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NLTF Enhances Osun Healthcare: Comrade Tosin Adeyanju Donates Vital Medical Equipment, Lauds President Tinubu’s Health Initiatives

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The Executive Secretary of the National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF), Comrade Tosin Adeyanju, has donated vital medical equipments to Ijebu Jesa General Hospital in Osun State.

Adeyanju, who was received by Governor Ademola Adeleke, expressed his gratitude to President Bola Tinubu for appointing him to lead the NLTF. He praised the president’s commitment to improving the lives of Nigerians, particularly in the areas of health.

The NLTF boss noted that the agency has implemented various projects in Osun State, including the distribution of sports equipment to 62 primary schools and first aid equipment to 9 public schools between 2017 and date.

Adeyanju said that the commissioning and presentation of medical equipment to Ijebu Jesa General Hospital is a significant contribution to the healthcare sector in Osun State. He listed the equipment to include:

  • 1 X-Ray Mobile Machine
  • 4 Infant Incubators
  • 3 Haematocrit Centrifuges
  • 10 Suction Machines
  • 5 Autoclaves
  • 3 Defibrillators (AED) Automatic and Functional self-test
  • 2 Electrophoretic tanks/machines
  • 2 Physiotherapy equipment
  • 2 ENT Diagnostic sets
  • 10 Sphygmomanometers (Digital and Manual)
  • 3 Caesarean section instruments

He urged the community to take ownership of the equipment and utilize them appropriately for the benefit of the citizens. Adeyanju also announced that the NLTF’s Monitoring and Evaluation team would be visiting all the projects executed for feedback and encouraged the community to provide their feedback and suggestions.The NLTF boss praised President Tinubu’s efforts in improving the healthcare sector and prayed for God’s blessing on the president’s endeavors.Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, in his remarks commended the National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) for its intervention in the health sector of the state.“I am pleased to host the Executive Secretary and his team at the Government House,” Governor Adeleke said. “I thank you for choosing a hospital in Osun State for this intervention. The support will help the health sector of our state, and we appreciate your efforts.”

The governor noted that he has been informed of the numerous interventions of the NLTF in the state and expressed his desire for more partnerships with the agency.“We have been told of many interventions of the agency, and we look forward to more benefits,” Governor Adeleke said. “We seek partnership with your agency to support our efforts in developing the state.”Governor Adeleke also highlighted the rich cultural heritage of Osun State and called for support from the NLTF in promoting it.“Osun State has great cultural heritage, which can be supported by your agency,” he said. “We appreciate your effort to support our efforts, and we look forward to working with you.”

In his remark, High Chief Oladele Fasewu, the Odofin of Ijebu Ijesa and representative of the paramount ruler of the benefiting community said,”I am delighted to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Executive Secretary of the National Lottery Trust Fund, Tosin Adeyanju, for the generous donation of health equipment to our community hospital. The hospital, which was built by our community, has been greatly enhanced by this gesture.“I must emphasize that the equipment donated is of high quality and is not easily found in our state. However, I appeal to the government to provide the necessary personnel to manage the hospital effectively. This will ensure that our community benefits maximally from this kind gesture.“Once again, I thank the National Lottery Trust Fund for their support and encouragement. May this donation bring joy and improved healthcare to our community.””The event was attended by dignitaries, including traditional rulers, government officials, and stakeholders in the healthcare sector in the state.

All Progressives Congress state chairman was represented by Femi Kujbola and Mr Remi Omowaiye, the Executive Director, Project Implementation of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA)Other dignitaries include;– Otunba Tola Faseru, Commissioner of Agriculture(represented governor of Osun)– Dr. Kemi Oladigbo, Director Medical Service Board– Adigun Adedoyin, Permanent Secretary, Osun State Ministry of Health– Oba Abiodun Adewumi, Chairman Hospital Management Service– Adigun Adedoyin, Director Osun State Nursing BoardThe commissioning of the health equipment is a significant milestone for the community, and the presence of these dignitaries and community leaders demonstrates the importance of the event.

The health equipment donated by the National Lottery Trust Fund is expected to improve healthcare services in the area.Arowolo Solomon AlabaSpecial Assistant to the Executive Secretary (Media & Corporate Communications)

Farooq Kperogi : Zanga-Zanga and Tinubu’s crumbling northern alliance

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The 10-day nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests that end today, known by the reduplicative compound “Zanga-Zanga” in Hausaphone northern Nigeria, have ruptured the coalition that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu managed to build with a portion of the northern Nigerian Muslim political establishment since 2014, which put Muhammadu Buhari in power in 2015 and 2019 and him in 2023.But this Zanga-Zanga-inspired rupture also reveals the initial precarity and fragility of the strange-bedfellows coalition. Buhari and Tinubu were previously fierce political adversaries who distrusted each other’s motives and undermined each other.

Their alliance was more accurately a political scaffold that papered over their contradictions for a temporary gain, which was the ouster of Goodluck Jonathan from power.Tinubu’s associates and acolytes in the Southwest, who said they protected Buhari from revolt in their region even when he bungled governance with uncommon ineptitude, are understandably miffed at the rawness, fierce intensity, and undiluted anti-Tinubu fervor of the protests in northern Nigeria.They are wondering why Buhari, his associates, and even the APC establishment in the North didn’t return the favor. The answers are obvious, but people in power are often blind to the obvious, especially if the obvious is disquieting.First, Buhari and his supporters know that the Tinubu group, which had a tight leash on the Southwest political space, didn’t protect Buhari from the consequences of his infernal incompetence out of any high-minded considerations. They did so because they needed power after Buhari’s term in office. It was unvarnished calculative opportunism.Since Buhari’s people have no expectation of any kind of requital from Tinubu, like Tinubu did from them, they felt no obligation to protect or explain away Tinubu’s own hard-hearted incompetence. The chase often stops after a conquest. Men who woo women can relate to this sentiment.Second, the misery that Tinubu’s simultaneous policies of never-before-seen astronomical petrol price increase and devaluation of the naira unleashed on the country are felt more deeply in the North than in any part of the country because of the preexisting multidimensional poverty in the region and the pervading insecurity that makes farming almost impossible.Money is now both hard to find and worthless when it is found, and food is both hard to find and unaffordable when it is found.

That is an unprecedentedly profound, not to mention unsurvivable, existential torment.Two days after the #EndBadGovernance protests started, I told someone that many people in the North have been rendered so desolate, so destitute, and so despondent by the economic crunch that they are looking to cash in on the protests to commit suicide by police bullets because Islam forbids suicide.Islam teaches that committing suicide guarantees an unfettered passage to the hottest depths of hellfire in the hereafter. I said many people who couldn’t survive the pain and humiliation of perpetual hunger might tempt security forces to shoot them so they could end it all and not fear that they would provoke the wrath of their Creator for committing suicide.Of course, this is twisted thinking because a famous hadith, which every Muslim who took Islamic Studies in secondary school knows, says “Actions shall be judged according to intention.”Well, my predictions turned out to be accurate. A friend shared a video of scores of protesters in a northern city chanting, “da yunwa ta kashe mu, da ma bullet ya kashe mu” (rough translation: “Instead of dying of hunger, we would rather be killed by a bullet”) as they confronted gun-wielding military and police officers.There is also the viral video of protesters bursting into the Zamfara State Government House in Gusau and defying, even daring, menacing, gun-toting soldiers who tried to stop them. Several such scenes have been replicated throughout the North.

The mistake the government is making is to dismiss the protests as entirely politically motivated. They are not. Even if they wanted, Buhari and his associates couldn’t stop the protests both because the shelf life of Buhari’s “magic” has expired (his own house was besieged in Daura, and he had been pelted with stones while he was in power in cities like Kano and Maiduguri where he had been idolized) and because the extent of anguish people are going through now is unappeasable.Apart from the usual criminals of opportunity (who exploit every unrest to steal and destroy), the vast majority of protesters think their only hope of living is to risk death and push back at policies that kill them slowly but surely. You can’t persuade people who have nothing to lose by dying.That was why American author Dan Groat pointed out in his 2014 book titled In Monarchs and Mendicants, “Not interested in scarin’ anybody, but people with good sense are afraid of a man with nothin’ to lose.” Lance Conrad echoed this in his book The Price of Nobility when he said, “Only a fool would underestimate a man with nothing to lose.”People who weren’t exempt from the rage of protesters can’t stop protesters from protesting.The self-inflicted attenuation of Tinubu’s political capital in the North plays into the old debate in the Southwest about the best coalitional strategy to attain and retain power for the Yoruba.The Chief Obafemi Awolowo strategy, which Afenifere still believes in, sees the Muslim North as a competitor and not an ally.

The Awo strategy for getting power is to build an alliance between the entire South and Northern Christians.But the Chief Ladoke Akintola template sees the Muslim North as a strategic partner in light of the deep historical and cultural ties that bind Yoruba people and several linguistic, ethnic, and cultural groups in the Muslim North, such as Borgu, Nupe, Igala, and Hausa people. (Read my October 9, 2021, column titled “Arewa and Oduduwa More Alike than Unlike.”) This is hardly surprising because even though Akintola was a Christian, he was from Ogbomoso whose traditional ruler traces ancestral roots to Borgu.Chief MKO Abiola—and now President Tinubu—subscribe to the Akintola template. Abiola was briefly vindicated when he won the June 12, 1993, presidential election with enormous support from the North, including Kano, his opponent’s home state.But the revocation of his epochal electoral triumph by a Northern military head of state—and the decidedly ethnic and regional character the fight for and the opposition to his mandate later took—appeared to justify the distrust of the Muslim North by the Awo group, which nonetheless gave full-throated support to Abiola to reclaim his mandate.

Tinubu, undeterred by Abiola’s experience, reinvented the Akintola template. It’s as if he wanted to prove that he could tread the same path and get to the destination that Abiola couldn’t get to. That must be why he called his presidential bid “Renewed Hope.” Abiola’s was “Hope.” Like Abiola, he chose a Muslim running mate. And, like Abiola, his running mate is a Kanuri man from Borno.With the Muslim North now souring on him only one year into his first term and the unlikelihood of his ever recovering whatever goodwill he had from the region if he continues with his economic policies that push people to the brink of the existential precipice, the Awo/Afenifere group may be having the last laugh.So, what should he do? The best option is to discard the IMF/World Bank neoliberal policies he’s enamored with (which have never worked anywhere in the world) and embrace Awolowo’s welfarist capitalist template of governance that puts the development and wellbeing of people at the center of policies. That may restore his goodwill with the North—and even earn him more support elsewhere.

The other options are non-starters, but I’ll mention them anyway. Like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who won his first term with the support of the Muslim North, but who later used the Awo/Afenifere template to get a second term, Tinubu can court the Christian North and galvanize the South. Goodluck Jonathan used this template in 2011 and won.The problem is that if Peter Obi runs in 2027, and I don’t see any reason why he won’t, Tinubu won’t be able to galvanize the South into a unified voting bloc. And, although the worst fears of his Muslim-Muslim ticket among Christians haven’t materialized, northern Christians are unlikely to embrace him wholeheartedly, however hard he tries to woo them.In other words, Tinubu is cooked, as Gen Zs say. Anything short of bringing down the cost of petrol, restoring the value of the naira, and making everyday things affordable will doom Tinubu’s first term and deny him a second term because he is now effectively a political orphan.

Farooq Kperogi is a renowned Nigerian columnist and United States-based Professor of Media Studies.

Personal finances, net worth of Walz and Vance show stark differences

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The major party vice presidential nominees — Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance — sharply disagree on a range of issues. The differences in their personal finances are just as stark.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former teacher and member of the U.S. House of Representatives, earns about $127,000 in salary per year, retains no stock holdings and relies on a pension account as his primary asset, financial disclosures show.

By contrast, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, a former venture capitalist, brought in roughly $221,000 in 2022 from salary and book royalties, as well as hundreds of thousands in investment income, a U.S. Senate financial disclosure showed. He also held significant wealth in brokerage accounts and dozens of business investments, according to the financial disclosure.

Here’s what to know about the personal finances of Walz and Vance:

What are Tim Walz’s finances?

As governor, Walz earns an annual salary of $127,629.

In 2019, Walz reported a pension account worth as much as $100,000, as well as a life insurance plan with a value as high as $50,000, according to a financial disclosure that year.

Walz does not invest in any stocks, bonds or other securities, according to a U.S. House disclosure in 2019. As of January, Walz continued to forego ownership of any securities, a Minnesota financial form shows.

He does not invest in real estate, either. Walz and his wife, Gwen, appear to have sold their home in Mankato after gaining access to the governor’s mansion, the Minnesota form shows.

As of 2019, Gwen Walz earned income from a Minnesota public school and law firm Hogan Lovells, according to a U.S. House disclosure.

In all, the couple carried a net worth of between $112,000 and $330,000 in 2019, according to the disclosure. Tim Walz’s pension could add up to an additional $800,000 to the couple’s net worth, the Wall Street Journal estimated.

A disclosure filed in Minnesota in January offers little additional detail about Walz’s finances. Walz does not own a business, earn speaking fees or hold horse racing interests, the form said.

What are JD Vance’s personal finances?

Vance took in more than $1 million in 2022, according to a U.S. Senate financial disclosure form.

Those earnings included roughly $110,000 in salary at venture capital firm Narya Capital Management, as well as about $121,000 in royalty payments for sales of his book “Hillbilly Elegy.” Vance also made hundreds of thousands in investment income from holdings such as real estate rental fees and stock dividends.

Vance holds a host of assets, including brokerage accounts, cryptocurrency, real estate and investments in dozens of businesses.

In 2022, Vance valued his real estate holdings at between $500,000 and $1 million and declared possession of as much as $250,000 worth of bitcoin, the 2022 disclosure form said. A set of mutual and exchange-traded funds held by Vance was worth as much as $3.25 million combined, according to the disclosure form.

Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, earned more than $1,000 in salary from the Washington D.C.-based law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson in 2022, the disclosure form said.

In all, Vance and his wife boast a net worth of between $4 million and $10.4 million, excluding real estate, a Wall Street Journal analysis found.

Beyond The Protests (1)

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By EBUN-OLU ADEGBORUWA, SAN

Against all odds, the organizers of the #EndBadGovernance protests made good their threats on August 1, 2024, when they trooped out with other Nigerians to protest against hunger, hardship and the suffocating economic policies of the administration of President Bola Tinubu. All over Nigeria from Lagos to Abuja, Kano, Port-Harcourt, Benin, Aba and Abeokuta, they spoke with one voice to the government that people are hungry and they are suffering. The prelude to the protest was that a declaration was made for the commencement of protests on August 1. The response of the government to the protests was the predictable blackmail, threats and attempts to suppress the campaigns.

The security agencies became confused and began to speak with different voices. Whilst the police claimed that the organizers were faceless and unknown, the Department of State Security stated that they were known agents of foreign mercenaries trying to destabilize the nation. Most Nigerians agreed with and supported the protests, except as to the duration and the modalities. Fears were expressed in many quarters that there has never been any peaceful protest in Nigeria, properly so called. It is either the protest is hijacked by hoodlums or disrupted by hired thugs. They then referred to the #EndSARS experience of 2020 when lives were lost and property destroyed beyond contemplation. But of course this was only a smear campaign to discourage the protests, when it was realized that President Tinubu as leader of the opposition in 2012 supported and encouraged the Occupy Nigeria protests against fuel subsidy removal. It was peaceful and well coordinated.On Friday July 26, 2024, one of the leaders of the Take It Back Movement, Comrade Omoyele Sowore, reached out to me to facilitate police coverage for the protests.

I asked about the locus of the organization and he furnished me with a document showing that it was duly registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission on 20th June, 2019, although the legal consequence of that is another matter entirely. With that, I was more comfortable to lend support to the protests. Also, I had in mind the October 2020 experience and wanted us to avoid a situation where the police claimed that organizers are faceless and unrecognized, which may lead to violent confrontations and then bloodshed. So, I wrote to the police and DSS to provide coverage for the protests, relying on section 83(4) of the Police Establishment Act of 2020. I made sure I shared drafts of my letters with Comrade Sowore for his input and approval.

The police responded by confirming that two Deputy Inspectors-General of Police, all Assistant Inspectors-General of Police in all the zones and all Commissioners of Police in all the states have been designated to offer protection for the protests. They demanded details of the protest venues and also requested for a meeting to discuss the modalities. Given my background, my services were rendered pro bono and without any condition to the protests. With the response from the police, my task was half done. So I reached out to Comrade Sowore and we both agreed to furnish lists of some of the venues for the protests.

This to me was the way to go, at least to ensure that the protests were peaceful and well coordinated. I did a letter to the police wherein I stated SOME of the venues of the proposed protest. I then took time to consult with other known Comrades, the Nigerian Bar Association and some Civil Society Organisations. This was meant to coordinate the process and guard against confrontations between the protesters and the security and law enforcement agencies. I received a WhatsApp message from Damilola Adenola introducing himself as the representative of Comrade Sowore who would accompany me to the meeting with the police. Upon further consultation with other Comrades, we thought it best to have a virtual meeting with the police, in order to have wider participation and cut costs of traveling from Lagos to Abuja for everyone. Comrade Sowore then forwarded to me the names of representatives of the Take It Back movement to attend the meeting, which eventually held on July 30, 2024.

At the meeting, we made it clear to the police that it would be a peaceful outing, if the police is able to nip in the bud the emerging trend of hired thugs who were going around the cities, especially Lagos, to threaten citizens from exercising their fundamental rights. With the meeting, it became clear to the police (or so it seemed at the time), that the organizers of the protests were not miscreants and unknown persons and entities. This should help to douse the fears being expressed in certain quarters that the protest was being organized to destroy and loot. Of course apologists of the ruling party went to town with my letter, accusing me (falsely though) of setting up the South West for destruction.

They reasoned that once no single state from the South East was mentioned, then there would be no protest in that region and indeed all other areas not mentioned. They began to circulate this falsehood in all their WhatsApp and social media platforms, purely for the purpose of raising ethnic bias and to get the people of the South West to back out of the protest. When we look back into the history of Nigeria, we would see that the struggle for Nigeria’s independence was coordinated from Lagos and the South West, so too most students union struggles like the Ali Must Go, Anti-SAP protests, anti-military protests, June 12 protests and Occupy Nigeria protest.

The Yorubas in particular have a rich history of determined resistance against all forms of injustice and oppression, and they don’t discriminate in this regard, even if it is against one of their own. So you see a Wole Soyinka opposing an Olusegun Obasanjo from being appointed as United Nations Secretary-General, you would see a Gani Fawehinmi as the most notable critic of an Olusegun Obasanjo President. I then began to wonder the origin of this new set of rabid and intolerant generations of government loyalists in the South West, who see any and everything only from the pristine of ethnic alliance. The focus has always been on the issues, not the person, his tribe or his faith.

I was glad however that they were all ranting on empty vessels as nobody reasonably ever took them seriously. On the eve of the protest on July 31, 2024, news filtered out that the Lagos State Government had obtained an order from the Court to restrict the protests to Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota and the Peace Park in Ketu. How will citizens in Badagry, Epe, Ikorodu and other locations travel to Ojota just to protest? I knew that the government was baiting for trouble. Not stopping there, certain persons who claimed to be traditionalists, announced the celebration of their traditional Oro festival to coincide with the August 1 protests and when added to the machete-wielding thugs going round the city, there would likely be some confrontation. I therefore made a personal appeal to the protesters to streamline the plan and to limit the protest to just one day or at most three days. Comrade Sowore was quick to reach out to me that I should amend my statement so that it would not confuse their supporters, a request which I gladly obliged him, since my appeal was personal in the first place and my intervention between them and the police had been concluded.And the protests commenced on August 1, 2024.

The turnout was massive, the spread was unprecedented and the support was overwhelming. Suffice to state it that the government was thoroughly rattled, especially with the outcome from the Northern part of the country. The response was then to sponsor thugs to disrupt the protests, especially in Abuja where buses were dropping anti-protest protesters at the same venue of the main protest. By afternoon of August 1, the protests had turned violent in some locations in Kano and Borno States, with recorded cases of mass looting and destruction of property. Some deaths were already recorded and it was escalating.

This surely was not the intention of the organizers of the protests (or so I was made to believe), the concomitant effect of which would mean that the protests wouldn’t last ten days. I made a statement, commending Nigerians for their peaceful conduct and urging the police to observe acceptable standards in handling the protests. The protests eventually entered its Day Two on August 2, by which time, it was manifest beyond any doubt that trouble was brewing. We had cases of further looting of warehouses, confrontations between supporters of the government and the protesters and cases of looting of the property of private persons, such as the woman who complained bitterly that before she got back from the protest venue, her shop had been looted by her fellow protesters.

I then made another personal appeal to the protesters to call off the protests and embrace dialogue with the government, based on their charter of demands. I specifically requested that they should vacate the protest grounds so as not to give room for the violence that was brewing, as the protests had gotten out of control, especially in the Northern states, where some protesters were seen waving the Russian flag.

Real reason fuel importers will frustrate Dangote – Obasanjo

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Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has raised concerns that individuals profiting from the fuel importation business might attempt to undermine the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.This warning aligns with recent allegations by Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group, who claimed that certain “mafias” are working to frustrate the $20 billion refinery project.

This came as it was gathered on Monday that the multi-billion dollar refinery and other domestic refineries had yet to purchase crude oil in naira based on the directive of President Bola Tinubu to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.

In an interview with Financial Times, the former President described the Dangote refinery as something that should encourage both Nigerians and non-Nigerians.“Aliko’s investment in a refinery, if it goes well, should encourage both Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in Nigeria.“If those who are selling or supplying refined products for Nigeria feel that they will lose the lucrative opportunity, they will also make every effort to get him frustrated,” Obasanjo stated.Officials of the Dangote Group recently cried out that international oil companies were frustrating the refinery by refusing to sell crude or by selling to them at a premium up to $4 above the normal price.

They also accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority of deliberately granting licences to individuals to import dirty fuel.The regulator denied this, saying Dangote diesel was inferior when compared to the imported ones.The NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, also stated that the country would not stop fuel importation to avoid a monopoly by the Dangote Group.Obasanjo, speaking further, disclosed that Nigeria made a deadly mistake by putting all its eggs in what he called one basket of oil, ignoring gas and agriculture.“I believe we made a very, very deadly mistake. We put all our eggs in one basket of oil. We even ignored gas. We were flaring gas, which is a very important commodity“We ignored agriculture, which should have been the centrepiece of our economic development,” Obasanjo stated.

He recalled how he persuaded Shell to run the country’s refineries but the International Oil Company refused, saying there was too much corruption in the sector.“When I was President, I invited Shell and I said, look, come and take equity participation and run our refineries for us. They refused. They said our refineries have not been well maintained.“We have brought amateurs rather than bringing professionals. They said there’s too much corruption with the way our refinery is run and maintained. And they didn’t want to get involved in such a mess,” he explained.On the promises that the refineries will be fixed, he asked, “How many times have they told us that? And at what price?

“Those problems, as far as the government refineries are concerned, have never gone away. They have even increased. So if you have a problem like that and that problem is not removed then you aren’t going anywhere.”The former President also condemned the style adopted by President Bola Tinubu to remove fuel subsidies, stating that the present administration should have first considered the hardship the subsidy removal could cause people and how to ameliorate the same.“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back,” the former President stressed.

“He said there must be investor confidence in Nigeria, adding, “You have to go from transactional economy to transformational economy.”

Turning Promises into Progress: Tinubu’s Recent Policy Milestones in Affordable Housing

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By Joseph Dimegbechie

With the immense feelings of discontentment felt by many citizens of our country, Nigeria, sparking the recent wave of protests, let the evident accomplishments of the current government not be forgotten. Every presidential candidate makes grandiose promises in his manifesto, but President Tinubu and his administration have made discernible accomplishments in the country’s economy and citizens’ welfare. The facts speak for themselves and Nigeria being a tribe of the fair-minded, will look at the facts and judge for themselves.Nigeria’s housing sector faces significant challenges, with a shortfall of approximately 30 million units. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Cities and Estates initiatives are designed to rejuvenate this struggling sector and offer affordable housing to millions. These initiatives prioritize self-sustainability and aim to construct 100,000 homes throughout the 36 states and the FCT. In Karsana, Abuja, the Renewed Hope Cities project is on track to complete 3,112 homes. A key aspect of these projects is their affordability, ensuring that at least 20% of all constructed units are priced within the reach of low to medium-income earners. Additionally, loan options like rent-to-own schemes and mortgages with reasonable interest rates are being introduced.

The benefits of government-provided affordable housing in these economically challenging times are manifold. Economic downturns often result in job losses and a subsequent inability to afford rent or mortgages. By offering more affordable housing, the government creates a safety net that prevents homelessness and its related difficulties. With lower housing and rent expenses, Nigerian families can allocate more funds to necessities such as food, healthcare, and education, thereby reducing the impact of the struggling economy faced by this administration. Moreover, when individuals are not overburdened by housing costs, they have greater disposable income for purchasing goods and services, which in turn stimulates economic activity.The Tinubu Administration’s significant investment in affordable housing is set to directly infuse capital into the economy by generating construction jobs and bolstering associated sectors.

Affordable housing access also facilitates the mobility of people seeking employment in different cities, potentially addressing labour shortages, enhancing productivity, and fostering opportunities that can reduce poverty.In summary, the provision of affordable housing during times of economic downturn serves as a potent mechanism for alleviating hardship, invigorating the economy, and fostering a society that is both more equitable and resilient.Related to the issue of housing is what the administration is doing about making food available to millions of Nigerians. Rising food prices due to global inflation has hit several countries including Nigeria. The hardship caused by escalating food prices has been heavy on Nigerians as it is a major point in the agenda of the ongoing protests. To combat this, the federal government has implemented a 150-day suspension on tariffs and import duties on staple food items such as maize, sorghum, rice and wheat. By reducing taxes on these items, prices will come down to ensure that basic food items are available for all Nigerians. Job creation is a big part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s plans for Nigeria as 250 million tonnes of maize and wheat will be imported soon to sustain the growth of small to medium scale local millers and food processors.With the economic dip, the federal government is making efforts to revive and support key sectors. Concentrating on MSMEs – Micro, Small and Medium enterprises and the manufacturing sectors, 150 billion Naira split evenly between the two sectors has been allocated according to the ministry of industry, trade, and investment.

A recent disbursement towards nano businesses has been made with committed beneficiaries.Even those without expertise recognize the potential advantages of government subsidies designed to reduce food costs amidst an economic slump.For families with low incomes, job losses or diminished earnings can rapidly result in food insecurity. Subsidies, whether they are direct price cuts or the elimination of import duties on foreign food as the government has declared, directly decrease food expenses. For millions of Nigerian families in difficulty, the assurance of support for a basic necessity like food can alleviate the stress and anxiety caused by economic challenges.From a broader economic standpoint, funds expended on food are reinvested into the economy, bolstering small businesses, neighbourhood stores, agricultural workers, and food manufacturers. This can create a domino effect, boosting employment and mitigating poverty. Initial spending by subsidy recipients can stimulate further economic activity, as businesses and their employees reinvest that income, thus magnifying the subsidy’s impact.In economic downturns like the one Nigeria is currently facing, consumer spending decreases, exacerbating the recession. Food subsidies support demand in this crucial sector, countering the recessionary trend.Malnutrition and diet-related diseases burden healthcare systems. Enhanced food security can result in long-term healthcare savings.Agricultural producers are often severely affected by economic downturns. Food subsidies ensure a consistent market for their products, averting farm shutdowns and job losses in rural areas.

The food industry, from processing to retail, is a significant employer. Subsidies are vital in preserving these jobs, aiding in the overall economic stability.The Tinubu administration is deliberately using food subsidies as a strategic measure to ease hardship and bolster the economy, aiming to overcome the economic downturn inherited from its predecessors.

Joseph Dimegbechie a public analyst lives Enugu

THE NORTH OF NIGERIA AFTER THE PROTESTS

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By Tunde Olusunle

Usman Yusuf, professor in the medical sciences is working hard at being a voice of opposition. He cut a controversial image during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari during which he headed the National Health Insurance Scheme, (NHIS). He was fingered for a bouquet of infractions under his watch and was serially upbraided by the minister who superintended over his brief, the Health minister, Professor Isaac Adewoye. Yusuf was subsequently eased out of office after which he became a notable critic. He thereafter severally chastised Buhari for his below par performance and the massive looting of state resources under his watch. This was even as the former president postured as being incorruptible. Yusuf refused to be restrained by such parochial considerations as his being from the same state, Katsina, as the former president. Incapacity and ineptitude for him know no creed or colour.

If he faced up to his kinsman Buhari obviously for the reason of his ouster from the NHIS despite the sociocultural consangiunity between both men, Yusuf has been unsparing of Buhari’s successor, Bola Tinubu. He has repeatedly drawn state attention to its palpable failures in delivering on his campaign promises. Yusuf has spoken about the incontrovertible fact of the rapid impoverishment of the citizenry; the acute food scarcity staring us all in the face, as well as the festering insecurity across the land. He holds that the people are being continously deceived and shortchanged by their supposed leaders. Waxing poetic, Yusuf noted that the “renewed hope” promised Nigerians by Tinubu has indeed metamorphosed into “renewed hopelessness.” That is how scathing Yusuf’s engagements can be.

The social media recently availed us the video clip of one of Usman Yusuf’s fire-spitting interviews. His thesis on this occasion is to the effect that northern leaders and their followers are complicit in the security quandary of their part of the country. Away from the Buhari misadventure, Yusuf believes that the north has neither deployed nor synergised its agglomeration of resources to impact on the security and economic situation up north. While the area may not have a sitting president, a position in which Buhari failed to impact his region, Yusuf maintains that the north is not short of capacity in the incumbent governance pyramid. Professor Usman Yusuf references the fact that the: Vice President, Kashim Shettima, (Borno); Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, (Kaduna) and the National Security Adviser, (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu from (Adamawa), are all from the north.

The two Ministers of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, (Jigawa) and Bello Matawalle, (Zamfara), are both from neighbouring states in the north west. Instructively, this is the first time in contemporary Nigerian political history that two sitting Ministers of Defence, are from the same geopolitical zone. The two ministers manning the Ministry of Police Affairs, Ibrahim Geidam, (Yobe) and Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, (Nasarawa) are also from the north. Chief of Defence Staff, (CDS), Christopher Gwabin Musa, (Kaduna); the Director-General, State Security Services, (SSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, (Kano) and his counterpart at the National Intelligence Agency, (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, (Katsina), are similarly from the north. Let’s hope that this mammoth concentration of the leaderships of virtually all critical intelligence and security formations and services in the country, does not stir murmurs and grumbling from sections of the land. Reading this reality, many parts of the country will feel genuinely underrepresented in these critical sectors.

The previously announced 10-day nationwide protest against hunger and bad governance kicked off on Thursday August 1, 2024. Compliance with the invitation to protest, however, was not going to be wholly and total. Governors and leaders in many states engaged with their constituents and talked them out of participation in the programme. Groups and associations in many states also opted out of the exercise preferring to hold government to account on its promises. In many cities and towns, processions snowballed into uncontrollable chaos, unmanaged violence, destruction and looting. This was witnessed in predominantly northern locations. Hoodlums, vagrants and almajiris infiltrated the ranks of otherwise altruistic protesters, visiting lawlessness and utter brigandage on multibillion naira public and privately owned facilities and infrastructure.

Shopping complexes, government establishments, warehouses were among investments intentionally and viciously vandalised by the rampaging mob. The propensity of lowlifers to the holistic ruination of everything in sight was evidenced in Kano. Protester-vandals mustered implements like diggers and hammers and chiselled concrete pallets laid across drainages for use by automobiles. The scenes as recorded real-time by television stations, reminds of the same mindlessness with which metal slippers on railway tracks are stolen and sold. It brings back to the teary mind the metal components of our bridges and roads, and even our traffic lights and street lights are harvested and sold by scrap metal merchants. You want to weep for Nigeria.

The Nigerian police and its sister agencies attempted the containment of the bedlam in places, even as the mob outstripped their numbers in instances. There have been casualties across the land with the media reporting the felling of at least a dozen mobsters tallied from frontlines of engagement. Borno and Niger states accounted for a sizeable percentage of the casualties, while several more sustained gashes and grazes in various degrees. Kayode Egbetokun, Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, (IGP), reported the loss of one of his men on the first day of the brawl. Christopher Musa the CDS commended the professionalism of the police in managing the uprising, while assuring of the readiness of the military to intervene in the event that the police was overwhelmed.

Governors in some states, notably Borno, Kano, Kaduna, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Jigawa, have had to declare curfews to minimise the wholesale disorder. Not one state in the nation’s south has declared a sit-at-home for its constituents not because there were no protests, but because the exercise was maturely and peacefully prosecuted. Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State was launching a “back to land” agricultural programme to boost agricultural production, while the protest was supposed to be in its third day, elsewhere. Yet, the morning after in many northern capitals and cities, carcasses of multibillion naira structures wilfully incinerated by numskulls; ashes from bonfires made of rubber tyres; wilted tree branches, dot the face of the earth. Smithereens of glass; stones and pebbles; cannisters of expended pepper spray; empty plastic bottles, drained sachets of water, carpet the lonesome streets. Not forgetting the cadavers of comrades felled in the preceding delirium, now grisly souvenirs on the forlorn roads and roundabouts.

Again a reversal of the clock of development as rebuilds and rehabilitation of damaged resources begin from scratch, particularly up north. Professor Usman Yusuf invites the northern leadership and political class to begin a process of genuine soul-searching if it aims to crawl out of the multifaceted morass in which it has practically plunged itself. Statistics from the National Bureau for Statistics, (NBS) and similar bodies local and international, have never been wavered in quoting lower developmental indices across board for the north, relative to the south of the country. In the specific sectors of education, healthcare, industrialisation, employment, the global north is way behind the south. Protesters in Kano looted every moveable item in the National Library of Nigeria outpost in the city. Yet they didn’t pick one single book! The more forward-looking states in the north which give southern entities a run for their figures would be Kogi, Kwara and Benue.

Beyond the all-too-well-known convergences under various names and monikers, the northern region will require more than a one-day meeting in Kaduna the political headquarters of the north to surgically dilate and dissect the issues afflicting the region. It needs to have a global workshop spanning a few days to jaw-jaw. States in the various geopolitical zones must also meet to ensure the uniform implementation of set objectives. There should be quarterly reviews of programmes and initiatives. Errant governors famous for being on permanent excursions in Abuja the federal capital loafing about like school boys must sit down in their states to do the jobs for which they were voted into office. The north requires genuine regeneration and holistic makeover, made imperative by the recent mass protest brouhaha.

Tunde Olusunle, PhD, is a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA)

PSC MAKES CASE FOR RESPECT FOR PROFESSIONAL ETHICS, CODE OF CONDUCT AND STANDARDS IN THE NATION’S PUBLIC SERVICE

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By Ebinum Samuel

The fourth edition of the weekly lecture series, “Arena of Knowledge” of the Police Service Commission was held today, Wednesday, July 31st at the Commission’s Parry Osayande Auditorium in Jabi Abuja.

The Chairman of the Commission, DIG Hashimu Argungu rtd and Mr. Mathias okoi Uyo-Uyo, Director, Department of Reforms Coordination and Service Improvement, delivered different papers on Professional Ethics, Code of Conduct and Standards for All Employees in the Public and Private Sectors.

According to Ikechukwu Ani, spokesman of the Commission, DIG Hashimu in his paper called for discipline and strict adherence to rules in the public service stressing that a Civil Servant is expected to be loyal and polite in the discharge of his duties. He also noted that there is need for cooperation and understanding of the basic routines of the office , adding that a civil servant must also serve with impartiality and avoid conflict of interest.

The PSC Chairman spoke on the principles of ethical power for organisations and individuals stressing that “we have a commitment to live by ethical principles”

DIG Argungu noted that whenever and where an employer “violates the code of ethics, the board/Commission shall determine appropriate disciplinary process and procedures to address violations of the “conduct and ethical behaviour in accordance with prevailing guidelines of extant rules and regulations”

Mr. Uyo-Uyo in his own paper x-rayed the core principles of the Public Service which are Stewardship, Trust, Engagement, Professionalism and Good governance.

In his seven principles of Public Life, Mr. Uyo-Uyo looked at issues such as Selflessness where he noted that decisions should be taken solely in terms of Public interest; Integrity where a Governing Board Member should not place him/herself under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or Organizations that might be perceived to influence him/her in the performance of his/her official duties.
He mentioned, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.

Speaking on general conduct he said a governing board Member must comply with the rules set by the Governing Board and the Public Board regarding remuneration, allowances and expenses. According to him “it is a Member’s responsibility to ensure compliance with all extant requirements concerning payments, including expenses “

The Arena of Lecture series is a brainchild of the Commission Chairman meant to offer opportunity for staff to improve their knowledge on the workings of the public service.

National Protest: Governor Adeleke Conveys Dialogue with Organisers, Stakeholders

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By Ebinum Samuel

Governor Ademola Adeleke has fixed today Monday for a comprehensive dialogue with organizers of upcoming national protests alongside stakeholders from the security and civil societies.In a directive handed down on Sunday morning, the state Governor instructed his team members to reach out to representatives of various civil society groups and student bodies for a dialogue session on the state of the economy.

Stressing the importance of dialogue in state governance, the State Governor further requested key commanders of Police and other security services to attend the session where stakeholders will be free to make recommendations on grievances and expected responses from government at all levels.“I have instructed my team to organise a dialogue session on Monday where stakeholders can jaw jaw as part of peacemaking in the exercise of constitutional rights. The session will afford parties to list grievances and what they expect the government at all levels to do.“ We will convey outcomes of the session to government leaders from myself to Mr President in Abuja.

It will also be an opportunity to tell stakeholders what we are doing as a government to resolve the economic hardship facing our people”, the Governor was quoted as saying.While reaffirming his firm belief in the national constitution and rights and.liberties enshrined in it, Governor Adeleke preaches the need for peace and non-violent actions among which are dialogue sessions slated for Monday.According to the State Governor, “Osun is a peaceful state where proactive steps are ongoing on food security, economic revival and state building to deliver good governance and dividends of democracy.“We have to sustain the peace even as we make our feelings about the state of the nation known to the leadership. We will listen and we will act in the best interest of the citizenry.“In the midst of positive transformation ongoing in our dear state, we cannot afford any criminal hijacking of liberty processions. That is why the Monday dialogue promises to achieve a lot”, the Governor submitted.

NEED TO SUPPORT MULTILEVEL OPTIONS FOR NATIONAL FUEL SUFFICIENCY

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BY BOLAJI AFOLABI

After blossoming into formidable players and conglomerates in Nigeria’s business firmament, some actors in the private sector diversified into the complex, intriguing, but superbly viable petroleum sector. With globally-acclaimed business mogul, Aliko Dangote as the head of the orchestra, these entrepreneurs appeared into the industry with gusto, fervour, and can-do-it spirit. Their financial capacities, institutional vision, and economic blueprint determined the level of their investments in the sector.

Dangote and these visionaries, actually took the plunge into the uncertain oil and gas sector with minimal or zero-sum knowledge and experience. Not many industry watchers took them seriously though.Dangote, for one, said he was serially discouraged by friends who had unpleasant experiences and who shared negative narratives about the sector. Fired by inexplicable factors, however, Dangote etal, began a silent and salient revolution geared towards transforming the sector, and ensuring national economic development. Since all of Nigeria’s four refineries became dysfunctional, the country has been importing almost all of its petroleum product requirements. Nigeria has always had four refineries, two of which are located in Port Harcourt and one each in Warri and Kaduna.

Put together, all four refineries should optimally produce a total of 445,000 barrels of petroleum products daily.A visionary Dangote who has remained a very key player in the nation’s economy for three decades now, latched on the tardiness and sloppiness of government in keeping its refineries working and conceived of a 650,000 barrels per day, ultra-modern refinery. This would surpass the maximum capacity of state-owned refineries with surpluses to service the nation’s needs. While Dangote was envisioning a mammoth, $20Billion refinery reputed to be the second largest in the world, the liberalisation of the petroleum sector encouraged smaller, more compact refineries. Modular refineries were popular in parts of the world but were novel in our own parts. In instances, these potential private investors in the petroleum sector coursed through man-made labyrinths in relevant governmental departments.Nigerians who have been at the receiving end of serial petroleum products scarcity and arbitrary pricing were recently jolted when NNPC, through one of its agencies declared that Dangote is just about 45 percent completed! As if that was not enough, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, (NMDPRA) through its chief executive officer, Farouk Ahmed, labelled preliminary products from the humongous maze of technological wizardry as “substandard!” Ahmed seemed to be spearheading a conspiracy to discredit industry-wide local petroleum production, which will naturally involve smaller players like the now popular more compact refineries. Ahmed’s unguarded comments infuriated not a few watchers of Nigeria’s economic scene.

These include foreign investors who are daily bated by the federal government to look in the country’s direction.President of the African Development Bank, (AfDB), Nigerian-born Akinwumi Adesina weighed into the fracas and cautioned state players. He admonished that the whole wide world was watching Nigeria demarket its own, while goading foreign interests to invest in Nigeria. He expressed concern to the effect that if big players like Dangote who has Africa-wide manufacturing presence can be so unfairly treated, what will be the fate of other contributors to the nation’s gross domestic product, (GDP)? The administration of President Bola Tinubu has moved in to calm the storm by calling for a truce between the “warring” camps. Heineken Lokpobri, Minister of State for Petroleum, (oil) convened and chaired a meeting of the various interests last week. In the aftermath of the bad faith shown a mega-player like Dangote, industry watchers are calling for protection for modular refineries. At the last check, about 25 of them had been licensed by government much as not all of them are in operation. Expectedly, most of the refineries are located within the territories of oil producing states and communities in the country. They are mostly to be found therefore in: Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Abia and Imo states. By their configurations, they are less complicated than the monstrous pipes and trunks which weave and wind in serpentine motions, around the mega refineries.

They produce automotive gas oil, (AGO); household kerosene, (HHK); marine diesel oil, (MDO); high pour oil, (HFO) and naphtha. Modular refineries have become popular in parts of the world now because they operate from as close to the wellhead of their mining sites as possible. They are not be-laboured by cross-country piping which are not only expensive but risky. Oil pipeline networks across Nigeria have serially suffered from wilful vandalism and destruction impacting the delivery of feedstock. Over time, Nigeria’s daily crude oil supplies have been atrociously abridged by the antics of miscreants. Such tampering with supply lines is minimised in the case of modular refineries. Typically, they meet the needs of their contiguous geo-locations which reduces the risks of moving inflammable products on the highways. Technocrats in the oil and gas sector may yet guide policy makers about the possibility of having modular refineries in every state in the country.Just while avoidable bile was being vented on the recent Dangote saga, invitations have been coming from neighbouring countries intent on doing business with Nigerian moneybags. Gabonese president, Brice Oligui Nguema recently beckoned on Dangote to extend his entrepreneurial benevolence to the oil-rich country. To underscore his seriousness, Nguema promised to create a conducive environment for Dangote, whom he believes would bring enhanced industrial capacity, immense job creation, and technology transfer to the french speaking country. Elsewhere, the government of Equatorial Guinea which is also in Central Africa, is making every effort to support the Nigerian promoters of the modular refinery in the country. Elsewhere in Sao Tome and Principe, a Nigerian brand once powered the oil-rich country in the small country. These are classic confirmations of the old saying about a “prophet not recognized at home, but treasured, honoured, and beautified abroad.”The very fact that some of these “small” African countries have a higher per capita income than the “big brother Nigeria” is the more reason our government is doomed to support local investment. Primarily, investors need assurances on policy consistency and political stability. Once these are in place, they are ready to activate their programmes and deploy their resources. We must be guided by the recent departures of certain popular brands, notably in the manufacturing and retailing sectors from our country. Such exits have been expedited in the wake of asphyxiating economic conditions, flowing over from the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. The bragging refrain about Nigeria as the “giant of Africa” is only plausible if our touted size translates into the overall wellbeing of our people.Fact is Nigeria is in dire need of visible and tangible growth, and downstream, spectrum-wide transformation.

Given the numerous benefits derivable from privately investments, it will be imperative that these refineries be seen as “Nigerian-projects” by government and it’s agencies. They must be supported and protected to grow and contribute towards national development. Bickerings, power-play, influence-peddling, mud-slinging are not the needs of Nigerians at the moment. The citizenry expects government to continue with every commitment to strive towards tangible improvements in their quality of lives. They want government to fight poverty. They seek practical reduction in inflation rate. They want to see a cutting down on over reliance on foreign exchange which stifles meaningful development.

BOLAJI AFOLABI, a Development Communications Specialist, was of the Office of Public Affairs, The Presidency, Abuja