Features/Analysis

My Binoculars: Of the ten-day protests, the health sector, malnutrition, and the failure of the government to care for the ordinary and vulnerable in Nigeria

Published

4 weeks ago

August 21, 2024

My Binoculars: Of the ten-day protests, the health sector, malnutrition, and the failure of the government to care for the ordinary and vulnerable in Nigeria

By: Bodunrin Kayode

A recent critical debate within a platform of journalists of like minds prompted me to peep into my binoculars after a long absence. I usually enjoy such healthy debates, especially when we are trying to set an intricate agenda for ourselves to get the government at all levels to work harder for the people to whom we have sworn allegiance. work for and make comfortable. My attention was drawn to the fact that the Borno state government had to rush to take care of a vulnerable family whose breadwinner had virtually lost financial control and was unable to feed his family, leading to acute malnutrition affecting his kids. It was a pitiable sight if those grim pictures of Kwashiorkor I saw were the exact impression of what happened to the family. It was a clear indicator that food itself is medicine, and hunger can threaten and destroy the very health sector in Borno State and Nigeria if caution is thrown to the wind. Food is spiritual to Africans, so do not use it as a political weapon. get people to submit to you. They will surely fight back in due time.

Such sights are really not new in Borno within the last decade of my reporting of insurgencies and the health of the people. This is because the Boko Haram scourge actually gave rise to many of these ugly sights, which I have seen myself while hobnobbing with the health emergency. sector at the World Health Organization (WHO) center by the eye clinic on Damboa Road, Maiduguri. But this sight I saw, which led to our debate, was likely driven by the recent economic policies of the federal government against the masses of the country. One of the policies
which I have nothing against except for bad implementation, is the removal of subsidies on petroleum products, especially premium motor spirit (PMS). I believe the removal was done in the interest of the masses to torpedo the ruthless power of the petrodollar cabal, which has been feeding fat on the Commonwealth of the people. As much as the intention of removing it was good, the government’s fatal mistake, however, was that it was too sudden. It could have been done in a planned in a staccato manner so that the common man and the poorest of the poor will not have to be so devastated as to lose their economic powers to feed their families. Many pensioners who could not buy drugs for terminal illnesses have gone to the great beyond in Northern Nigeria because of the sudden hike in drugs. A retired teacher and widow I knew directed her grown-up kids to take her home when the doctors told her of the failure of both kidneys and that she would have to undergo dialysis to stay alive. She has since been buried. because the traditional herbs she resorted to to fix her kidneys could not help her advanced case of failure. Such cases should have been funded by the federal government without batting an eyelid.

The second unnecessary slap on the ordinary resident and the poorest of the poor is the weakening of the naira by a shark-like fiscal policy called flotation induced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, who feel that development economists in Nigeria advising previous governments to resist it were so naive not to know that our naira is overvalued. One wonders how much these foreign “economy killers” know of Nigeria that they will need to guide our fiscal engineers on such a devilish policy that is virtually killing people, which is why there was a need for a ten-day protest to send a message to the federal government to reverse some of these corrupt-laden policies they have unleashed on our common purchasing power. Within the fiscal rhetoric of development economists in the All Progressive Congress (APC)-controlled government, the constant importation of petrol into an oil-rich country like Nigeria itself
cripples the naira. Swap deals of crude oil with powerful cartels, which have been estimated to be beyond three billion dollars, are a major clog in the wheels of economic progress. It is one of the reasons why the Dangote refinery is not receiving enough crude to pump. into the system and bring down the price of premium motor spirit (PMS). The argument of some of the big players in the industry is that Dangote is a newcomer, and he must wait for his turn to be lined up in the queue like every other person. I find such arguments myopic and insulting the common man whose relatives died in the cause of the last protest. Sadly, so many questions have been bugging the minds of helpless, right-thinking people in the country concerning the myriad mistakes of the federal government. Questions like, Why go further to float an already weak currency due to fiscal mistakes to achieve a target that aims to destroy the foundation of the country? Who are those angry with Nigeria for having one of the cheapest pump prices within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) block? Are we sure some people somewhere have not sat down to plot to torpedo the biggest economy in By pulling the rug under the economic intelligence agencies, who should give contemporary Intel on blue-chip companies like NNPC to the government? And why are the young people so angry with this government?
which campaigned to be better than that of its predecessor? What is the role of too much party politics and the alleged insulating of the leaders from the economic reality on the ground?

Contribution of the partisan politicians and their party mechanisms to the impoverishment of their people

Since 1999, the political party machinery has always been the spoiler and hater of the middle and lower classes of people everywhere. They make so much free money from the weak institutions in the system that only those who can sing “dangerous songs” while looking into the eyes of
The political powers that be may be allowed to save the situation. That is, if they are not punished for daring them like they did to Senator Ali Ndume, a teacher turned politician, for speaking the truth to power. Most watchers of the polity were bewildered by the decision of the APC recently, who never saw anything right in a fearless politician making a fair comment against perceived wrongs of his party in sorting salient issues in the polity, including hunger. It is my opinion that
He only wanted his president to free himself from the “Lagos paddy paddy” cage they locked him in and come out to see the litany of economic woes that even his own people suffer from. That is my perception of what happened, surely not the mundane way they perceived it. It was an anti-party outburst in his criticism of wrongs in the “Arise” interview. The presidency should not start and end on the desk of the chief of staff, Oga Femi, who is a Lagos man like President Tinubu. Nigeria is far bigger than Lagos and the paddy’s of Lagos put together.

Let’s ponder some unfortunate credibility issues affecting the APC, which is why former President Obasanjo posited recently that, left to him, some of the leaders walking inside the corridors of power should
be in jail by now. By the way, who is the head of the ruling party, and what are his antecedents now? They cannot claim to be saints far different from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the maladministration of the last eight years, in which corruption was celebrated in another big way. They have now decided to unleash a chairman. of their party, who had suffered from well-reported grievous credibility issues himself when he was a governor of Kano State known to polity watchers in the country. Now we hear that the hoodlums who infiltrated the ten-day protest in Kano have stolen the record of evidence of corruption against the former governor turned party chair. President Obasanjo indeed cannot be extricated completely from the wrongs of some of these leaders who have held sway in power, like former President Goodluck Jonathan, whom he single-handedly chose to be deputy to President Yaradua but who was too weak to stop the open stealing practiced under his watch. The litany of woes orchestrated by corruption continued and stank heavily under President Mumamadu Buhari, while Betta Edu announced it under President Tinubu and received a suspension. Obasanjo is well aware that neocolonialism is real and may not be the only solution to a system that has been completely destroyed by the self-aggrandizement of the commonwealth of the nation by a few hawks who have now formed a shark-like petro-cabal already strangling over 200 million Nigerians to death with sudden lack and increased poverty through Petro politics.

Open stealing of palliatives by some ruling party stalwarts in Borno

I have a neighbor of mine who is regarded as the “woman leader” of the APC in Maiduguri and who gets several bags of palliatives each time they are declared by President Bola Tinubu or Governor Babagana Zulum to ease hunger. I would withhold her name for now because, even though she’s half-illiterate, it’s her wrongdoing that one is bothered about. She often sells some of the grains and keeps some in her home for consumption. Mark, food sharing in Maiduguri started long ago as a result of insurgencies, surely not due to economic reasons. And that is
Why, when sharing This middle-aged woman gives only those in her area loyalty, regardless of which party you belong to. Especially those who can lick her dirty boots. A generation of people in this area on the outskirts of Maiduguri who have nothing to do but wait only for Palliatives from the party and non-governmental organizations rely on her support, which she gets from prominent party leaders like Kakina, who is the mother of all women in the party. Sadly, this Chibok-born woman got her connections from stalwarts she grew up with and still
interacts with making it look like it’s her personal efforts that are feeding the vulnerable. She even named one of her sons after one of the party buffs to cement her loyalty within the corridors of the Borno APC power space. These kinds of perverse people also wait for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who come around sharing food.
tickets through their Bulama, who residents say is as dangerous as a fox, having sold most of the lands and houses in the area with the support of one of the influential sons of the powers that be in the land. That is how far some people in party politics can go in the enslavement of their fellow residents using food that should be shared freely to assist rather than to entrench the scourge of hunger.

Party stalwarts like Senator Kaka Shehu, who used to fight for the poor through these kinds of people, would be shocked at the number of people that have been stripped bare of their livelihood by the current economic policies, yet they can’t get palliatives of seeds to even farm. during the rains if they are not related to the party. We are talking of the same party that brought the full weight of the dangerous conditionalities of the IMF to Nigerians. Sometimes one wonders who told them that our naira is so overvalued that it must be floated to reach their target of at least 5000 naira to a dollar or more. The floating of the naira by the central bank may have had its good and bad sides against residents. But I believe the bad side is higher because even the hard drug sellers destroying the young people of their party on Baga Road now complain of a bad market due to the naira devaluation. Party Tugs now ration the rate at which they buy weeds in the open market.

Why was there increased violence in some areas of the Borno capital?

It was quite clear that Borno had its fair share of violence during the protests, and sadly, eighty percent of those who jumped into the streets were kids who may not know even the reasons for the protests in the country. It was unfortunate that some people had to die considering the fact that Borno is battling with insurgency, which is
yet to come to an end. I don’t live in Bulunkutu, but I can tell you that one of the reasons why the recent protest against the government in Bulunkutu was so intense was because some stalwarts allege that the same party has not been fair to most residents there. As a matter of fact, even up to Ngomari since the death of an APC woman leader in June 2023 who died after a crash inside a Keke napep. Of course, she died while seeking medical treatment at Umaru Shehu Hospital under under the watch of Dr. Emmanuel Philibus, the Gwoza-born, strong man who the governor vowed would be sanctioned but is still there with no public explanation for his misdemeanor.

Intel sources stated that 90 percent of the palliatives meant for people in the hinterlands of Bulunkutu never got to them, and the people have been very bitter with the APC ward and local leaders out there. Even some party leaders beyond the old railway areas inside Bulunkutu were livid with rage when the party suggested that the very first palliative sharing for them last year should be done at the Bakasi idp camp, very far from “yan nounou” or the deep hinterlands, where 200 naira for the “Akara” snack is no longer enough for breakfast like before. That was why, at the instigation of the young people, the governor It was easy to start from there. When other wards in the metropolis saw this, hell was let loose even after the governor had called them into the multipurpose hall in the government house to beg for peace to reign and then the 24-hour curfew. And this window dressing was done by renting a home for the Kwashiorkor kids and their parents in Shuari. But are they the only ones suffering from malnutrition? The answer is no. The truth is that the party leaders are the very ones who unleashed this frightening malnutrition on their own. It’s a garbage-in and-out situation. You cannot vote for an ex-convict like
The Americans are trying to do it simply because he has a party card and expect him to behave in the right way when he gets into office. You don’t expect known thieves, based on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) record, to behave any differently from what they know how to do, which is to steal. Which is why I agreed with one of the debaters that the stalwarts and party leaders should take the blame for any wrong done to the people at the bottom. If they don’t, they should be seen as insensitive to the plight of their people. Now
The party wants to window dress just one family for the world to see instead of doing the right thing and refusing to scapegoat anyone who does the right thing. The way to help the vulnerable is to cut the party system out of these palliative tasks and allow religious
organizations like the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and (JNI) and the civil society to do the job of sharing raw food stuffs when it is necessary. It is obvious Governor Babagana Zulum may not fully trust his own party machinery when it comes to sharing food stuff, which is why he does most of the sharing himself instead of allowing what should go to the common man to pass through the depraved minds of some party tugs who are regarded as leaders in the 27 council areas of the state.

Pre-empting the next protest with solutions, not tough talking speeches

As for the ten-day protest, I would say its aims were partially achieved in the sense that those who were not telling President Tinubu the untruths of the flotation of the naira and what it had done to the country were silenced. The president and his wife, Remi, would have I watched these protests live from their living room inside Aso Rock, and I can imagine Aunty Remi telling him to do something different from what the fiscal engineers like Wale Edun packaged by the West are saying. I don’t believe President Tinubu can be caged because he is an old businessman who understands all the intrigues behind the controversial oil industry. He is also coming from the home of a market woman and a wife who understood the price of gari before 2014, and now that it is about N1500 and more for a small paint cup in some states. Above all, he does not have a docile woman in his life as a housewife. Remi was and still is a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She only stepped aside to assist in the supervision of his life in the State House, considering the critical nature of his health. She is a Senator of the Federal Republic on leave who would dare get to the market for herself to buy stuff, but for the overprotection of some indolent security details who would remind her of her kitchen staff. But I believe she knows how much a cup of gari is in Saki, Abeokuta, Dutse, Okigwe, or even in the Okumagba area of Warri. She
should be telling his excellency the truth about the anger of Nigerians over the high cost of food or drugs to patch their health as a result of the devaluation of the naira. She should be advising him on how to avoid offending the young people so that they will not shut down the country for a second time. That will not be.
pleasant at all.

One is happy, however, that one of the aftermaths of the protests was the announcement by the government that very soon, all graduates of tertiary institutions would be given a stipend until they got a job. That is an exciting development that should have started long ago. In fact, it should have gone side by side with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), but it is not too late. We would also suggest that the health insurance scheme be adjusted to cover free of charge all seniors from the age of 70 and above. As a matter of fact, a special fund should be created to take care of the healthcare of seniors over the age of 65. There is no need for any contribution; just show up at the hospital with your national ID card, and you are registered. As long as one is a senior, treatment should be free and on the account of the government in all 36 states. That would extend the life expectancy.
of residents in the country.

Obvious solutions to hunger and homelessness in the land

As for food security, nobody should be allowed to go to bed hungry if they possess a national ID card. Billionaires in the country should be called upon to urgently contribute to building “soup kitchens” all over the country. We can start with 500 of them for a start in the
country, but we need at least a thousand kitchens scattered in the 36 states of the federation to kill hunger and malnutrition. That is an average of about 27 outlets per state, regardless of the council areas and the population. Rich states like Lagos can have more, depending on the council areas. The intention is to make sure that every child of vulnerable age can branch, stay in line, eat a good meal, and go home. Soup kitchens should be open till midnight daily and by 5 a.m. for breakfast, so they eat before going to school. As a matter of fact, the building of soup kitchens for the vulnerable to go eat daily till the end of the first tenure of the government would be a welcome development. At least that has always been the advocacy of Senator Ali. Ndume for a long time before now. Hunger doesn’t know shame, race, tribe, or creed. The founders of the United States knew this long ago, which is why they now have support for any form of vulnerability or disability. With the help of more than 61,000 food pantries and soup
kitchens, food banks provide some 46 million people with free food each year in the US. Tens of millions of volunteers regularly support the system by donating time and money. Our population is over 200 million now. If we don’t have food kitchens, pantries, or banks to supply people with food, then we will be damned in the near future. This is a path Nigeria must follow to avoid young people feeling cheated and deprived of their common wealth by a few criminal minds stealing billions annually yet flaunting the same ostentatiously to their faces. This was the same issue that affected Kenya before the last straw fell to the ground. From what happened in Kenya, our political class should know by now that these young people know exactly where their treasuries and hearts are stored. When the food
kitchens are cooking the meals, the idea of homelessness can easily be assessed, and special hostels can be built where young people will begin to squat until they can get a decent job and rent their own
houses.

My Binoculars: Of the ten-day protests, the health sector, malnutrition, and the failure of the government to care for the ordinary and vulnerable in Nigeria

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Nigeria Protest: Deaths, Arrests, and Injuries: The blood must stop dripping.

Ochuwa Ibrahim

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Features/Analysis

Nigeria Protest: Deaths, Arrests, and Injuries: The blood must stop dripping.

Published

2 months ago

August 2, 2024

News Net Global

Nigeria Protest: Deaths, Arrests, and Injuries: The blood must stop dripping.

Nigeria Protest: Deaths, Arrests, and Injuries: The blood must stop dripping.

By: Dr. James Bwala

August 1, 2024, will remind many families, friends, and colleagues of the bitterness of losing loved ones. Those arrested or injured will live with certain regrets for failing their nation as a result of their participation in the uncalled protest. Those who bear evil marks will continue to urge other misguided youths on why they should continue on the path of destruction. And some mothers would wail again. Protest, as I know from my years of living, has never been peaceful, even though protesters have always creamed it with the salty test that it was going to be peaceful. They said it in their announcement for August 1, 2024. But it was not peaceful in the end.

I ran my eyes through some online reporting last night and went through some videos sent to me. It was another sad saying. The youths have lost their future again to some old, unmannered, and de-interested crocks who never meant well for the youths. These aged fathom killers stay in their comfort zones, and their children are living abroad, while the poor mother, who is struggling to make ends meet, was receiving the sad news of her dead child, who either left home as a protester or a security personnel to cause mayhem or to defend the integrity of the nation.

From Maiduguri to Damaturu and from Kano to Kaduna, going forward to Katrina, and down the Niger blood flows. These are the blood of the promising Nigerian youths wasted in a broad day light for another man’s greed and not sincerely for corn flour, as they tag hunger to the protest. As a Nigerian youth, I have participated in protests in the days of ignorance, and when I look back, it means nothing to me. Those we have protested for have gotten what they wanted, and we have been forgotten. That is why I have advocated for the youth to see reasons not to protest. But in life, there are numbers that they can only learn by experiencing, and I hope the injured and the arrested will learn from this.

READ ALSO: https://newsng.ng/borno-residents-raised-concern-over-plans-to-return-idps-after-iswap-attacked-governor-zulum-convoy-in-malam-fatori/

When I add up the death toll from this unfortunate turn of events in our country from the few states I was able to get my hands on figures, Nigeria has lost thirty-two (32) young and promising leaders of tomorrow, as we often say. And now that they are gone, who will take their place tomorrow? The youths and all of us should learn something from the August 1, 2024 #Endbadgovernaceprotest or #hungerinthelandprotest, or whatever name it comes. Truth be told, these bad governance or hunger issues did not begin with the current administration. If Nigerians had been patient, especially the northern youths, for eight years under the Buhari regime, I see no reason why they are venting anger on the same issue against the Tinubu administration, especially since the move by this government has shown a positive light for an ailing country like Nigeria, as they would say.

I believe from what I have seen, heard, and read that the Tinubu/Shettima administration was able to achieve, and with what they are trying to achieve, there is hope, biblically speaking, for a tree that is cut at the drop of water. No Nigerian today would argue that the steps that make it possible for the local government to have autonomy are bad governance, after all. No one would argue that the signing of the Northwest Development Commission and Southeast Development Commission was not a positive note to bring development closer to the people of those regions owing to the negative issues impacting those regions. It did not look as if the government was not trying to find solutions to the cry of the people. Was the free import duty for food and drugs an attempt to frustrate Nigerians? The government has come to understand the conflict between NNPC and Dangote, and the president has given the marching order for the sale of crude oil to the Dangote refinery. Should I call this move #badgovernce? Or should I condemn the move that created the Livestock Ministry, which hopefully would end the farmer-herder conflict, and tag it #badgovernance?

Not to mention the successes achieved by our military, police, DSS, and other security agencies. These mentioned in the above paragraph are a few that come in handy as I build the lines in this piece, but I believe that for those who want peace for this country, these are enough evidence to say that the Tinubu/Shettima administration means well and is living in the renewed hope agenda-setting mantra. Bad citizenship is what I saw on videos sent to me from FTC, Maraba, Kano, Potiskum in Yobe State, and Maiduguri, my home state. I saw my brother and colleague Jesse Tafida taking a full length of his legs to escape to safety around Bullumttu, where bad citizens are attacking security operatives, and the sound of guns began to rent the air in a movie-like atmosphere.

That is Maiduguri, which is also the home state of Vice President Kashim Shettima. I had thought that the last place to experience such a horrendous outing was Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. But I was not surprised knowing the Bullumttu area is a gathering of multitudes from different backgrounds because a true son or daughter of Borno would appreciate the fact that with the coming of Kashim Shettima as the vice president, Borno stands to gain more. In fact, Borno has no reason to join in violent protests whatsoever. Our governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has never hidden palliative, and he never stayed in the government house to allow others to share the palliative. He is always on the field, even in the mine field of Borno, to ensure his people have the experience of good governance.

It is not uncommon in a classical place like Bullumttu to experience such unholy appreciation for the governor or the vice president. Nigeria’s northeastern state has been in conflict for over a decade, and the resultant is what was experienced on August 1, 2024, with the loss of four lives when elements of the Boko Haram were said to have infiltrated the protesters in order to cause chaos in the state. This was the reason for the government to take measures to ensure safety by imposing a curfew. But far away from Borno and in the Arise TV studio, a certain professor was trying to say that if he were to be the vice president, he would demand an explanation for the multiplier effects of the protest in the state. I think this political analyst and professor of strategic management, Okey Ikechukwu, has missed something about the content the protest in Borno State carried.

More than what is being traded in other states, for Borno State, it is about the terrorists and the fear of their infiltration, which unfortunately happened.

Terrorism or fighting terrorism, as he would want the VP to make demands, is not a classroom idea that is tailored to what the students must do to get it right or perhaps to pass an exam. It is an idea born of sudden and creative ills that focuses only on the destruction of life and property without recourse to what the end may be. So, Professor Okey Ikechukwu needs to undertake more research on issues regarding happenings in northeast Nigeria and first add to his knowledge before dishing out on what he knows practically nothing about or very little to gullible Nigerians who may believe that what a professor said is always right.

We should not be seen as condescending over matters of national interest; we must preach healing whenever and wherever we are faced with issues, particularly when we sit before cameras to speak to millions of people. Our youths have missed it, and it is our duty to educate them about the protest that many of them got into, knowing nothing of its meaning but destruction. These lives that have gone are minuses to our numbers, and killings, destruction, and all manner of evil perpetrated in the name of protest is not poetic and should be discouraged by all well-meaning Nigerians.

Dr. James Bwala, PhD, writes from Abuja.

Nigeria Protest: Deaths, Arrests, and Injuries: The blood must stop dripping.

Features/Analysis

Re: Africa Intelligence’s “Tinubu still struggling to organise foreign ministry, one year after election”; Rebuffing the Falsehood Peddled by Africa Intelligence Article about the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry

Published

3 months ago

July 1, 2024

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Re: Africa Intelligence’s “Tinubu still struggling to organise foreign ministry, one year after election”; Rebuffing the Falsehood Peddled by Africa Intelligence Article about the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry

By: John Okeyson

One of the fundamental principles of a true journalistic enterprise is objectivity and the propagation of truth based on research facts and data which enables the dissemination of concrete information to the public. The representation of facts is not only necessary but strengthens the democratic process in any society as it enables citizens to become aware of the true picture of things thereby eschewing falsehood and unfounded sentiments.

However, when a reputable media platform like Africa Intelligence jettisons the ethics of the journalistic profession to propagate assumptions and incorrect, it not only demeans the profession but questions the integrity of the media profession. It is for this reason that this reason that it is expedient to set the record straight with records to the allegations raised, particularly concerning the person and ability of the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar.

Firstly, the article by Africa Intelligence commences by raising a false alarm regarding the state of affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is a clear pointer to the fact that the writer of the article had no objectivity in mind while writing the diatribe against the Minister and Ministry. The opening of the article reads; “Understaffed, a minister frequently absent from his home country, ambassadors recalled to Abuja… Nigeria’s foreign ministry is in disarray, even though the president has been chair of ECOWAS since last July.”

This statement is a clear testament to the unholy motive of the writer of the article as in one sentence it discredits and raises a false alarm by insinuating that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not been under a capable leadership since the administration of President Tinubu Administration by declaring that the “Nigeria’s foreign ministry is in disarray”, the writer also states albeit authoritatively that “a minister frequently absent from his home country” implying that the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Tuggar has not been attending to his obligation not being around to oversee the affairs of the ministry. This portrayal is a careless display of lack of professionalism and dubious intentions on the part of the writer of the article, Africa Intelligence.

It is disingenuous for any follower of the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to suggest that the ministry is in disarray given the proactive disposition of the Minister who has been extremely active since he assumed office in August 2023.

Ambassador Tuggar upon assumption of office did not shy away from the ECOWAS crisis he met on the ground, he swiftly engaged in diplomacy to contain the multiple effects of the crisis that threatened ECOWAS’ existence by continually advocating for a diplomatic solution to the impasse rather than the military intervention earlier declared by ECOWAS before he assumed office. Until the recent allegation of sexual harassment against the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, the Minister maintained cordial working relations ensuring that the programmes and activities of the Ministry went on as statutorily mandated by the ethics that foregrounds the operations of the Ministry.

There has never been untoward news about any crisis in the Ministry, the erstwhile Permanent Secretary Dr. Adamu Ibrahim Lamuwa discharged his role as the Permanent Secretary in the absence of the Minister even representing the Ministry on behalf of the Ministry while the Minister was attending to other official matters. It is therefore unfounded that Africa Intelligence would write that the Ministry has been in disarray.

There is no single piece of evidence advanced to back up such an outrageous claim by African Intelligence.
Secondly, the article alleges that foreign diplomats in Abuja have remained confused as a result of the absence of the Minister to attend to his official engagement with them. This is farther from the truth. The Minister has been very much available to receive and engage with diplomats in Nigeria since he assumed office in 2023.

Last year, he held a reception in honour of members of the diplomatic community where he formally met with the diplomatic community in Nigeria at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja. Ever since, he has received and welcomed diplomats from around the world and when he is away on official visits, the Permanent Secretary took charge in discharging these responsibilities as contained in the various news reports obtainable in the Nigerian media.

Thus, it is false to suggest that the diplomats are confused with regards to their engagement in the country. A simple Google search would have averted this obvious misinformation by the writers of the article.

The Minister has been actively involved his duties both at home and away representing Nigeria at critical global events as it were. In 2024, the Minister has hosted the Secretary of State of the United States of America in Nigeria as he has done to other foreign envoys since assumption of office, thus, it beggars belief that anyone would suggest that the Ministers has not been living up to the responsibilities of his office as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is overseen by the Minister and the Permanent Secretary and since assumption of office, Ambassador Tuggar has pursued a collaborative system of administration where the Permanent Secretary takes full charge when the Minister is away on official duties. To suggest a gap in the administration of the Ministry is to insinuate that the Ministry has not structure and is not guided by ethics.

This is preposterous to say least that anyone would think that the Ministry suffers because the Minister is away on official duties outside the countries. It betrays a clear lack of research and information on the part of Africa Intelligence. It is appalling to think that Google is just a click away to verify the operations of the Ministry.

The Permanent Secretary is the statutory authority that provides oversight in the absence of the Minister and this status quo has not changed since the Minister assumed office.
The article also alleges that the Ministry suffers once the Minister is away on official duties because of the absence of a Secretary of State.

One might then ask what the role of the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry if the activities of the Ministry would be halted because of the absence of the Minister the Ministry will function even without the presence of the Minister like it did before the Minister was appointed. Equally, the article insinuates that the “Tuggar is reputed to be less easy to get hold of than is predecessor, Geoffrey Onyeama, thereby suggesting that the Minister is inaccessible and a difficult leader.

This is a blatant fallacy invented by the writers of the article to paint Ambassador Tuggar as a difficult and inaccessible leader, almost suggesting him to be some sort of a dictator. This is clearly a manifest display of bias and hate towards a man they have not taken their time to understand.

It is sad that the noble profession of journalism has been reduced to a market place enterprise where people write without facts and recourse to the damage that they cause to the subjects of their vile vituperations often guised as social commentary. The sheer comparison of Ambassador Tuggar to Onyeama explains the insincerity of the writers of the article. It is not only a shame but a disregard for the noble profession of journalism.

The article also suggests that the acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Ambassador Ben Okoyen is new therefore does not have the capacity to handle the affairs of the Ministry.

This is an indirectly attempt to discredit the rich credentials of Amb. Okoyen who is a season diplomat and civil servant versed in the affairs of Nigeria’s foreign and diplomatic relations. His recent elevation to the position of acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry does not mean that he is incapable or inexperience of discharging the affairs of the Ministry as the sponsors of the article want us to believe.

He remains an astute civil servant and diplomat versed in the affairs of Nigeria’s foreign relations. But for people bent on casting aspersions they would go to any length to paint anyone not in their paycheck as incapable of discharging their responsibilities as the tone of this insidious diatribe clearly suggests.

In conclusion, the article also states that Nigerian embassies abroad have been left without concrete leadership as a result of the recall of former ambassadors without stating the fact that these embassies have been under the direction of chargés d’affaires who are not only seasoned diplomats but who have the experience to oversee the affairs these embassies pending the appointment of ambassadors.

The article suggests chargés d’affaires lack the requisite knowledge to hold forth the mantle of leadership pending the appointment of new ambassadors but that is not the case in actuality as it is a common practice for nations around the world to send representatives pending the appointment of ambassadors to such places and the appointed individuals play central roles in maintaining and addressing the issues of their nations until the time when ambassadors are sent to take over from them. The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been transparent in its dealings ensuring that citizens are able to follow and appreciate the dynamics of governance, therefore to suggest otherwise is to belittle the realities that have led to the delay in appointing new ambassadors which neither the Ministry nor the Federal Government have shied away from addressing.

Perhaps what is most unprofessional in Africa Intelligence is the fact that there is no single sentence or paragraph that lay claims to having contact the authorities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of all the supposed issues they raised in their article.

This invariably suggest a deliberate attempt to malign and discredit the persona and office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs whereas the Ambassador has been one of the most proactive and result-driven Minister under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.

John Okeyson: A Public Affairs Analyst writes from Lugbe in Abuja.

Features/Analysis

Herbert Wigwe’s Death And The Black Box Metaphor

Published

6 months ago

March 14, 2024

Ochuwa Ibrahim

Herbert Wigwe’s Death And The Black Box Metaphor

By Clem Asika

As an inquisitive teenager growing up, I had always wondered why a certain black box was so important in an aeroplane that it was frantically searched for.

I thus considered as funny the frenzy with which the aviation authorities world over searched for it when an aircraft crashed.

What is so special about this mystery black box? Why can’t these people just buy a box of any colour and then paint it black as a replacement for the missing one they always search for whenever there is a plane crash? My callow mind would always wander and wallow in wonderment back then!

Well, it wasn’t long before I got to know that a black box is a compendium of all that transpired in a plane shortly before a crash.

In a nutshell, it gives aviators an insight into the cause of a crash or factors that lead to it.

This brings me to the tragic and heart-rending death, in a helicopter crash, of our dear brother, Herbert Wigwe, his wife, Chizoba and son, Chizzy, in faraway United States.

Before the unfortunate incident, Wigwe was one of Nigeria’s corporate Lords, a banking guru who sat atop Access Bank Holdings as CEO.

As I watched tears cascade freely down the cheeks of the high and mighty in the society during Wigwe’s burial rites, I immediately remembered the black box enigma, the aura around it and the significance it commands in the aviation world.

Yes, Wigwe and death, the grim reaper that snatched him away and dealt an excruciating blow to his family, friends and business associates, are metaphors for a black box.

According to John Donne, the legendary English poet, “Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind”, so the overflow of emotions at Wigwe’s funeral was natural. It is only a non-living thing that will be unfeeling and unfazed in the face of such monumental loss.

But then, this uncomfortable truth: It was possible that many high flyers, men and women of timber and calibre, to borrow the late KO Mbadiwe’s phrase, who wept generously at the late Access Bank boss’ funeral did so not necessarily because his death shattered them or because they love him but because he was their black box and his death and burial meant that the black box went with him to the grave, never to be found or recovered!

Wigwe as a black box? Yes! And this is how and why: Slush funds and funds amassed under hazy circumstances may be sitting pretty good in Wigwe’s Access Bank( of course, without him knowing the source of such funds) and with the late financial wizard the only person with the code to the location of such funds.

If, before he died, he didn’t disclose the code for retrieving such funds to anyone, what it therefore means is that the funds, like a piece of information in a crashed aircraft’s black box which was never recovered, have gone with the wind, lost forever hence the free flow of tears of the owners at his funeral! You can now see the nexus or analogy between Wigwe’s death and a black box.

Former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor and former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi was one of the “weepers” at Wigwe’s funeral. Is he one of those affected by the loss of the “black box”? No one knows but there is a viral rumour that he is a part owner of Access Bank.

Also, by his admission, he entrusted his entire life savings in the care of Wigwe which he claimed was for the education of his children for he believed he would die before the late Acess Bank boss.

And talking about Sanusi, the ex-Emir’s opaque past flashes through the minds.

Sanusi’s tears at Wigwe’s funeral, his effusive words of love for Wigwe, his kind words for the departed banker, and his glowing tribute for him contrast sharply with his controversial persona.

When Sanusi and his paid agents talk glibly about building bridges and about his chummy relationship with the late Wigwe, an Igboman from Rivers, and how the latter stood by him when he was dethroned as an Emir, the late Gideon Akaluka, the young Igbo trader who was in 1995 beheaded by a band of Wahabist Islamic fundamentalists allegedly led by Sanusi for alleged discretion of the Koran, will probably turn in his grave with indignation.

How come Sanusi is now posturing as a pan-Nigerian and a broad-minded fellow weaned of Islamic fundamentalism and ethnocentric tendencies?

If indeed he has been bleached of the above toxic tendencies by the effluxion of time, then he should quickly explain to Akaluka’s family why their son deserved the cruel fate visited on him by him and his murderous gang of Wahabists.

Similarly, if Sanusi has indeed weaned himself from an ethnoreligious and narrow parochial mindset as he demonstrated by his eulogy and tears at Wigwe’s funeral, then I think the family of Rita Oruru deserves not only a public apology from the dethroned Emir but a compensation for the trauma he caused them via his rabid Islamic zealotry.

Rita Ese Oruru, do you remember her and her pathetic abduction and forceful conversion to Islam under the superintendence of Sanusi as the Emir of Kano?

Rita’s story is still fresh and leaves a deep hurt in the hearts: The abduction of Ese Rita Oruru, the youngest child of Charles Oruru and Rose Oruru, occurred on 12 August 2015 at her mother’s shop in Yenagoa local government area, Bayelsa State.

Ese, who was 13 years old at the time, was abducted by a man named Yunusa Dahiru (alias Yellow) and taken to Kano, where she was raped, forcibly Islamized and married off without her parents’ consent.

The forced conversion and marriage took place in the palace of the then Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Similarly, Southern Nigeria deserves an apology from ex Emir Sanusi for his sectional inclination while he held sway as the CBN Governor.

Recall that as the Governor of the apex bank, Sanusi brazenly sited all the Social Corporate Responsibility interventions of the apex bank in the North.

Meanwhile, for Sanusi and his likes who may have lost a precious black box by Wigwe’s untimely and tragic death, I say ndo, pele, sorry. Such is life, take heart!

Clem Asika writes from Ibusa, Delta State

Herbert Wigwe’s Death And The Black Box Metaphor