Opinion
2022: A Red-Letter Year
The year 2022 was like no other year for the average Nigerian, particularly for fixed-salary earners like civil and public servants. It was a year when the combination of inflation, insecurity, volatile foreign exchange, and a spiralling energy cost created a hellish cocktail that unleashed a cost of living crisis, comparable only to the austerity measure Nigerians saw during Buhari’s first advent. Painfully for most families, the traditional 3-square meal was a major casualty.
As I reflect on the travails of the average Nigerian in the outgone year, I shuddered at the thought that, while I might complain of my inability to meet some of the basic needs of my family, 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor (a whopping 66.5 percent of the population) – grappling with the lack of access to food, health care, shelter, education, and other necessities of life. By contrast, President Buhari is healthier today than ever, and Bishop Kuka brought the stark difference home during a homily late last year when he said: “We know that you are healthier now than you were before. We can see it in the spring in your steps, the thousands of miles you have continued to cover as you travel abroad. However, I also wish that millions of our citizens had a chance to enjoy just a fraction of their own health by a measurable improvement in the quality of health care in our country.” To add salt to injury, available data from almost every respectable source show that the health sector is on the brink of collapse due to the Japa syndrome.
Unfortunately, it is not yet over, because in the UK alone there is currently a gap of about 46000 health workers according to the NHS; and going by data from previous years Nigeria might end up contributing a third of that number. According to a UK immigration report released in 2022, more than 13000 Nigerian medical professionals were recruited by various health Institutions in the UK between 2021 and 2022. In October 2022, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) National President, Dr. Rowland Ojinmah, reported that 50 medical doctors leave Nigeria weekly, creating a shortage of doctors in most hospitals across the country. The impact of this labour migration has started to hit home, as major hospitals in big cities, like Port Harcourt are now finding it difficult to hire doctors. In fact, a doctor told me that most private hospitals in Port Harcourt stop seeing our patients after 5:00 pm due to a lack of manpower; but a consultant radiologist at Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, painted a grim picture of the current state of healthcare delivery in the country by explaining that soon, the only option for the sick in Nigeria might be the ‘Babalawo’.
On the economy, energy costs did huge damage to the economy in 2022 second only to the impact of high forex. There was a continual marginal increase of electricity tariff, but no regular supply in most parts of the country. And as a result, the cost of diesel was particularly responsible for the very low-profit margins among most manufacturing firms in the country. It was also the reason why most banks in Port Harcourt and other major cities reduced their operating hours. On a personal level, skyrocketing energy costs ensured my diesel generator remained under lock and key since March 2022. Painfully, the price of the alternative source of fuel, petrol, is now almost at par with the price of diesel. My major regret is not riding the solar train when the dollar was reasonable.
2022, was also a year when ASUU stood its ground in what morphed into the mother of all industrial strikes in our recent memory. The strike action which started on a warning note on February 14, 2022, ended on October 14, 2022, without a clear-cut resolution, or a winner; but the students and their parents are clearly the losers. The long industrial action gave the private universities an undue advantage against public universities, and their students, in the sense that the eight-month-long strike upended the 2021/2022 academic session. But our loss as a nation was a gain in terms of foreign direct investment to countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Ghana. As of June 2022, Nigeria spent as much as $882 million on education-related expenditures, showing a 34 percent increase when compared to the $667 million spent in the same period in 2021. Notably, there was no foreign direct investment in the opposite direction for the same purpose.
On security, 2022 was really a long night for the devil. Only a few states including Lagos and Rivers had a breather. It was so bad that even the seat of power was threatened. Kuje Prisons was attacked, while the Abuja – Kaduna Road was a killing field, and the rail was not spared. In fact, the Abuja – Kaduna Train attack will forever remain a scar on our national consciousness. But that is not all, because Kaduna was actually Nigeria’s security waterloo in 2022; and for the most fortified state in the country, Nigeria was shamed without measure when the Nigerian Defence Academy in Zaria and the Kaduna Airport were attacked. Sadly, every other attack in Kaduna pales in comparison to the ongoing slaughter of the Indigenous People of Southern Kaduna. Also, the South-East witnessed unprecedented security challenges caused by unknown gunmen, kidnappers, Fulani herdsmen, and the militant wing of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
Lastly, the flood returned in 2022 to a nation as unprepared as it was in 2012. In some areas in Benue and Anambra States especially, new developments have blocked natural waterways; while towns and villages along flood planes in nearly 30 states were submerged under water. Most families would never recover because they lost everything, but the politicians who managed the procurement and distribution of relief are set for life. The East-West Road along the Bayelsa axis was submerged for nearly three weeks, displacing millions of people at the peak; but as usual, the issue of the flood has receded to the back burner until the next flood. This is Nigeria, where lessons learned are never applied.
Sadly, any search for a single indicator trending in the green immediately becomes a fruitless endeavour. With a budget deficit of 5 percent of GDP as against the threshold of 3 percent recommended by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007. Headline Inflation is hovering around 21 percent, while food inflation stood at 22 percent; and due to multi-sectoral dislocations in the economy, the unemployment rate is currently at 33 percent, essentially increasing the number of the Nigerian poor by 35 million. Tellingly, youth unemployment stood at 43 percent at the end of 2022.
Many pundits have attributed the state of the economy in 2022 to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global headwinds, especially the war in Ukraine. However, in truth, we witnessed in 2022 a full-blown case of what happens when unpatriotic, corrupt, and incompetent people wield power. For instance, what effect do the Covid-19 Pandemic and the war in Ukraine have on our daily crude production or the security architecture of the country? Also, is there any correlation between the aforementioned factors and the ASUU strike that destroyed a whole school year? The answer is clearly no.
Interestingly, just before the end of the year, Nigerians were surprised to hear that the Federal Government was working on a review that would be announced most likely in the first quarter of 2023. According to the Minister for Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, the review is intended to ameliorate the impact of inflation on the cost of living. Ordinarily, it sounds like a kind gesture, however, would it not have been better, fixing the economy in the first place? Because, if the economy continues on the current trajectory no amount of salary adjustment would make any meaning. On the flip side, it has the visage of vote buying. It is certain, that the APC cannot campaign with a Buhari Scorecard, therefore they have to come up with a mega vote-buying scheme.
In all, the supposedly incompetence of Buharai, his soft-glove handling of non-state actors, and the general corrupt disposition of his government culminated in setting 2022 apart as a red-letter year; and I join millions of Nigerians to pray that our children may never see another year like the year “2022”.
By: Raphael Pepple
The floods have done it again! No thanks to our governance systems that enables such tales of bad fate. Our national encounters with floods have become annual meets in which Nigerians have had to be vulnerable to inundating floods. Every incident becomes a combat with nature in which Nigerians have been made no match. Many unlucky Nigerians have had to endure overwhelming onslaughts from floods, some not surviving to tell the stories.
The sad event that just occurred at Mokwa in Niger State has once again reminded us that we have entered the Season 2025 Rendezvous With Floods. Yes, the flood season is here again! It also appears that by our inactions to check the floods, we have entered some unwritten agreements with same, to annually decimate the lives of hundreds of Nigerians whom conditions of life placed on the paths of menacing floods. As humans fail to be humane to their fellow, why would the floods?
Even as flood prevention and mitigation activities draw huge budgets from government purses annually, they remain as ravaging as if they were never envisaged, the result of which many lives, properties and natural resources of innocent Nigerians are sacrificed yearly.
In the current tragedy at Mokwa more than 150 lives have so far been confirmed dead. Regrettably, the figures may go further as rescue operations continue. According to reports, mayhem descended on innocent residents who were asleep in the early hours of Thursday, May 29, 2025 in the neighbourhoods of Kpege at Mokwa, when torrential downpours led to surprising surges of water. In the ensuing confusion in which buildings and market areas became submerged amidst collapsing structures, hundreds lost their lives, buildings destroyed and many displaced. Those lucky enough to have escaped alive now face the frustration of sudden displacement.
Even as floods have become one of our intractable, annual woes, the latest incident at Mokwa remains heart-bleeding, considering that no less than 200 lives were lost to flooding in the same area in 2023 and over 386,000 were displaced. Such horrendous flood disasters keep recurring as a national tragedy.
In 2022 Nigeria made world headlines when CNN and other international media carried reports of one of our worst humanitarian flood disasters during which over 500 persons perished, about 1,546 injured, and over 1.4 million persons displaced by floods. The CNN also added that about “45,249 houses were damaged, 76,168 hectares of farmlands partially destroyed while 70,566 hectares of farmlands got completely destroyed.” That year, 27 out of Nigeria’s 36 states struggled with floods while access to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja was threatened.
The more salient impact which draws lesser attention from the media is the trail of terrestrial erosions that etch our environments each flooding season. With widespread areas of farmlands, residential areas and coastal communities being washed away by floods yearly, the ecology of many parts of Nigeria continues to degrade in magnitudes unimageable.
***********Regrettably no lessons appear to have been learnt from flood incidents such like occurred in 2022, otherwise we would not have been experiencing subsequent scales of recurrences.
Nor have the preventable drownings of a colossal number of lives been enough to trigger official inquiry into the activities of our national emergency management programmes, and their associated agencies.
In the face of huge expenditures recorded in yearly national budgets through the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to finance the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), it should be puzzling that no one has ever been held liable for the failures to safeguard areas prone to floods, the recurrent inability to swiftly come to the rescue of flood victims, and the consequential deaths. Even from the reported lamentations of victims, it is discernible that most often, relief materials reach victims almost a year after incidents. And that is for those lucky enough to secure reliefs. Designated places for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), may pass as mockery of the essence.
With respect to the Mokwa flood mayhem, NEMA claims it “Had prior to the incident, issued multiple early warnings regarding likely flooding in flood-prone regions like Niger State.” Probably in an attempt to shift blames to local authorities claimed further that, “Despite these efforts, the scale of the disaster revealed the limits of national-level warnings without sufficient ground-level implementation.” But as the apex disaster management agency in the country, is NEMA’s job only to raise alarms for local authorities? What hindered the deployment of its Early Warning and Preparedness mechanisms?
Being under the Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Ministry, one may wonder if NEMA is not being choked under a ministry saddled with so many social duties, moreso, a ministry notorious for its social fund embezzlement scandals. For swifter operations, NEMA should operate from a ministry dedicated to special duties, or placed under the Presidency.
This nation has had so many innocent lives devastated needlessly by floods to have provoked national compunction in saner climes. Such regrets should have inspired decisive actions that prevent, or at least mitigate future occurrences to the barest minimum.
In our usual daily hustle, life may resume as normal for many Nigerians faced by many other daily struggles, and the memories of the over 150 who died at Mokwa will soon be forgotten. But it is pertinent to remind us that it is a crime against humanity to let helpless lives perish as such.
The menace of floods as occur on our part of the globe are preventable, as they are seasonal and predictable. Given all the technologies currently at our disposal, floods should not be as overwhelming as they have become. With conscientious efforts, floods could largely be prepared against and checked, while mitigating actions ensure that lives and resources are not destroyed on the scales being experienced. From the yearly outcomes so far, it is obvious that the requisite actions against floods are not being implemented, however how NEMA tries to defend itself.
In the meantime, it should be noteworthy that the Mokwa sad record is an early occurrence for the year 2025, and coming just from the River Niger flank of the country alone, when the usually worst crises from the River Benue axis are yet to commence. Officials of NEMA and those of concerned State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) should not wait until the Republic of Cameroon embarks on the annual opening of its Lagdo Dam, and when communities downstream of the River Benue flank start wailing desperately, to take action. By then actions would be too little, and too late, and NEMA would issue another self-exoneration.
As NEMA goes nation-wide to sensitize the public on its National Disaster Preparedness and Response Campaign (NPRC) 2025, its activities should materialize in lives and resources saved against floods.
On the Side A of the 1971 rock album Santana III, Santana Band featured a piece titled “Toussaint L’Ouverture”. The intensity, liveliness, pulsating and compulsive rhythms, and soaring guitar solos of “Toussaint L’Ouverture” made it a favorite of rock aficionados on dance floors across the world in the early seventies. Unbeknownst to many, the raw energy and dynamic tempo changes of the basically instrumental piece symbolized the fury and determination of the legendary leader of a historic revolution that was not taught in schools. The revolution, which led to the first independent Black nation on earth was led by Toussaint L’Ouverture.
François-Dominique Toussaint Bréda (1743–1803) aka Toussaint L’Ouverture, was born into slavery in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). He became a key leader of the Haitian Revolution and one of the most prominent figures in the history of the fight against slavery. Freed in his 30s, L’Ouverture educated himself in Enlightenment ideas and military strategy. During the slave uprising in Saint-Domingue in 1791, his leadership capacities crystallized as he organized, negotiated, outmaneuvered and turned wild protests into disciplined and organized resistance hence he was acknowledged as a skilled and charismatic military leader.
Betrayed by Napoleon Bonaparte through subterfuge during negotiations, L’Ouverture was captured and taken to France in 1802. Though he did not live to see the liberation of his people from slavery and colonialism, his leadership laid the foundation for Haiti’s independence in 1804—the first successful slave revolt in history and the first Black republic in the modern world. These are his last words in 1803: “In overthrowing me, you have done no more than cut down the trunk of the tree of black liberty…it will spring back from the roots, for they are numerous and deep”. Last words that burned hotter than lava then; timeless words that are currently as cogent and urgent as they were more than two centuries ago. In a 2024 opinion of L’Ouverture, Phil McKraken wrote that: “Toussaint was a figure larger than life…His spirit lives on not just for Haitians but for all freedom loving people”. For McKraken, L’Ouverture is a symbol of organized resistance and emancipation from slavery, imperialism and its facades over the centuries.
*********** More than two centuries after his death, the spirit of L’Ouverture and the essence of the last words, said in the bid to emancipate his country of Blacks from French slavery, still resonates in the contemporary affairs of Francophone Africa. This group of countries are still trapped in the documented postcolonial economic stranglehold of France, a country that has orchestrated more coups in Africa than any other through subterfuge, subversion and assassination.
It is said that in nature any species that is over hunting is sooner or later taken out because its over-hunting upsets the balance. Through the instrumentality of NATO (which, in practical terms, is acronym for Nations Aligned to Terrorize Others) and other institutions of imperialism, the West has traumatized Africa by conspiratorially and systematically destabilizing the wealthiest nations and their systems and heartlessly and predatorily over exploiting their resources since Bismark’s Berlin Butchery of Africa (BBBA) in 1885, which is euphemistically referred to as Berlin Conference.
Undoubtedly, the West (especially France) has over hunted in Africa. For instance, information has it that, hitherto, Mali earned $1bn annually from its gold mined by a French company. That amount is domiciled in French Central Bank where it serves as collateral for Mali to borrow from France; WITH INTEREST! Today, with the expulsion of France, Mali earns $10bn monthly. What an economic liberation from heartless exploitation! Similarly, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon etc. have liberated themselves from postcolonial economic stranglehold by France. Doubtlessly, Nature has commenced the process of taking out the over hunting predator.
Going by L’Ouverture’s metaphor, the West systemically or violently “cut down the trunk[s]” called Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Moamar Gaddafi, Thomas Sankara etc. However, from the roots that “are numerous and deep”, Assimi Goita sprang from the soil of Mali in 2020 thereby commencing the natural process of taking out the predator that L’Ouverture contended with more than two centuries ago. From the soil of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traore sprang in 2022 and, in quick succession in 2023, Abdourahamane Tchiani and Oligui Nguema sprang from Niger and Gabon, respectively. In May 2024, Mahamat Déby won the presidential election in Chad and expressed strong anti-French sentiments, a radical departure from the policy posture of his late father. Like L’Ouverture, these leaders did not strike for conquest; they fought for liberation from the stranglehold of a participant in the BBBA of 1885. Their action speaks eloquently and volubly of the disillusionment with French overreach in the continent.
In September 2023, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). Though relatively new, it is a significant geopolitical bloc that marks a dramatic shift in the political and security landscape of West Africa. With their common heritage of French colonialism and current experience of military coup, they are collectively navigating a complex transition away from France and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), toward greater self-reliance and regional solidarity. Recently, Ivory Coast has also had a change of guard and speculations are rife that Togo and Benin Republic have followed suit. This marks the end of an era for France; an era that has dire consequences for the former colonial power.
Commenting on the anti-France wild fire in Francophone Africa, social critic and blogger, Michael A.G. Iboh, speaks with optimism that “ CFA Franc, the last chain of French colonization, has been broken. Granted that the West will do everything to crush Burkina Faso but day has broken in Africa and the dawn is here not just in Ouagadougou but across Africa”.
There is palpable unease at Palis de l’Elysee; that is understandable. Frontline Pan-Africanists, Arikana Quao and Mallence Williams inform that, hitherto, France was receiving about $500 billion per annum in foreign exchange reserves from Francophone Africa based on forced false colonial debt. Former French president Jacques Chirac once stated thus: “without Africa, France will slide down in the rank of a third world power”.
In the above regard, Florida-based Nigerian social critic, Daag Josiah, holds that “Though the colonial boat has been rudely rocked and it cannot be business as usual, a relationship based on mutatis-mutandis could be structured.” Invoking the hospitality and generosity that characterize Africa, William has invited France to “come…with integrity and honor; we want to share with you our wealth and invite you to share with us”. With “strategic self interest” being the traditional mindset of imperialism, will France accept the simple conditionality of coming to the table with “integrity and honor” where the relationship departs from “master-servant” to partnership or will it insist on the status quo?
The truth remains that many roots of the hewed trunk of L’Ouverture have sprout and his spirit has reincarnated simultaneously across Francophone Africa. At last, Prof Claude Ake’s 1978 intellectual prophecy, Revolutionary Pressure in Africa, has touched down on the African soil and the torch of liberation has lit a wild fire.
Going forward, France and the West must rework relationships with Africa. This is feasible and achievable; each should come to the table with genuine desire for mutuality and reciprocity. The basic requirement is that the imperialist mindset of “might is right” and inordinate self-interest, which Greg Mills aptly attributed Africa’s poverty to, should give way for cooperation and partnership. One thing is for sure, the old order is history. It is not a coincidence that this is happening when the majestic sound of Star-Spangled Banner is speedily fading marking the beginning of the end of an empire whose light is dimming into twilight while the silhouette of the Dragon of the East is bursting out in radiant colors. Naturally, the sun of global power play is setting in the West and rising in the East
What we see across the country today can only be surmounted through a decisive Presidential agenda devoid of politics and sentiments. Alhaji Shehu Shagari, faced with similar security threats, wasted no time in restoring order.
Shagari was still in his first year in office when Islamic fundamentalists, led by Muhammadu Marwa, better known as Maitatsine, visited terror on Kano. Domiciled in the Yan Awaki area, the man who originally hailed from Cameroon, began to create an empire of terrorists.
Kano was under the control of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) while the National Party of Nigeria ( NPN) controlled the Federal Government. Shagari, a Muslim, did not want to be politically correct because Kano was involved. He placed national security above everything else.
Realising that the terrorists had overwhelmed the police, killing about 100 of them including a Commissioner who was moved from Aba, the president applied military force. It took just two days for soldiers to crush Maitatsine and his followers. At the end, 5,000 civilians died and the Army lost 35 souls.
That was in 1980. Shagari set up a Judicial Commission headed by Justice Anthony Aniagolu. Hundreds of the trouble makers were sent to jail. And it turned out that among them were fighters from Chad, Niger Republic, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Mali.
On May 16, 1981, there was a skirmish at the Nigeria – Cameroon frontier. Second Lieutenant Seyiveh Sewhenu Amosu of the Nigerian Army, leading a patrol on the Akpa Yafe River, was killed in an ambush by Cameroonian forces. Four other soldiers, Felix Bemigho, Emmanuel Kasar, Joseph Imaja and Emmanuel Akpan also died.
Shagari wasted no time in showing Cameroon the power of Nigerian forces. His Service Chiefs had tasted battle during the Civil War. Chief of Defence Staff, Gibson Jalo, was a General Officer Commanding (GOC). Army Chief, Mohammed Wushishi, was part of the First Division, Chief of Naval Staff, Akin Aduwo, commanded a warship, his Air Force counterpart, Dominic Bello, was one of the few Federals that flew jet bombers.
The world watched as Nigerian forces moved to the border for war on Cameroon, whose troops had never seen battle anywhere. Having frightened the aggressor, Shagari diplomatically halted the planned assault.
In October 1982, some of Maitatsine’s loyalists, regrouped in Bulunkutu, Maiduguri. Among them were many released from jail, like what we see with Boko Haram fighters today. They burnt mosques, churches and humans, using body parts as charm. Again, Shagari acted decisively to decimate the terrorists.
On April 18, 1983, one Idris Debby, led Chadian troops to seize 21 Nigerian fishing villages. Shagari showed his stuff, once again. As Commander – in – Chief of the Armed Forces, he chose seasoned fighters, after consulting with his Defence Team.
Muhammadu Buhari, GOC of the 3rd Amoured Division was given the task of clearing the intruders. As the first governor of Borno State, the general knew the terrain so well. His mother was Kanuri, whose people knew much about Debby and the Zaghawa.
To support Buhari, Chris Ugokwe, a seasoned warrior and Commander of the 21 Armoured Brigade, led the battle. Ugokwe commanded Biafra’s 52 Brigade during the Civil War and was the officer who led 13 Armoured vehicles, under Ibrahim Babangida in 1976, to flush Bukar Dimka out of Radio Nigeria.
Ugokwe and Buhari were friends and Nigeria Military Training College (NMTC) course 5 mates. Babangida was their junior by one Course. It was because of Biafra that Ugokwe lost seniority but he was trusted by PMB and IBB. Ugokwe and Babangida were together in Kaduna during the January 15, 1966 coup.
Ugokwe drove Debby out of Nigeria and led troops into Chad. To show the strength of his Brigade, he planned to capture Ndjamena and was going to accomplish that task when Shagari, again, turned to diplomacy. The president called on Buhari to stop his troops.
That war with Chad gave the Armed Forces so much respect. The Air Force had men like Ben Ekele and Adamu Sakaba. Ekele was so good in all his training abroad that he was nicknamed ‘Air Hooligan’. His friend, Isaac Alfa, was known as ‘Air Warrior’.
Ekele played with the MiG fighter jets, like a toy. Some admirers gave him another name, ‘Ben The MiG’. Unfortunately, the officer was executed with Sakaba, in March 1986. Both were found guilty of treason by the Charles Ndiomu Military Tribunal, for their alleged roles in the Mamman Batss plot of 1985.
Shagari pushed our best into battle. Second Lieutenant Amosu, who was killed by Cameroonians, belonged to the Nigerian Defence Academy Regular Course (RC) 22. That RC later produced a Chief of Naval Staff, Dele Ezeoba, a governor, Inua Bawa, a Senator, Austin Akobundu and other prominent officers like Brigade of Guards Commander, J. O. Shoboiki, Task Force Commander, Sarkin Bello and Paul Izukanne. Another Amosu, Nunayon, became Chief of Air Staff.
President Bola Tinubu should follow Shagari’s footsteps. Nigeria is in trouble and there must be no consideration of tribe, tongue or party. Our Armed Forces can do better. We have many saboteurs in and out of power. What is paramount now is a new strategy.
The bloodletting is unprecedented. Citizens are slaughtered like chicken, daily all over the country. We call them bandits, in the North – West, killer herdsmen in the North – Central, terrorists in the North – East and Fulani herdsmen, in the entire South.
There is only one President and Commander – in – Chief. Tinubu is a strong man, cowardice is not part of his profile. He was part of the NADECO battalion that waged war on Sani Abacha. This is another war. Tinubu can and must fight like a Field Marshal.
Emeka Obasi
Obasi is an online journalist and analyst.