Editorial

Rivers And The Abuja Carnival

Published

14 years ago

September 28, 2012

One veritable area through which the country and the
component states could earn non-oil revenue for the much needed development is
the tourism industry. Although, everyone agrees that it is a money-spinner,
very little is done to promote and develop it.

Indeed, all the states in the federation, are rich in
diverse cultural practices, including languages, dress patterns and traditional
dances, which give the country a fertile base for tourism development.

In view of the
multiple benefits derivable from such tourism based endeavours, both the
federal and state governments raised councils for the promotion of arts and
culture. For instance, apart from creating avenues for employment of the youth,
promotion of cultural dances and folklores is a sure way of transferring our
social heritage to generations yet unborn.

It is infact, to raise international awareness on the role
of tourism and to demonstrate how it affects, social, cultural, political and
economic values, that September 27, every year is set aside globally as World
Tourism Day.

Here in Rivers State the government went the extra mile to
establish the Rivers State Tourism Development Board, to work in proactive
synergy with relevant Ministries to harness the huge tourism potentials of the
State.

The annual Abuja
Carnival just weeks away and plans for the state’s own forthcoming CARNIRIV
2012, already in top gear the government’s discretion would be put to test.
Infact both events should afford the state another opportunity to reappraise
her performances in the past years, in order to chart a new pathway for greater
success. More importantly it should enable the new Board to redefine and
properly articulate globally acceptable branding of its many tourism schemes.

This position, The Tide believes, is in tandem with
expectations of government and lovers of culture in the state, who are bothered
that the State which hitherto came first in the Abuja carnival could slide far
below the top 10 winners in their last outing.

We are indeed concerned because, the result of last year’s
competition aptly reflected the poor selection and shoddy preparation by the
state contingent, even in the aquatic events, where Rivers State usually enjoys
natural advantage. That dismal performance makes it mandatory for stakeholders,
to start now to prepare for the next edition of the Abuja carnival. Also, local government councils in the state
need to start preparations for this
year’s CARNIRIV already slated for December 10–15, 2012.

This is because the state may be hoping to use both outings
as launching pads to showcase to the world what to expect at the now properly
rebranded CARNIRIV, which for the first time, would enjoy the participation of
globally acclaimed foreign troupes.

It therefore behoves both the Ministry of Tourism and the
Tourism Development Agency, established by the State Government to rise up to the occasion and meet the high expectations
of the people and government of the state. One of the critical steps is the
selection of right contingent to represent the state at Abuja. This must be
bereft of the shameful consideration that cost the state honours last year.

Another is the need for early preparation for the Abuja Carnival to eliminate the usual
last minute ad hoc arrangements which backlash in terms of poor performance
usually do not justify the resources often expended by government, all in the
attempt to make Rivers the tourism hub of the nation.

This feat could be achieved if stakeholders would learn from
the mistakes of the past and ensure that only the best in the state were
assembled, nurtured, and well-motivated to recapture the states premier
position in national competitions, like the annual Abuja carnival.

If there is one industry that needs to be transformed and
properly utilised in the state, it is the tourism sub-sector from which the
state could garner a lot of revenue for overall development. It is also capable
of engaging the youth in the various cultural displays in ways that can create
careers for many in tourism.

While we congratulate the governor for inaugurating the
Rivers State Tourism Development Agency, we think that serious and urgent
efforts are required to create viable centres for tourism that would also
support the development of local cultures, crafts and skills needed for the
promotion of tourism.

Editorial

INEC’s Threat Alert Deserves Urgent Attention

Published

3 days ago

October 30, 2026

The Tide

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) disclosure of an alleged plot to target its ad hoc personnel ahead of the 2027 general elections demand urgent national attention. The reported arrest of suspects, with intelligence support from the Department of State Services (DSS), is encouraging, but must not breed complacency. Any attack on electoral workers threatens not only human lives but also Nigerians’ constitutional right to choose their leaders through credible elections. The alleged conspiracy must be thoroughly investigated, its sponsors identified and all those found culpable prosecuted.
Particularly troubling is the reported targeting of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, who play a vital role in Nigeria’s electoral process. Many serve far from home and undertake sensitive assignments at polling units and other electoral locations. As civilians, they should not be exposed to intimidation, abduction or violence without adequate protection. If election workers are vulnerable, the safety of other officials, observers and voters cannot be guaranteed.
Nigeria’s electoral history offers painful lessons. Human Rights Watch reported in Nigeria’s Post-Election Violence, published in May 2011, that more than 800 people died in the violence following the 2011 general elections. NYSC members serving as electoral officials were among the victims. This tragedy underscores the deadly consequences of political tension, incitement and disputed outcomes. Nigeria must act on the latest warning before another preventable disaster occurs.
INEC deserves recognition for uncovering the alleged plot, while the DSS and other security agencies merit commendation for their reported assistance. However, arrests are only the beginning. Investigators must establish the suspects’ identities, motives, networks and intended targets, ensuring that evidence is admissible in court. The process must remain impartial and free from political interference. Credible public updates are also necessary, provided they do not compromise investigations or operational security.
The authorities must adopt a comprehensive, intelligence-led security strategy for 2027. INEC’s proposed security conference should produce practical measures developed in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), the police, the DSS and other relevant agencies. Threat assessments should guide personnel deployment, secure transportation, emergency communications, evacuation procedures and rapid response. Protection must extend beyond polling day to the distribution of sensitive materials, collation centres and the safe return of ad hoc personnel.
Those who provide intelligence must also be protected from retaliation. Confidential reporting channels and appropriate safeguards should be established for informants and others assisting investigations. Equally, security deployments must not intimidate voters or facilitate political repression. Personnel should act professionally, impartially and proportionately, within the law. Clear mechanisms for reporting misconduct and investigating abuses are essential to maintaining public confidence.
The threat also highlights broader concerns about trust in the electoral system. The European Union Election Observation Mission’s June 2023 final report identified shortcomings in transparency and operational implementation during Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, alongside concerns about the legal framework and electoral dispute resolution. Credible elections require more than security; they depend on transparent procedures, accountable officials and consistent enforcement of electoral laws. INEC must demonstrate measurable progress in addressing previously identified weaknesses.
Voter apathy presents another challenge. INEC’s published figures indicate that approximately 25 million people voted in the 2023 presidential election, out of about 93.5 million registered voters, a turnout of roughly 26.7 per cent. Although insecurity is not the sole cause of low participation, threats against electoral personnel can heighten public anxiety and discourage voters from exercising their franchise. INEC should strengthen civic education, improve polling accessibility and communicate procedures clearly. Political parties, civil society and the media must promote peaceful participation and reject electoral intimidation.
Misinformation and manipulated digital content pose additional risks. False reports, fabricated announcements and deepfake videos can inflame tensions, impersonate officials and mislead voters. INEC should establish a well-resourced, rapid-response communication system supported by verified digital channels and timely public statements. Collaboration with credible media organisations and fact-checkers would help counter falsehoods without suppressing legitimate criticism. Clear, consistent communication is indispensable, as administrative confusion and delayed explanations often allow rumours to spread.
Electoral integrity must also begin within INEC itself. The chairman’s warning against partisanship, negligence, extortion and ethical misconduct deserves serious attention. Security measures cannot compensate for officials who abuse their positions or disregard established procedures. INEC should strengthen staff training, ensure transparent recruitment and deployment, provide secure channels for reporting misconduct and enforce disciplinary rules consistently. Allegations of bribery and political interference must be investigated regardless of rank, while ad hoc personnel should receive adequate briefing, support and prompt payment.
The legal framework also requires clarity and consistent enforcement. INEC should explain the precise provisions and applicability of Section 26 of the Electoral Act 2026, including the obligations of electoral officials and security personnel, and publish authoritative guidance on neutrality and professional conduct. Complaints by opposition parties that they have been prevented from campaigning in certain states must likewise be investigated impartially. Any established violations should attract appropriate corrective action. Electoral fairness requires not only impartial polling officials but also lawful campaigning, access to competing viewpoints and freedom from intimidation.
The alleged plot against INEC’s ad hoc personnel is a warning against complacency ahead of the 2027 general election. Governments, security agencies, INEC, political parties and civil society must work together to prevent violence, punish misconduct and protect citizens’ participation. The commission should communicate its security priorities, maintain accessible threat-reporting channels and provide periodic updates on preparedness. Nigeria’s democracy cannot be safeguarded by assurances alone; it requires demonstrable preparation, impartial law enforcement and an unwavering commitment to free, fair and credible elections.

Editorial

That Call to End Girl-Child Marriage

Published

7 days ago

October 26, 2026

The Tide

Nigeria joined the world in commemorating the International Day of the Girl-Child on 11 March 2026, an observance dedicated to advancing girls’ rights and amplifying their voices. This year’s theme, “End Child Marriage and Invest in Girls’ Rights,” confronts a deep-rooted injustice and demands an end to sacrificing girls’ futures to prejudice and expediency.

The focus is child marriage, not as an unavoidable misfortune but as a preventable injustice. Though prevalent in many societies, the practice remains particularly troubling in parts of northern Nigeria, where it has become normalised. Reports of girls aged 10 to 13 being married off are disturbing. The controversy surrounding a Nigerian senator and former governor who married a 13-year-old girl further exposed the practice to global scrutiny, yet accountability at home appeared limited. When lawmakers disregard the law, society’s moral compass is compromised.

UNICEF’s statistics reveal the scale of the crisis. Globally, an estimated 650 million women and girls alive today were married before turning 18, while more than 12 million girls enter marriage annually before adulthood. In Nigeria, about 33 per cent of girls marry before 18 and 11 per cent before 15. The prevalence reportedly reaches 63 per cent in Jigawa and Zamfara States and 61 per cent in Sokoto and Katsina. These figures represent millions of childhoods interrupted and futures imperilled.

These statistics explain why the United Nations continues to campaign against child marriage and advocate investment in girls. The consequences are devastating. Girls whose bodies are not fully developed face increased risks of maternal death, obstetric fistula, sexually transmitted infections and psychological trauma. The economic cost is equally significant. A 2017 World Bank and International Centre for Research on Women Study estimated that ending child marriage could generate an additional $7.6 billion in earnings and productivity for Nigeria, as early marriage deprives girls of education, skills, and opportunities to contribute to national development.

Educating a woman benefits the entire society. As a mother, she often becomes her children’s first teacher and a vital influence on their character. An educated mother helps raise enlightened children, just as one candle can light many others without losing its flame. Denying women education undermines families and communities. To expect wisdom while deliberately withholding knowledge is to demand the impossible.

Several reasons are offered for marrying off young girls, including economic hardship, cultural practices and religious beliefs. In some households, daughters are treated as commodities, married early so that their bride price can finance their brothers’ education. While boys enter classrooms, their sisters are sent to matrimonial homes. This discriminatory practice is shortsighted, depriving the nation of half its human potential. A country cannot expect to run effectively after deliberately crippling one side of its capacity.

Beyond these justifications lies the entrenched belief that women ultimately belong in the kitchen, regardless of their education. This outdated notion is demonstrably false. Countries where women lead governments, businesses, research institutions and other sectors show what investment in female talent can achieve. Rwanda’s substantial female parliamentary representation is one example. Confining women to domestic roles limits not only their ambitions but also the nation’s progress.

A girl-child must not surrender her childhood to poverty or prejudice. Some traditions discourage women from attaining educational heights comparable to or greater than those of men, driven by the baseless fear that educated women will disrespect their husbands. Such thinking equates enlightenment with insubordination and empowerment with threat. This patriarchal mindset perpetuates inequality and keeps society trapped in backwardness.

Consequently, some parents consider educating their daughters a waste of resources, likening it to watering another man’s garden. This attitude is deeply misguided. Every girl deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and pursue her dreams. Early marriage mortgages her future, stifles her potential and traps her in circumstances she might otherwise overcome. No society can justify sacrificing a child’s prospects to outdated customs or immediate financial gain.

Ending child marriage must, therefore, go hand in hand with investing in girls’ education, safety and rights. Every girl should have the opportunity to realise her potential. This requires more than annual declarations, billboards, posters and seminars held in air-conditioned halls. Awareness without action is like a cloud without rain: promising, yet incapable of nourishing the ground.

The campaign must move beyond tokenism to practical intervention, particularly at the state level, where the problem is acute. Governments should formulate policies that protect girls and make education accessible. Scholarships, bursaries, conditional cash transfers, school feeding programmes and other incentives can help keep girls in school. When education is affordable and adequately supported, more girls can choose the classroom over the bridal chamber.

Civil society organisations, faith-based groups, and traditional institutions must intensify efforts to challenge child marriage and dismantle harmful beliefs disguised as religious or cultural obligations. Parents must also uphold their responsibility to protect and educate their daughters, despite economic pressures. A society that educates its girls invests in its future; one that marries them off in childhood mortgages that future at an incalculable cost.

Editorial

Restructure the UN Power Arrangement

Published

2 weeks ago

October 19, 2026

The Tide

When Vice-President Kashim Shettima rose in New York on behalf of President Bola Tinubu to address the general debate of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, he carried a message that Africa has whispered, petitioned and pleaded for far too long: the world’s highest table of peace and security must make room for the continent. Nigeria’s demand is unambiguous: at least two permanent seats for Africa on the Security Council, with full rights, including the veto, alongside five non-permanent seats. It is a demand that deserves a fair hearing and a decisive response.

The President’s argument rests on a simple proposition: the architecture erected in 1945 cannot credibly govern the world of 2026. Reform of the United Nations, he insisted, must begin with the Security Council, where African representation remains grossly inadequate. Nigeria’s position, he reminded delegates, is anchored in the Ezulwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration, which together articulate the African Union’s common position on Security Council reform. His most compelling point was also his simplest: Africa cannot continue to dominate the Council’s agenda while remaining absent from its permanent membership.

Consider how exclusive the club remains. Since the organisation’s founding, only five countries—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, which inherited the Soviet Union’s seat, and China—have held permanent membership, with the privilege of the veto. When the UN Charter entered into force, the United Nations had 51 member states; today, it has 193. The organisation’s membership has nearly quadrupled, yet its inner sanctum has admitted no new permanent member in eight decades. A body that refuses to evolve invites the charge that it remains a monument to the victors of a long-concluded war.

The imbalance becomes even more striking when viewed through the lens of geography. Europe has two permanent seats held by European states, while Asia has one held by China. The United States holds another, and Russia, whose territory spans Europe and Asia, occupies the fifth. Africa, home to 54 countries and more than a quarter of the General Assembly’s membership, has none. We are entitled to ask why the historical circumstances of 1945 should continue to determine who sits permanently at the head of the table in the third decade of the twenty-first century.

The irony is bitter. According to Security Council Report, an independent monitoring organisation, Africa accounts for a substantial share of the Council’s formal meetings, while many of its peacekeeping and Chapter VII enforcement mandates concern African states. The Council, in effect, helps determine the fate of African nations without a permanent African voice in its deliberations. To make decisions with far-reaching consequences for a continent while excluding it from permanent decision-making is unjust, outdated and corrosive of the very legitimacy the Council claims.

Nor does the existing arrangement for African participation offer much consolation. Three non-permanent seats are allocated to Africa, but their occupants serve two-year terms, have no veto and enjoy no guaranteed continuity. The so-called A3 must repeatedly learn the corridors of power just as their tenure expires, while the permanent five enjoy continuity, influence and the power to block decisions. How can the United Nations credibly claim to represent the world equitably when an entire continent is excluded from permanent membership? If it is truly a global institution, Africa must have a seat at the table as of right, not at the discretion of others.

Demography reinforces the case. Africa is home to about 1.5 billion people, roughly a fifth of humanity, and its share of the global population is projected to rise. Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country, has an estimated population of more than 230 million and a long record of contributing to peacekeeping and regional stabilisation. Africa’s permanent representatives must be chosen through a process that reflects the continent’s collective interests, and Nigeria, by virtue of its population, diplomatic standing and record of service, is well placed to be considered for one of the two seats. We, therefore, endorse the Federal Government’s position that Africa should have at least two permanent seats on the Security Council.

The vexed question of the veto deserves equal candour. Our considered view is that the veto should be abolished. Where four members agree, a single dissenting voice should not be allowed to frustrate the will of the majority. Time and again, the veto has paralysed the Council in the face of atrocities and aggression, turning deliberation into deadlock and undermining collective action.

The African Union’s formal position is pragmatic: if the veto is abolished for all, so be it; but for as long as it survives, Africa must not be saddled with second-class membership without the same privilege. This is a logical and defensible position, even if the complete abolition of the veto remains the more desirable goal.

The lopsided composition of the Council helps explain why the international community has struggled to make meaningful progress on some of the world’s gravest conflicts. A chamber in which a handful of powers pursue their strategic interests, with limited accountability to the regions most affected by its decisions, can hardly be described as democratic. Legitimacy is the currency of any international institution. When that legitimacy is squandered, confidence in the Council’s decisions weakens, and the cause of multilateralism suffers.

Several practical steps should follow. First, Abuja and the African Union must speak with one voice, agreeing on the criteria for selecting Africa’s representatives and establishing a credible process for identifying candidates for the two seats. This would prevent internal divisions from being exploited by opponents of reform. Second, Nigeria should build alliances beyond the continent, notably with Brazil, Germany, India and Japan, as well as Caribbean and Pacific states that share an interest in reforming the international system. Third, Nigeria must continue to strengthen its credentials through sustained contributions to peacekeeping, sound democratic governance, and timely financial contributions to international institutions.

The Security Council was fashioned for a world that has long since vanished. To pretend otherwise is to court irrelevance. Africa is asking not for charity but for representation commensurate with its population, its responsibilities and its potential. Reform is long overdue, and the international community can no longer afford to ignore the issue. President Tinubu has set out Nigeria’s case with clarity; it is now incumbent on the major powers to demonstrate that the United Nations is a community of nations, not a private club reserved for the victors of a bygone era. History will judge them by how seriously and swiftly they respond.