Government

The future seems bleak for children and the youth in Nigeria as the cost of education at all levels goes beyond reach. 

The leadership at all levels may not be sensitive to the difficulties the citizens are passing through to meet the increasing cost of education.

Sadly, the children of these leaders are in choice schools around the globe.

Democracy ensures that citizens have access to uninhibited and quality education.

But in this case, the cost of education may not justify the service delivery in the education sector.

The improvement in the system of transportation, to a very great measure, increases the physical extent and economic size of a country.

However, in the Nigerian context, a number of factors have negatively affected the transport system and this has resulted in an astronomical rise in the prices of goods and services beyond the reach of a majority of the population.

The prohibitive transportation costs coupled with the multiple taxation across the country and the unabating insecurity have all succeeded in ensuring that Nigerians remain in a perpetual state of hunger and poverty.

Curiously, levels of government have channeled generated revenue from multiple taxes, unproductively, to real estate, while Nigerians continue to daily count their landed property losses.

Indeed, the government at all levels have always contended with inadequate financial organization and the relevant knowledge.

Sadly, economic stagnation is now a major characteristic in most cities that are contending with overpopulation. Petty trading and individual investments in consumables have become the preference of the people, in the absence of proactive, visionary leadership.

Nigerians have been advised to shun evil practices as the nation approaches a new dawn.
This advice was given by a Christian cleric, Pastor Opeyemi Ajayi.
''I wish to call the attention of Nigerians to the rising cases of the propagation of evil and diabolism. We should shun all these satanic acts as we approach the light at the end of the tunnel, Pastor Ajayi counseled.
In recent times, pedophilia, sodomy, homosexulity and other evil acts have been on the increase in different parts of the country.

Political dissatisfaction and social discontent are major characteristics of living in Nigeria today.
The problems of nationhood revolving around power sharing have brought about perpetual anger in the land.
Interestingly, the economic reforms of the outgoing administration have violated the country's constitution-Section 15(3) of the 1999 constitution, which states that the government must promote a balanced economy and that the government must not allow the resources of the country to be in a few hands of individuals or groups.
Sadly, all the institutions that ought to sustain democracy-the Judiciary, the Legislature, the Police and the political class are already vigorously  undermining it.
The silence and inertia of a number of state governors, occasioned by self-interest, have not helped matters in the face of bizarre acts and conduct that have left Nigerians amazed, helpless and dumbfounded.

An Unambiguous Description
The scenario in Adamawa state, before, during and after the supplementary election in the state have become concise summaries of the February 25th and March 18th polls in Nigeria. A written script that now tastes sour.

On Monday, 20 July 2001, at a remembrance lecture and book lunch in honor of the late Lt. Col. Francis Adekunle Fajuyi in Ibadan, Nigeria, Major General Robert Adeyinka Adebayo(RTD) of blessed memory has summarized the situation in Nigeria in the following words:

''In our country, the system has produced despots that foist totalitarianism regimes on us and allows mediocrity to triumph over merit, hence our continued backwardness as a nation.''

Those who possess the political power today must have started taking stock of the legacies they are about to leave behind, particularly the huge debt burden at the center and the states.

Another legacy to be left behind are thousands of lives that have been lost for economic and security reasons, in addition to those who remain unaccounted for under this administration.

The leaders in their second and final lap are anxious to throw in the towel, while the ones still having a term to go are working vigorously to cover their tracks a bit longer.

The desperation to conduct the National Population Census, the huge amount set aside for the Kano/Marahadi rail project, the rush to commence the Nigeria Air flight operations and the imminent airport concession among others in the twilight of this administration speaks volumes.

Join LeadsLeap

Wielding the Big Stick

Several grievous and heinous crimes have been traced t commercial motorcyclists a.k.a Okada riders, who are mostly foot soldiers, supporters, admirers and well wishers of the ruling political parties in a number of states.

For peace to reign and for the safety of innocent Nigerians to be guaranteed, leaders must wield the big stick on their followers with criminal tendencies.

However, sadly, lawlessness, crime and all forms of criminality are now a lingering culture and tradition in several communities, including Molusi, Onafuwa Solanke, Oeygbami, Oshodi, Kehinde Aderibigbe, Olorunsogo, Molete, Aluko, Felele and Scout Camp communities.

Indeed, the overbearing indicators are that the government at all levels are complicit.

The leaders have woefully failed to ensure participatory governance, which is facilitates the protection of the interests of Nigerians.

From the center to the states, self-centered interests are the preference, since a sizable number of these leaders attained political offices through under-the-table means. Stagnation is the order of the day for most Nigerians, while suppression, manipulation and enforcement have become indispensable tools in the hands of Those-in-Authority.

Without doubt, nearly all the democratic institutions have been deformed and rendered prostate, even as a criminal conspiracy against Nigerians has eventually been legitimized.

Join LeadsLeap

King Herod as a Role Model

Insensitivity, heartlessness, lack of accountability and deceit are now the hallmarks of those who claim to have been democratically elected. Nigerians now look up to God for deliverance from the dark powers that have constituted themselves into the Biblical King Herod. Their role model. Perhaps.

God has always been with Nigerians, regardless of the pains, anguish, sorrows and hardships.

This assertion was made by Pastor Opeyemi Ajayi.

''Nigerians should not despair or lose hope. We are not alone. God has always been with us in our times of sorrow, pain, anguish and hardships. God remains our protector and fortress. There is light at the end of the tunnel,'' Pastor Ajayi stated.

In another development, a university Don has described the attitude of Nigerians towards change as unencouraging.

According to Prof. Benjamin Ehige of the Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, this is despite the fact that the concept of change is attractive.

Prof. Ehige made this known on Thursday at a business summit organized by the Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria(PROSAN), Ibadan, Nigeria.

''The concept of change looks attractive, but our attitude to change is not encouraging. People find it difficult to a change in behavior. We must think of a change of attitude, place and perceived need for change. There are attempts to dig deep into where an individual comes from during elections.

Self-Indictment

Shutting down secondary schools for unruly, wayward, unbecoming and criminally-friendly behavior exposes lapses in the education sector. In other words, the government of the day has indicted itself. This is leadership by example

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) successfully conducted the Continuous Voters Registration exercise in states and Abuja, but sadly, millions of potential voters were disenfranchised in the Presidential and National Assembly elections

Indeed, the 25th February general elections were anything except free, fair and credible.

The rush to collate the results manually and announce the same, confirmed the long suspicions and fears of Nigerians.

On the day of the election, the harrowing experience of voters confirmed that the electoral umpire was part of a grand scheme to impose unacceptable candidates on Nigerians.

The resentment at the electoral deceit cuts across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria and indeed, such resentment, justice will prevail.

It is now crystal clear that the loyalty of the present administration in the country has never been to the nation as a whole, but to a pyramidal sequence of enforcers, under-bosses and influence peddlers among others.

The present status quo intends to resist the acceptable, reasonable and justifiable but the quest for genuine leadership succession, respect for the nation's diversity and equitable national integration may erode this intention.

Those Behind All the Evil

Nigerians have now known those behind lawlessness, crime, all forms of criminality, evil, diabolism and injustice for almost eight years. The leadership, for example, songs are everywhere as illustrations.

Also, Nigerians are anxious to know the roles played by law enforcement  and security agencies in the evil, lawlessness, crime, all forms of criminality and diabolism that pervades Molusi, Olorunsogo, Molete, Solanke, Oyegbami, Oshodi, Scout Camp, Aluko, Felele and several other comunities in Ibadan Oyo state.

Abuja, Nigeria CNN  — 

Nigeria was forced Wednesday to delay plans to replace its banknotes with a redesigned currency after chaotic scenes at ATMs as millions of people struggled to get their hands on the new cash.

The country’s old notes were supposed to cease to be legal tender starting February 11 but the country’s Supreme Court suspended that deadline because banks were unable to disburse enough of the new naira.

Nigerians have been spending hours in long lines at cashpoints since late last month after rushing to deposit the old banknotes ahead of an initial deadline of January 31. But they haven’t been able to withdraw enough of the new versions to meet their daily expenses.

That shortage has led to frayed tempers and untold hardship for millions of Nigerians, particularly those who work in the cash-based informal economy and for citizens who live in rural areas.

Nigerians say they are struggling to pay for food and public transportation as vendors reject electronic payments. The pressure on the banking infrastructure has caused many servers to fail, multiple sources told CNN.

In November last year, President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the redesigned currency with the aim of reining in counterfeiting and the hoarding of large sums outside the banking system.

Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele said in January that out of 3.23 trillion Nigerian naira ($6.9 billion) in circulation as of October last year, “only 500 billion naira was within the banking industry” while a whopping 2.7 trillion naira ($5.8 billion) was “held permanently in people’s homes.”

Emefiele added that around 1.9 trillion naira (around $4 billion) have so far been returned to the banking system since the new notes were first introduced in November.

Nigerians queue for new banknotes

Nimi Princewill/CNN

The redesigned bills were intended to replace the older series of the 200-, 500-, and 1,000-naira notes on January 31, but a 10-day extension was announced following widespread outcry about the timing.

The new notes look very similar to those in circulation with a change in color as the only significant difference. The new naira notes are, however, “fortified with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit,” President Buhari said last year.

Abulrahman Abdullahi, who lives in the Nigerian capital Abuja, told CNN he needs cash fast as he is running out of food and unable to restock supplies. Across the country, banks have increasingly become targets of mounting anger over the frustrating search for the new naira notes.

Nigeria’s largely informal economy depends mainly on cash, but the CBN is trying to encourage people to make greater use of electronic banking, a policy considered premature by analysts.

Nigerians are desperately relying on their banks to distribute new bills after the February 10 deadline to exchange the old currency saw many scrambling to deposit their old notes. The banks, however, do not have enough of the new notes to go around, fueling anger from individuals, some of whom have vandalized bank property or stripped to their underwear in rage, according to videos shared on social media.

“I’ve been here for hours,” Abdullahi told CNN, as he struggled to keep his place in a rowdy queue that had formed at a bank ATM in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

“I have to shop for foodstuffs. It has been very difficult for me. The number of times I eat in a day has reduced to two because if I run out of foodstuffs, I may not be able to restock,” he said.

At a neighboring bank, customers were instructed by staff to withdraw no more than 10,000 naira ($22) per person from its ATM. Customers from other banks were directed to withdraw only 1,000 naira (less than $3) from the cash machine.

In one Lagos supermarket, cash from the machine was restricted to just 1,000 naira (less than $2) despite the lengthy wait times.

“What can we do with 1,000 naira!,This government doesn’t care about us,” security guard Joel Johnson told CNN.

Anger and protests

The government and the CBN have come under pressure and governors of three Nigerian states are challenging in court the short time frame given to exchange the old notes for new ones, which they warn could lead to “the breakdown of law and order” ahead of the crucial presidential vote later this month.

To compound matters, Nigerians are also facing long lines for fuel across the country, leading to mounting anger and frustration with protests springing up in parts of the country as citizens rail against the hardship caused by the scarce currency and hikes in fuel prices.

One person was reportedly killed in clashes between protesters and police in Nigeria’s third most populous city, Ibadan, according to local media.

Economist Bismarck Rewane told CNN Nigeria’s transition to new currency notes could have been better handled, adding that scarcity of the new bills would hurt the country’s economy.

“It will lead to some disruption and contraction in economic activity,” Rewane says. “GDP numbers for the first quarter of the year will be affected .”

The CBN assures that “queues at ATMs will disappear soon” while directing commercial banks to pay the new notes over the counter, however, “subject to a maximum daily payout limit of N20,000 ($43).”

President Buhari said he was “aware of the cash shortages and hardship being faced by people and businesses, on account of the naira redesign,” but assured Nigerians of “significant improvements between now and the February 10 deadline.”

One scarcity too many

The current cash squeeze isn’t the only shortage Nigerians are grappling with.

A year-long fuel scarcity has worsened in the past few weeks, leaving many cash-strapped Nigerians unable to purchase gasoline, which has tripled in price in parts of the country.

State oil company NNPC blames the lingering scarcity on distribution problems. Analysts say the fuel shortages could hamper the ruling party’s chances at the February poll.

Source-CNN

Drivers wait in line to buy fuel at and next to a filling station, causing traffic gridlock on Lagos' Ibadan expressway, in Lagos on January 30, 2023.

Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images

“It has implications for politics, in terms of the ruling party suffering some disapproval from the electorates because of the hardship they face,” says leading political analyst Sam Amadi.

“People are going to record the government as a failure … and that can impact the fortunes of the ruling party,” Amadi tells CNN.

President Buhari is serving a final second term and the ruling party hopes he will be succeeded by candidate Bola Tinubu, a former governor of the country’s richest state Lagos.

Amadi suggests that the shortage of the new naira could have a positive impact on the coming elections.

“It may actually reduce vote buying if well managed, which is probably (one of) the strategic objectives of the monetary policy around the new naira,” he says.

Vote buying has been a feature of Nigeria’s elections, which have been marred by violence and fraud in recent years.

Source-CNN

State governments majorly borrow money to pay contractors and loans collected for the quick finance of workers' salaries and retirees' pensions.

All these are offset when the states receive their monthly federal allocations. Indeed, most state governments obtained loans to finance their first choice priorities, road projects, in governance.

Sadly, the wearing costs of these road projects are unknown, while their benefits remain speculations. Interestingly, Those-in-Authority continue to play god, instead of allowing the supreme being to play God and then they play the human element of the process. They have forgotten that government is not the laboratory where experiments are carried out.

Regrettably, the ''new generation leaders'' in the states have brought in their stride-for the young and old-criminality, fetishness and diabolism.

The phrase, ''one of the safest states in Nigeria'' suggests a covert invitation to criminals as seen in some states of the federation.

It is not a surprise that career officers and political appointees are now jittery, as the failures and shortcomings in governance gradually unfold, weeks before the general elections.

Note-The leadership in Nigeria, while abroad, insisted that it has approved all the requests of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2023, even though the daily record of casualities from violent crimes-rape, killings, ritual killings, kidnappings, armed robberies and terrorism-are on the increase.

In the process of developing new locations in many states, those-in-authority have displaced thousands of Nigerians.

Indeed, the forced displacements include the dubious sale of several houses to conspirators, who pull down original buildings and erect something different on the land.

The forgery of property and land documents is the trend.

Sadly, this development has attracted in its wake, criminal elements, who have to a large extent damaged the reputation of the government.

Interestingly, the law enforcement and justice system have been compromised to accommodate this evil; while the people now see those-in-authority'' as bad dreams.

However, Nigerians are optimistic that the days of bad dreams would soon be over in the nearest time to come.

Note- Free, fair and credible elections can only be achieved if Those-in-Authority are not products of flawed elections. The political parties' primaries that produced candidates for political offices in 2023 were manipulated, while the arguments over the acceptability and eligibility of such candidates are still subjects of disagreements. Imposition is definitely not the true face of DEMOCRACY.

The experiments guided by the creditors have resulted in devastating socio-economic instability in Nigeria. The situation has been made worse by the obsession of today's leaders with the politics of exclusion.

This is glaring at all levels of government. Noticing that the failure in governance is now noticeable, the ''accidental'' leaders have resorted to the creation of an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, to bulldoze themselves back to political offices.

Political office holders ought to quickly realize that failure is collective in politics and should take responsibility for posterity's sake.

Fraud and deception have trailed the activities of a number of administrations at the state level, while several communities have a high concentration of illiteracy, ignorance and poverty.

Indeed, the hidden fact is hinged on the strength of lies and falsehood that are the backbones of governance in the three tiers of government.

Note- Olorunsogo, Molete/Oshodi/Felele communities, among several others in Oyo state, Nigeria, are now hideouts to various categories of criminals, whose lawless behaviors establish the fact that Those-in-Authority provide moral and financial support for their criminal activities. The saying, when the head is rotten, the whole body is also rotten, best describes the situation in many states.

In the last seven and a half years, the approach to governance has been impulsive and embarrassing.

Most sectors of the economy are gasping for breadth-particularly education, health, electricity and most importantly security.

This is worrisome considering the huge oil revenues that have been generated during the period under review.

Indeed, miscarriage of justice and the violation of human rights have been the major features of the present administration in Nigeria, even as the deliberate impoverishment of Nigerians, hunger and poverty have become tools of governance.

Sadly, unfolding events indicate that Those-in-Authority are desperate to use their positions to ensure that the 2023 general elections are anything but free, fair and credible.

Without doubt any electoral process hinged on widespread improprieties and the absence of meticulous background checks on candidates of political parties would never attract widespread acceptance.

The coming days and months are ominous for peace, law, order and sanity in the polity.

Note- It is very disturbing that a number of states in Nigeria have failed to attract direct foreign investments up till this moment, yet some state executives travel overseas for unknown reasons. Such travel has not impacted positively on governance. The trips are for self-centered interests. Perhaps.

The move by the Federal Government to increase the national minimum wage at the twilight of its eight-year tenure has been described as a last ditch effort to hoodwink Nigerians.

This position was made known by an Ex-Officio of the Oyo state council of the Trade Union Congress, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

''Nigerians are skeptical about the motive behind the statement of the Minister of Labor, Dr. Chris Ngige to the effect that the Federal Government would soon increase the national minimum wage .It may be a set-up to argue for the removal of the subsidy on petrol and this would eventually be used to devalue the Naira. And it may also be used to justify the implementation of the Stephen Oronsaye report. . Why is the government contradicting itself? President Muhammadu Buhari in a meeting with the executives of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria gave reasons why the government would not increase the salaries of workers. How come it is now the Minister of Labor that is now amplifying the issue?'' Comrade Emelieze questioned.