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Wrong Path To Change …That Caution From Bishop Kukah

Published

9 years ago

September 19, 2016

For the umpteenth time, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari told Nigerians that he inherited nothing from the previous administration. That would mean the first few months salaries paid to federal workers upon assumption of office last year were from his pocket or that of his All Progressives Congress (APC) party.
Expanded further, it would also mean that the allocations to the Federal, States and Local Government areas also came from same source. The same may also be true, if you may, of the funding of the first few foreign trips by Mr President, where, he took the vilification of his predecessor to annoying international heights.
If the President is to be believed, it would also be trithe to conclude that the proceeds from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Tax holiday, by which some bail-out went to States, were not inherited from the administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
But such was the extent of demonisation the Buhari-led APC government unleashed on a man whose political maturity saved the country from bloodbath, even disintegration. In vilifying his predecessor, Buhari did not spare the country which fluctuating fortunes he was elected to address.
What he did not consider was that due to the extent of his magnification of corruption, no sane foreign investor would deal with the Nigerian economy even with a long spoon. Those whose investments made Nigeria Africa’s largest economy even reconsidered their preferences and moved their investments elsewhere.
Where are we now? From N87 a litre which fuel sold before Buhari’s inauguration, the commodity is pegged officially at N145 and between N150 and N170 in the informal market. And with a likelihood of further hike, although government sources denied it.
This is the government of a party that promised to fix all the nation’s ailing refineries and stop the importation of refined petroleum products. That indeed is the government of a party that promised to establish new refineries.
On Monday, March 23, 2015, then APC Presidential candidate, Buhari told a rally in Owerri, ‘I’ll make Naira equal in value to the Dollar. What do we have today? More than N400 to the dollar, inflation at its all-time high and prices of goods and services beyond the reach of the common man.
With schools soon to re-open, there is the clear possibility of many students and wards remaining at home due to inability to pay fees. Civil servants are groaning just as job seekers, but nothing has changed from the lifestyle of the present administrators. In the midst of recession, wages of lawmakers and members of the Federal Executive Council remain the same.
The regular renovation of Aso Rock Villa with funds running into billions was not expunged from the 2016 budget just as the situation has not discouraged avoidable foreign trips in this time of global communication and viable embassies across the globe.
The display of vain wealth and opulence among elected and appointed federal officials has not changed. The prospensity to acquire choice automobities, neither.
Yet, the blame game continues. Virtually every failure of the administration is blamed on others except the government in power. But that was not why Nigerians voted them into power.
Yet, nearly two years into a four-year tenure, the blame game still will not abate, it gets even more fierce, sounding almost like a broken record.
That is why the recent caution by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah to President Buhari seems very timely. Apparently inundated with the endless complaints and blames heaped on the Jonathan administration, Kukah urged Buhari to stop complaining about the past and give fresh direction to true governance. Kukah said if the only thing Buhari would continue to do is to complain about the past, then, he has no reason heading a government.
According to the fiery Bishop, most Nigerians agreed with the Buhari-led APC that a lot was wrong that needed to be fixed and that its Presidential candidate Buhari had the magic wand to effect the needed change, which were why the party was elected, with President Buhari as armour bearer.
Buhari and his party were not elected to lament over the same problems Nigerians elected them to solve.
If what they have done, thus far, is the best they can offer- an endless blame game, with no extra effort to build the new, as Socrates enthused, then they have no business remaining in power.
Kukah is right. Nigeria is going through very challenging times. It is indeed a period when the people expect their President to speak to them from the heart, only as Buhari should, without any recourse to the demands of flowery romanticism in speech making.
The ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign indeed offered an opportunity for the Nigerian President to pour out his soul to the people. He was expected to be original, frank, truthful and indeed empathising. He did not require enchanting prose to convince Nigerians of the need for attitudinal change.
But no thanks to Presidency’s speech writers, the President is now on the global news frontiers for the wrong reasons. Part of the speech Buhari gave to push Nigerians to jettison their old ways for new and better ones, was copied from a speech once made by US President Barack Obama.
It is called plagiarism.
This is the only flaw not yet blamed on the Jonathan administration by presidential aides. Even the campaign itself is now being said to be somebody else’s intellectual property, not credited but high-jacked. Although Information and Culture Ministry has denied the claim, the social media is awash with demeaning comments, on the subject, with a threat to weaken, the campaign’s punch.
How can such campaign succeed and usher the expected change? This is very unlike the Tunde Idiagbon-inspired War Against Indiscipline (WAI) which was made effective not by flowery speeches, but by straight-from-the heart talk and social engineering.
Now perhaps is when to remind the APC –led government that most of its promises that resulted in electoral victory remain unfulfilled. That the government has proven to be worse than its predecessor and that unless something meaningful is done to address the situation, Nigerians may, demonstrate their regrets same way they demonstrated their resolve to elect the party into power.
Interestingly, each time this suggestion is made, the government at the centre resorts to personal attacks rather than explain otherwise.
The noble path to change is not to blame all woes on others except themselves and embark on near endless vilification of others – the old. The secret of change is about building something new. Something different from the old.
That is what Nigerians are yet to see. And what Nigerians are eager to see. Continuous blames on the Jonathan administration has become a hardsell and should be done away with. And only something truly, truly positive and new can do that.
My Agony is that most of those from whom Nigerians expect change are used and recycled politicians with one true agenda – Be politically relevant and line their pockets, endlessly. No change can come from such people, because none can give what he lacks.

Soye Wilson Jamabo

Featured

Fubara Dissolves Rivers Executive Council

Published

6 days ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara, has dissolved the State Executive Council.

The governor announced the cabinet dissolution yesterday in a statement titled ‘Government Special Announcement’, signed by his new Chief Press Secretary, Onwuka Nzeshi.

Governor Fubara directed all Commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries or the most Senior officers in their Ministries with immediate effect.

He thanked the outgoing members of the State Executive Council for their service and wished them the best in their future endeavours.

The three-paragraph special announcement read, “His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, Governor of Rivers State, has dissolved the State Executive Council.

“His Excellency, the Governor, has therefore directed all Commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries or the most Senior officers in their Ministries with immediate effect.

“His Excellency further expresses his deepest appreciation to the outgoing members of the Executive Council wishing them the best in their future endeavours.”

Featured

INEC Proposes N873.78bn For 2027 Elections, N171bn For 2026 Operations

Published

6 days ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday told the National Assembly that it requires N873.78bn to conduct the 2027 general elections, even as it seeks N171bn to fund its operations in the 2026 fiscal year.

INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, made the disclosure while presenting the commission’s 2026 budget proposal and the projected cost for the 2027 general elections before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters in Abuja.

According to Amupitan, the N873.78bn election budget covers the full conduct of national polls in 2027.

An additional N171bn is needed to support INEC’s routine activities in 2026, including bye-elections and off-season elections, the commission stated.

The INEC boss said the proposed election budget does not include a fresh request from the National Youth Service Corps seeking increased allowances for corps members engaged as ad-hoc staff during elections.

He explained that, although the details of specific line items were not exhaustively presented, the almost N1tn election budget is structured across five major components.

“N379.75bn is for operational costs, N92.32bn for administrative costs, N209.21bn for technological costs, N154.91bn for election capital costs and N42.61bn for miscellaneous expenses,” Amupitan said.

The INEC chief noted that the budget was prepared “in line with Section 3(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, which mandates the Commission to prepare its election budget at least one year before the general election.”

On the 2026 fiscal year, Amupitan disclosed that the Ministry of Finance provided an envelope of N140bn, stressing, however, that “INEC is proposing a total expenditure of N171bn.”

The breakdown includes N109bn for personnel costs, N18.7bn for overheads, N42.63bn for election-related activities and N1.4bn for capital expenditure.

He argued that the envelope budgeting system is not suitable for the Commission’s operations, noting that INEC’s activities often require urgent and flexible funding.

Amupitan also identified the lack of a dedicated communications network as a major operational challenge, adding that if the commission develops its own network infrastructure, Nigerians would be in a better position to hold it accountable for any technical glitches.

Speaking at the session, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) said external agencies should not dictate the budgeting framework for INEC, given the unique and sensitive nature of its mandate.

He advocated that the envelope budgeting model should be set aside.

He urged the National Assembly to work with INEC’s financial proposal to avoid future instances of possible underfunding.

In the same vein, a member of the House of Representatives from Edo State, Billy Osawaru, called for INEC’s budget to be placed on first-line charge as provided in the Constitution, with funds released in full and on time to enable the Commission to plan early enough for the 2027 general election.

The Joint Committee approved a motion recommending the one-time release of the Commission’s annual budget.

The committee also said it would consider the NYSC’s request for about N32bn to increase allowances for corps members to N125,000 each when engaged for election duties.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Simon Along, assured that the National Assembly would work closely with the Commission to ensure it receives the necessary support for the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections.

Similarly, the Chairman of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, Bayo Balogun, also pledged legislative support, warning INEC to be careful about promises it might be unable to keep.

He recalled that during the 2023 general election, INEC made strong assurances about uploading results to the INEC Result Viewing portal, creating the impression that results could be monitored in real time.

“iREV was not even in the Electoral Act; it was only in INEC regulations. So, be careful how you make promises,” Balogun warned.

The N873.78bn proposed by INEC for next year’s general election is a significant increase from the N313.4bn released to the Commission by the Federal Government for the conduct of the 2023 general election.

Featured

Tinubu Mourns Literary Icon, Biodun Jeyifo

Published

6 days ago

February 13, 2026

The Tide

President Bola Tinubu yesterday expressed grief over the death of a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and one of Africa’s foremost literary scholars, Professor Emeritus Biodun Jeyifo.

Jeyifo passed away on Wednesday, drawing tributes from across Nigeria and the global academic community.

In a condolence message to the family, friends, and associates of the late scholar, Tinubu in a statement by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, described Jeyifo as a towering intellectual whose contributions to African literature, postcolonial studies, and cultural theory left an enduring legacy.

He noted that the late professor would be sorely missed for his incisive criticism and masterful interpretations of the works of Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.

The President also recalled Jeyifo’s leadership of ASUU, praising the temperance, foresight, and wisdom he brought to the union over the years.

Tinubu said Jeyifo played a key role in shaping negotiation frameworks with the government aimed at improving working conditions for university staff and enhancing the learning environment in Nigerian universities.

According to the President, Professor Jeyifo’s longstanding advocacy for academic freedom and social justice will continue to inspire generations.

He added that the late scholar’s influence extended beyond academia into political and cultural journalism, where he served as a mentor to numerous scholars, writers, and activists.

Tinubu condoled with ASUU, the Nigerian Academy of Letters, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Oberlin University, Cornell University, and Harvard University—institutions where Jeyifo studied, taught, or made significant scholarly contributions.

“Nigeria and the global academic community have lost a towering figure and outstanding global citizen,” the President said.

“Professor Biodun Jeyifo was an intellectual giant who dedicated his entire life to knowledge production and the promotion of human dignity. I share a strong personal relationship with him. His contributions to literary and cultural advancement and to society at large will be missed.”

Jeyifo was widely regarded as one of Africa’s most influential literary critics and public intellectuals. Among several honours, he received the prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Medal in 2019.