that Igbo have not truly been accepted into the mainstream of Nigerian politics. As you know, in 1998, former Vice-President, late Alex Ekwueme was coasting home with the PDP presidential ticket. It took a high level conspiracy to stop him. Many people believed that it was because he was Igbo and because of the stigma of the civil war. So, if in 2023 Igbo are stopped again, the simple conclusion will be that the rest of Nigeria do not welcome them as equal stakeholders in Project Nigeria.

Personalities, like former governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, have indicated their support for an Igbo president in 2023, what can Ndigbo do to galvanise the views of people like that achieve the dream?

First of all, I think that people like Balarabe Musa should be commended for speaking out and for their patriotism. Actually, I think he even suggested that in the same way the rest of Nigeria compensated the south-west with the presidency for the annulment of the June 12 election, by allowing only Yoruba candidates, in 2023, Igbo should be compensated for the civil war by allowing only Igbo candidates for the presidency. This is a noble suggestion which should be embraced by every patriotic Nigerian. As for supporting a weak or unpopular Igbo presidential candidate in 2023, I think that if the right synergy is struck between the south-east and other zones before the election, which will not happen.

What qualities would you want to see in such a person that will emerge the Igbo President of Nigeria in 2023?

Permit me to refer you to my recent book, ‘Ndigbo, Nation Building and Project Nigeria.’ In the book, you will find that I dealt extensively with the quality of such a person. In one of the chapters where I talked about ‘How to Actualize a Nigerian President of Igbo Extraction,’ I gave details of the qualities of such a person.

But the summary is that such a person must have a Pan Nigerian world view to qualify because it is the collective collaboration of the other zones that will make the president not that of the south-east alone. As Igbo, we need to start the politics now. That is why I think that the first step is to boldly support Buhari who we are sure will vacate office in 2023. So that when the time comes, we can look other zones straight in the face and say we were part of the pan Nigerian arrangement that re-elected Buhari, so you should reciprocate and support us. It will be highly counterproductive if we find ourselves outside of this pan Nigerian family in 2023.

Ominous signs that the fundamental rights of Nigerians might be trampled upon by some security agencies, during the 2019 general election, despite being guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, are worrisome. The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, declared Kazeem Afegbua wanted, and ordered his arrest recently, shortly after he released a scathing statement on behalf of his principal against President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Afegbua is the media adviser to a former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida. The statement did not pull any punches as it canvassed the emergence of a new generation of leaders in 2019, instead of those of the analogue age. It wondered why the All Progressives Congress had been pussy-footing on devolution of powers in line with its electioneering promise to restructure the country for effective governance, among other concerns that resonate with the public.

But instead of responding effectively to mounting security challenges which soldiers are routinely deployed to confront, the IG charged Afegbua with “making false statements, defamation of character, and for acts capable of instigating public disturbance.” It did not matter to him that the purported “false statement” was swiftly defended by its real author, amid the confusion set off by an unauthorised release, which tried in vain to rebut or mitigate the earlier one.

Afegbua’s harassment is not the first. Tendencies like this have been cascading. Just on February 16, the police arrested Adekunle Aliyu, the Vanguardnewspaper’s Online Editor at Ikotun, a suburb of Lagos, for taking pictures of officers with okada riders. They pushed him into a Black Maria and damaged his iPad in the process. There have also been reports of some clerics being harassed or quizzed by the DSS for failing to be apolitical. But everybody is a political animal. It is time these security outfits realised that Nigeria is a democracy and respect the liberties of individuals. Citizens should keep these security agencies under watch so that the country is not turned into a fascist state.

The loyalty of security agencies should be to the country and not to the President. It is how it works in established democracies around the world. For instance, in November 2017, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, was questioned for several hours by the police for the fifth time following corruption allegations that bordered on accepting gifts like champagne, jewellery and cigars in return for pushing the interest of cronies.

But it rests squarely on the President’s shoulders to whom these overzealous police/DSS operatives are responsible, to ensure that they do not go off the radar of civil and acceptable behaviour. Buhari displayed this last November in Anambra State when he ordered the IG to restore immediately the security details of Governor Willie Obiano, which he (the IG) had withdrawn in curious circumstances, with a few days to the governorship election. The aides, according to the IG, were withdrawn based on the flimsy excuse that an Aide-de-Camp to an anonymous governor was caught by the military during a previous poll, escorting a vehicle loaded with arms on election day. But an illegality like this was why 26,000 police personnel, 300 vehicles, three helicopters and 15 gunboats were deployed to ensure law and order prevailed at the last election in the state.

Previous polls had overwhelmingly shown that partisan cops, soldiers and the DSS operatives undermined the integrity of the process and ultimately subverted the will of the people. This way, the 2007 general elections, conducted with a do-or-die mentality, got the dubious distinction of being the worst globally by international observers. Some governorship elections were annulled, thus introducing extant staggered elections in our democracy.

One IG was sacked a few years ago for allegedly switching his phone off on Election Day, to avoid being reached. By so doing, he betrayed the political neutrality required of his office. Sagir Koli, a captain, exposed the partisan role of the Nigerian Army in the Ekiti 2014 governorship election. Embarrassed by the details, the Army high command set up a probe panel that made far-reaching recommendations. A major-general was sacked; nine officers were handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for corruption; 62 officers from the rank of major and below were reprimanded.

It was the same election that the police imposed a 60-hour restriction on movement in and out of the state. As a result, the APC governors like Adams Oshiomhole and Rotimi Amaechi of Edo and Rivers states respectively, were stopped from entering the state to attend the governorship campaign of their party’s torchbearer.

Unlike the Army, the police and the DSS never purged themselves of these subversive democratic elements. Therefore, they need to be restrained through eternal vigilance by all.

Punch

Ordinarily, Abimbola Adelakun is one of the engaging, perceptive and incisive columnists of The PUNCH newspaper. It would, however, appear that her awareness that she commands a not insubstantial readership sometimes goads her to tread in the realm of sheer recklessness, carelessness with facts, and embarrassing illogicality.

This is certainly the case with her article of Thursday, February 22, 2018, titled, “Dear Senator Tinubu, Buhari has thrashed us all”. In the piece, Adelakun seeks to paint the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the most uncomplimentary light, denigrate his personality and devalue his monumental contributions to Nigeria’s political development.

The columnist’s piece is pegged entirely on an alleged comment by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Asiwaju Tinubu’s wife, to the effect that she felt frustrated that her husband was “thrashed” by the Buhari administration that he had helped put in office.

Nowhere does Adelakun demonstrate that Mrs Tinubu’s allegedly-expressed views represent the position of her husband. Or is this columnist who loves to pose as an advocate of women liberation insinuating that a woman cannot hold and express views autonomous of her husband? One would have thought that a more conscientious columnist with some degree of regard for her readers would have made the weighty statements she expressed on the basis of the various authoritative statements on the matter by Asiwaju Tinubu himself.

She writes that Asiwaju Tinubu has lost his relevance and clout in the APC and yet does not find her position ridiculous in the light of the fact that she admits that President Muhammadu Buhari chose the Jagaban as the best suited to bring about reconciliation and healing among aggrieved and mutually antagonistic individuals and groups within the party. Is that not a testimony to the fact that the man’s political sagacity, wide network and respect across different divides of the party are appreciated by the Presidency and the various individuals and groups within the party that have hailed President Buhari’s initiative in this regard? Almost every paragraph of the article drips with either outright falsehood or mischievous and misleading innuendo.

For instance, she claims that Tinubu was once “such a political force that could put his wife and children in offices without even a whimper from any of the voices that now complain about Buhari’s sin of nepotism…”

This is fake news at its best. Senator Oluremi Tinubu contested to represent Lagos Central Senatorial District on her own merit; she was elected not just once but won a second term on the basis of her sterling performance in the upper legislative chamber. Again, is Adelakun suggesting that Senator Tinubu’s talents must be put in check and in chains simply because of her husband’s eminent attainments in politics? Is this “radical feminist” a closet feudalist after all? A great pity!

Nowhere does Adelakun expose her embarrassing ignorance of the dynamics of Nigerian politics than her puerile attempt to explicate the outcome of the 2011 presidential election particularly in the South-West. She verges dangerously on the fringes of libel when she insinuates that Tinubu was “bought off” by the Peoples Democratic Party to deliver his party, the former Action Congress of Nigeria, to former President Goodluck Jonathan at the expense of Buhari. Adelakun obviously realises this when she writes that “The account of Tinubu being “bought off” by Jonathan remained mostly speculative; just strands of historical possibilities reconstructed from both whispered rumours and the insight and clarity we sometimes achieve in the wake of events”.

So, an eminent columnist of a highly respected newspaper predicates her supposedly authoritative postulations on “speculations” and “rumours”? This is a gross disservice to journalism.

The facts in the 2011 elections are not complicated for those whose minds have not been jaundiced by prejudice. Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change and the ACN had an informal agreement to work together with the former producing the presidential candidate and the latter the vice presidential candidate.

While Buhari would most likely have been the presidential candidate of the alliance, no decision had been taken on who would be the running mate. Surprisingly, the CPC unilaterally picked the radical cleric, Dr. Tunde Bakare, as Buhari’s running mate without consultation with the ACN, which controlled five states to the CPC’s one. If the ACN had gone on to assist the CPC’s victory, despite the disdain with which it had been treated, would it not be committing political hara-kiri? The 2011 electoral debacle was, with the benefit of hindsight, a blessing in disguise.

That was what led to the mutual respect and spirit of give and take responsible for the successful formation of the APC and the latter’s unprecedented victory in the 2015 elections. In any case, I challenge Adelakun on her honour to cite any authoritative source that can credibly claim that Tinubu was “bought off” to deliver the South-West to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

Adelakun makes such ridiculous remarks as Buhari, after his election, “firing Tinubu as kingmaker and compensated him with the cynical task of reconciling the party”. This lady is so astonishingly ignorant of the way politics works. So, political office holders and seekers can fire and hire at will those with the political following to influence the outcome of elections? It is a laughable proposition. And if the columnist does not know it, so important is the task of reconciling the party before the next elections, that only the most trusted and capable hands can be entrusted with the task; a selfless party man who will not utilise the opportunity to pursue his selfish interest.

As far as Adelakun is concerned, Tinubu’s comments on political issues these days “seem like a forced attempt to be relevant”. She does not offer even one example of such statements. It is obvious she has not been reading the Jagaban’s periodic and well-timed observations and suggestions on the country’s politics, economics and society. Hers is clearly a minority opinion. Many have likened the quality of Asiwaju’s contributions to public discourse to that of the late Awo’s strategic interventions on weighty matters of state.

Adelakun concludes her piece with the comical view that “If Buhari is returned to power in 2019…With power in his hands and no other presidential contest in his future, Buhari would probably have Tinubu jailed!” And so, is this a country of laws or the arbitrary rule of men? Is this a country where a President can easily get anyone jailed without following the rule of law? Adelakun forgets that top PDP leaders had boasted that once Tinubu quit office in 2007 and no longer enjoyed immunity cover, he would be heading straight to jail for still undisclosed offences. It is over a decade now since Tinubu left office and not a whiff of credible criminal infractions has been found against him.

Rather, he continues to soar in terms of political clout and relevance even when most of his contemporaries as governors have sunk into political oblivion. Adelakun should wake up from her day dreaming and face the reality.

Rahman is Media Adviser to Asiwaju Tinubu.

“Disregard any rumor that Zuma has stepped down! I visited him in Owerri this morning and he is still standing there”

Nigerians now kill each other with more reckless abandon.  Kidnapping for ransom, abduction of innocent school children from school, unleashing of general mayhem at will, invading of crowded places and places of worship with bombs and explosives and generally having little or no regard for each other’s lives, have become mainstream occurrences. Hate speeches have become the order of the day and ethnic and religious war mongering seem to take centre stage in our daily discourse. Matters are not helped by the poor state of the economy. It is only the social media that keeps some people entertained.

In the midst of all these, Jacob Zuma, the ‘interesting, if not ‘near-comical’ leader of ANC was forced to retire from power. I am sure that one of the people who did not welcome the ouster of Zuma with excitement is the Executive Governor of Imo State, “Uncle Roche” who not long ago had raised a controversial statue for him in Owerri, thousands of kilometers away from where Zuma enjoyed any significant facial or name recognition. The name “Uncle Roche” came from a recent encounter I had with a woman who was preparing some youngsters for a presentation at a forum for the South South and South East Governors. I am not sure of the details, but what I was meant to understand was that there was going to be a banquet where the kids were going to entertain the Governors and their guests. The kids were going to address the Governors, not in their official appellation but as uncles.

As I came in, I saw that they had resolved how to address the Governors save for two South South governors, those of Rivers and Bayelsa States. They felt “Uncle Wik” sounded like “Weak” and did not represent the man well, given his fighting and “never say die” spirit as he was not weak by any standards. They had more problems with the Bayelsa governor given that “Uncle Dick” did not sound very appropriate for the “Country Man”. They were concerned about the mischievous connotation “Uncle Dick” could be associated with. They needed my input. I solved the problem for them when I recommended that they should work with their first names, which will not only be consistent with the other governors, but will save them the trouble. Nyesom became “Uncle Nyes” while Henry became “Uncle Hen”. As I went through the rest of the list, I found that there were bigger problems with how to address the governors of Abia and Imo, which they apparently weren’t conscious about. To their disappointment, I explained that “Uncle Oke” had a very negative connotation because “Oke” in Igbo language means rat. I was sure that they didn’t have any intention to judge the governor nor address him in a derogatory manner. I also quarreled with the appellation, “Uncle Roche” given that this may also be misunderstood as it may be a short form of cockroach. They were still struggling with it when I left and I’m unsure if and how they resolved the two names.

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, 76, was the fourth President of Independent South Africa. He took office in 2009. He was one of the strong members of the African National Congress (ANC) which was founded in 1912. As a member of the militant wing of the ANC, he served a 10 year jail term in Robben Island, the same gulag where the late Nelson Mandela was held. Before taking over as President, he served as Deputy to President Thabo Mbeki from 1999 to 2005, a position he was sacked from for bribery and money laundering that had to do with an arms deal involving a French company. Mbeki, was subsequently forced to leave office on September 20, 2008, owing to a ruling by the South African court that he had interfered with the operations of a prosecuting authority which in fact was prosecuting Zuma for corruption. The ANC acted promptly by recalling Mbeki and in response to this, he put in his resignation. The case of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering against Zuma suffered many setbacks at the courts and at the end of it all, it was struck out for procedural error and political interference. Nigeria may not be alone, you might say!

Then enter the case of improper sexual conduct against Zuma. Even though he was not convicted, Zuma confessed to forcefully sleeping with an HIV positive family friend, but put up a ludicrous defense to the effect that he had a shower after the act to prevent him from being infected by the virus. That he was not convicted was not because he was innocent but the court went into technicalities and dropped the charges against him. Sounds familiar, right? All these happened just before he was elected President in May 2009.

Zuma was a man of controversy all around; from politics to business and down to the home front. He has six wives and over twenty children, some of them out of wedlock.

Moving from one scandal to another, in 2013, Zuma was accused of using public funds to engage in massive renovation and retrofitting of his private palatial property in Kwa Zulu Natal. Three years later, after employing all sorts of tactics to frustrate the matter in court, he was found guilty of abuse of office and corrupt diversion of about $27m of public funds to personal use. Sequel to the conviction, President Zuma apologised and offered to make refunds of some $16m to the public treasury.

Sometime in the middle of 2017, Zuma was again to get involved in yet another scandal. Some email leaks implicated the influential Indian family, the Guptas, in a “state capture” allegation. This family was accused of influencing the appointment of some key government functionaries and illegal award of juicy contracts to themselves (and most likely those they represent). This scandal led to attempts by leaders of the party to force Zuma out. All the efforts, however, hit a brick wall as parliament was unable to muster enough support to pass a vote of no confidence on the President. There is no doubt that Zuma understood how to manipulate his way to remain in power and this worked for a while. As should have been known by now, manipulation can work for a while, but in the final analysis, it fails. It was therefore, time for it to fail and on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2018,  Jacob Zuma whose middle name means “one who smiles while causing others harm” had to this time around be at the receiving end of the harm as South Africans were able to smile for the first time in almost a decade. Cyril Ramaphosa became the beneficiary of Zuma’s fall and was sworn in on the 15th of February as his successor. Ramaphosa was actually the person that Nelson Mandela favoured to succeed him.

Are there lessons to learn from the South African experience? I believe there are and I believe that there are also similarities between our experience and that of South Africa. Somehow, society has a way of throwing up some of its worst into leadership positions. Other than participating in the militant wing of the ANC, just like being in the military, there was no reason why the country should elect Zuma as its President. Having made the mistake of electing him, there was also no reason why he should have been there for nine years given the close to 700 corruption cases hanging like a Sword of Damocles over his head. That he was able to work his way around them and still hung on to power for that number of years, remains a mystery. Just before his ouster, there had been about 6 votes of no confidence in the parliament, sponsored by the Opposition, which did not see the light of the day.  Basically, this was because the ANC, which holds the majority in Parliament, would not support those Bills. He was only made to leave because the party had withdrawn its support from him. This clearly reveals a very sharp difference from what we have in Nigeria. The Zuma episode demonstrates the supremacy of the party in South Africa, even if it came too late. When the Party decided that it had had enough of Zuma, it took a decision and removed him. Our experience in Nigeria is that because leadership of the parties is under the President, it is difficult for party supremacy to function in Nigeria. If anything, what we have is Presidential Supremacy and sometimes, both the party and the President would be deluding themselves in the face of national crises until both of them fall like a pack of cards.

The second lesson, and which is enduring in itself, is that at the end of the day, the will of the people must prevail, no matter how much manipulation and filibustering that the party and its President embark on. It may take time, but somehow, someday, good will always triumph over evil. This was clearly demonstrated in the Zuma case. It is also true of the case of Zimbabwe where Robert Mugabe held sway for decades, yet his dynasty was toppled by the collective will of the people.

Again, in the contest between strong men and strong institutions, the latter will always prevail. It may take time, but strong men have expiry dates, strong institutions don’t. It is therefore imperative to focus on building strong institutions and deemphasize strong men. History records that strong men, if not checked, eventually become despotic and may not know when the line is crossed. Even when they are good, their legacy may be dismantled shortly after they are gone if there are no institutions to protect them and build on what they had achieved.

Because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, those whose responsibility it is to make laws should always make laws that do not put absolute powers in the hands of one man, no matter what role they want him to play. There must be clear checks and balances. The constitution that Nigeria is forced to operate since 1999 is very defective. The President has too much power such that one President had remarked that if he used 30% of his power, his opponents would be in serious trouble. Talking about opponents, it is very clear from the South African example that strong and virile opposition is critical for a successful democracy. Virtually all failed previous attempts to oust Zuma were sponsored by the Opposition because not only does it exist, it is effective. There is still confusion here in Nigeria, as to whether opposition exists and if it does, if it understands its role in the political process.

The most important lesson to learn is that governance is about the governed and not government. It is not a spectator sport! The governed must therefore show interest in how they are governed. Like I had written in my previous interventions, we seem to be very docile and unconcerned about how we are governed. That has made underperforming governments remain very comfortable. This is true of local governments, it is true of State governments and it is also true of the government at the center. Sometimes, when we do get interested, we are more concerned about the Federal government and seem to forget that the other tiers of government should also be put to even greater scrutiny as their activities should affect us more. Some of our leaders get away with so much incompetence and malfeasance because we don’t seem to know the right questions to ask and sometimes, they (and even we), forget that they are accountable to us. The case of the local governments is even more pathetic. Because some governors have captured the local government  system by appointing their cronies and thugs as Chairmen and Councilors, those appointees only account to their principals and show up to the people only during election time where their main role is to deliver their benefactors and their parties. Once that is done, you would only hear from them again in the next four years. The point being made here is that the actions and inactions of leaders at any level affect the people most. The people, therefore, should move away from their present state of docility to the level of activism so that leaders can sit up.

I must congratulate South Africans for rising to the occasion and taking their destiny in their own hands, even if it ought to have happened nine years ago. Like it is said, it is better late than never. On the issue of the Zuma Statue still standing in Owerri, I shall leave that matter to “Uncle Roche” to determine what to do with it. My sense is that if he chooses to do nothing, as he leaves in one year, the people of Imo State may decide to do something. It would be up to them, what that would be.

The authorities must do more to secure the future of our children

The fact that Nigeria hardly learn from its experiences was brought to fore last week when the “technically defeated” Boko Haram insurgents invaded a female secondary school in Yobe State and carried away dozens of girls with the authorities, both in the state and Abuja, left in a state of utter confusion. Yet, the experiences of Federal Government College, Buni Yadi where no fewer than 58 male students were brutally assassinated and that of Chibok where several girls are yet to be accounted for almost four years after, should have taught lessons on how to prevent or manage such tragedies.

Unfortunately, repeated attacks on schools by the insurgents in recent years have created fear in many vulnerable students and their parents, especially in some parts of the country and is affecting the attitude to education with Boko Haram whose guiding philosophy is “western education is sinful” winning the psychological war. The implication of such a state of affair is damaging. When a school is under attack and students become targets, according to Manuel Fotaine, West Africa Regional Director of United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), “not only are their lives shattered, the future of the nation is stolen.”

In the wake of the tragedy, the Lagos State Chapter of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) Coalition raised several pertinent questions which require answers from the authorities. Some of these questions include but are not limited to: “Are there so many roads and settlements in the immediate area that 100 people can disappear without a trace? Are the insurgents ghosts who move through the landscape unseen and unheard? What arrangements have been made to support the devastated family members of the missing who are holding a vigil until their children are back? What has happened to the Safe Schools Initiative that was launched in 2014 under which schools were to be pooled into safer areas with a military presence?”

The Safe Schools Initiative, launched after the Chibok kidnap, was meant to counter the growing attacks on the right to education and to build community security groups to promote safe zones for education, consisting of teachers, parents, police and community leaders. “We cannot stand by and see schools shut down, girls cut off from their education and parents in fear of their daughters’ lives,” said former British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown, then UN Special Envoy on Education at the launch. “The Safe School Initiative will put Nigeria on track to help more and more girls and boys go to school and learn.”

Unfortunately, the idea has long been abandoned with the schools, including those in the Boko Haram area of operation, left to their individual devices. But with the recent attacks by the insurgent—who have proved conclusively that regardless of what the authorities are saying, they still possess sufficient capacity for evil—there is an urgent need to go back to the drawing board.  We cannot afford to leave our children at the mercy of violent predators bent on truncating their future. It is also time the Buhari administration admitted the reality that Boko Haram is still very strong in their areas of operations that more efforts would be needed to root out the insurgents.

Thisday