National News
Nigeria Threatens To Dump ECOWAS Over Discrepancies in Recruitment

Nigeria Threatens To Dump ECOWAS Over Discrepancies in Recruitment
By: Michael Mike
Nigeria has threatened to withdraw its membership in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) over alleged discrepancies in ongoing recruitment exercises by the regional body.
The regional body was recently directed at the 2022 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja to suspend the ongoing recruitment, which some Nigerian representatives at the Parliament alleged was never stopped.
The Nigerian representatives on Thursday subsequently issued the threat of pulling their nation from the body should the directive to suspend the exercise is not immediately respected, they alleged that some principal officers in the regional bloc have defiled the directives and embarked on the illegal process of recruiting their relatives and cronies.
The lawmakers, while citing the huge financial commitments that Nigeria makes to the body while relegating funding to its internal security challenges, claimed there was no commensurate return on investment for Nigeria in ECOWAS for all the country has done and is doing for the region.
Leader of the Nigerian delegation and Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Ahmed Idris Wase said it has become imperative that Nigeria review its relevance and membership in the bloc.
He said: “If you are in a system, and you are not getting the right results, where you are investing your money, it pays best to walk out of the union.
“In a situation where we are having an infrastructural deficit and witnessing security challenges, why should we continue to invest our money where it will not benefit our country?
“Yes, we will pull out if we don’t get the desired result from this.”
He added that: “We are asking for justice not just for Nigerians alone, but for the entire ECOWAS community. That is what MPs are asking for. There are few countries that want to run ECOWAS like a cabal but we will not tolerate that.”
The Nigerian Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Musa Nuhu, had also to have written to the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis on the nepotistic employment scandal rocking ECOWAS.
The letter from Nuhu was dated July 20, 2022, and titled, “Formal complaint about unfair treatment and confirmation of staff at the ECOWAS parliament.”
He wrote in the letter that “I have the honour to refer to our verbal discussion on the above subject matter and formally inform you that the attention of the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the ECOWAS Commission has been drawn to a number of complaints by Nigerian staff working at the ECOWAS Parliament. The grievances border around stagnation and overlooking of staff already working in the parliament in favour of outsiders in the ongoing recruitment for divisional heads and professional staff.
“This action directly contravenes the recommendations of the 30th meeting of the ECOWAS Administrative and Finance Committee as well as the position of the Council of Ministers, which directed that internal candidates should be prioritised in filling existing vacancies in ECOWAS institutions, as recommended in the Staff Skills Audit Report.
“The Honourable Speaker may kindly wish to note that the mission has examined the complaints of the staff of the parliament based on existing staff regulations as well as the decisions and guidelines given by the AFC and Council of Ministers for ECOWAS institutions to carry out the recruitment and found that their grievances are genuine.
“Therefore, as you rightly observed during our discussions, recruiting individuals outside the system to place them above the existing staff would only lead to discontent, demoralisation and continued stagnation of the staff. This will inevitably affect the overall performance of the Parliament.”
The controversy, it was learnt came on the heels of the implementation of the provision of the staff regulation of the Commission. It is understood that each institution in ECOWAS gets permission (since there is a freeze on recruitment) to employ from the AFC/ Council of Ministers. Thus, Parliament needs to show that the permission was given.
The system, which allows that internal candidates are first considered for positions (internal advertisement of positions with the institutions of ECOWAS) before looking externally for candidates where internal candidates have not measured up to requirements, has been jettisoned because it allows the powers that hold sway to bring in their relatives to occupy those positions.
A source told journalists that those recruitment exercises are never fair because before they are even conducted, you will start hearing about preferred candidates already and about instructions to the so-called consultant in charge of bringing out the long list from the entire list of applicants, to ensure that some people are not on that list and also that those preferred candidates make it to the top of those lists.
He said: “I may not know if such protestations existed in the Fourth Assembly, as at today, these protestations are evident before us and we are duty bound to attend to them like we have indicated and in the cause of our engagement we are not restricting ourselves to what has happened today. If you listened to our intent on the floor, we said that for the past ten years, whatever it is that had happened in the past ten years, the one that has to be remedied, the one that requires sanctions, I am sure that at the end of the day, without preempting the resolve of the committee, we will get to that point.”
Wase reiterated that Nigeria has done so much for ECOWAS, explaining that over 60 per cent of ECOWAS funding comes from Nigeria.
He said: “We have staffers who are of Nigerian origin that may have done better or progressed rapidly in their career if they were within the bureaucracy of the Nigerian civil service. Their colleagues and contemporaries in the Nigerian civil service are now directors and even permanent secretaries and those of them in ECOWAS institutions have stagnated for years. They are not promoted because they are engaged as casual staff. We cannot subject these staff to remain at the same level for more than 10 years. ECOWAS employed them as casual staff and kept them as casual staff for that long.
Wase said: “It offends the International Labour Organization (ILO), Convention on Forced Labour. I was an activist and a unionist, before joining politics. We cannot keep an employee for more than six months on a casual basis, it is against international law. But here we have kept them for a number of years, up to nine years, it is inhuman.
“What the Parliament is talking about is transparency, and doing the right thing in the right manner. I heard them saying that the audit report was inconclusive, it then meant that there were issues. Whether inconclusive or not, in Parliament, there is what we call an interim report. So, there was an interim report, and that is what some members were relying upon, it does not mean that because they were unable to conclude, then there was nothing. There was something on the table, and I will refer to that inconclusive report that the Secretary General mentioned as an interim report before the Parliament, which of course should be used, and considered because it raised issues regarding the imbalance in the composition of the staff.”
According to Wase, the Nigerian constitution in Section 14 (4) provides that, the composition of government shall be in a manner that reflects the federal character. “Now, we have people who possibly have one opportunity and they want to bring in their relatives, and their siblings against the larger interest of our community. Common judgment teaches us that when you have nations coming together, we should do the distribution in such a way that justice and fairness takes the centre stage”
He said that if Nigeria had not asked for 60 per cent benefit in ECOWAS before now, it must have been a mistake “because our dividend should be equivalent to our contribution and investment. And if that is not done and the little that we have in the system is being humiliated, we will not take it.
“From the National Assembly of Nigeria, we are also going to probe our Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Finance Minister who is giving the money and the Commissioner who is representing us at the Commission. What are they doing there, are they part of this nonsense going on, possibly because they have one interest to protect or the other? We will not allow that to happen. We will expose everybody from the Nigerian Parliament and sanctions will follow. We will sanction anybody found wanting in the process,” he added
Last month, at the 2022 First Ordinary Session of the Parliament, the lawmakers passed a resolution to suspend the recruitment exercise after Nigerian representatives at the parliament alleged discrimination and lopsidedness in the recruitment of workers at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja.
The motion to suspend the recruitment and promotion in the ECOWAS Parliament was moved by Hon. Awajim Abiante, a Nigerian lawmaker at the ECOWAS Parliament.
The motion was seconded by Sen. Abiodun Olujimi, a Nigerian Lawmaker at the Parliament, supported by Hon. Yousoufa Bida and concurrently agreed by the house.
Abiante, who represents the Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro federal constituency in the House of Representatives said “The Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament is duty bound to respect the resolutions of Parliament.
“If he does not respect the resolution of Parliament, I wonder which Parliament he is heading.
“So, it is left for him to answer where he stands.
“You know, probably some of us are not well experienced, relative to Parliamentary requirements and procedures.
“Therefore, if one is not experienced, we could expect this kind of action. But the Speaker is duty bound to obey the resolution of Parliament.”
“He is first amongst equals, but we are all members of Parliament, by certain requirements, somebody has to lead.
“So, if he is the Speaker today, it does not make him senior or superior to any Member of Parliament.
“And who is he speaking for? He is speaking for the entirety of all of us and if we have come and raised issues, and resolutions taken, saying stop this, he is duty bound to obey.
“So, whatever they had done, we the parliamentarians see it as an effort in complete futility.”
When contacted, the Secretary General of the Parliament John Azumah from Ghana said he was unaware of any audit report that talked about employment and promotion. “I don’t know where they got that information from that they were talking, but you know that on the floor of the Parliament, you cannot stop them.”
“For me, I don’t have any information about this, but let me tell you this, the First Deputy Speaker would have done himself good if he had called me to explain what is happening in ECOWAS to him. I don’t know where they got that information from. There is no audit report like that. It is true that ECOWAS did a skill audit some time ago, but it was inconclusive. The skill audit that was done for the whole ECOWAS institution was inconclusive.
“So, if you went and were extracting information and you got something from staff, you are looking for your interest, sometimes they will give you half information, because of their interest. They would not give you the full information, then you just pick it as an MP and you start talking.
“The staff will tell you that this is happening at the Commission, this is happening at the court and this is happening at the Parliament, it is not true, just because of their interest. For me, if you have that, you have to rely on some credible officers to validate the veracity or otherwise of the information before you come to the floor. When they were talking, I was just laughing in my heart, I am telling you the truth because they were just ridiculing themselves,” he added.
National News
DEMOCRACY STRONG AND ALIVE IN NIGERIA; IGNORE ALARMISTS

DEMOCRACY STRONG AND ALIVE IN NIGERIA; IGNORE ALARMISTS
By: Bayo Onanuga
We have read the alarming claims of disgruntled opposition figures, some partisan human rights crusaders and emergency defenders of democracy over recent defections of key members of opposition parties into the governing All Progressives Congress.
The seismic shift caused by Akwa Ibom Governor Umo Eno’s open declaration of support for President Bola Tinubu, the defection of the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, the former vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last election, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, and the principal political actors in Delta and Rivers States certainly threw the opposition and their sympathisers into disarray.
While the opposition elements are understandably heartbroken over the failure of their fabled grand coalition to gain traction, we find it disturbing that they resorted to peddling false allegations of promoting a one-party State against President Bola Tinubu, who is working very hard to reverse decades of economic mismanagement in our country.
Contrary to the false claims in the propaganda materials in circulation across mainstream and social media, democracy is not under any threat in Nigeria. Accusations that the administration is moving towards authoritarianism are baseless and exaggerated.
We must add that no policy, official action, or directive from the Presidency seeks to “dismantle democracy” or “weaken opposition or create a one-party state.” Accusations of bribery, blackmail, and the weaponisation of state institutions only exist in the idle minds of politicians and their agents who have failed in their assigned role of opposition and are fishing for scapegoats.
The opposition cannot blame President Tinubu and the governing APC for their poor organisation, indiscipline, and gross incompetence in managing their affairs. It is certainly not part of President Tinubu’s job to organise or strengthen opposition parties.
We find it curious that those who celebrated the defection of the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the formation of a regional grand coalition with the sole aim of defeating President Tinubu in the 2027 election are the same people shedding crocodile tears over Nigeria’s so-called drift to a one-party state and authoritarianism.
While the latter-day defenders of democracy raised no anxious voice against the disgruntled politicians cobbling an anti-Tinubu, anti-APC coalition along dangerous regional lines, even before INEC blows the whistle for party politicking, they are quick to ascribe the political shifts in some states to “bribery, blackmail, and coercion” without any shred of evidence.
Without any equivocation, freedom of association, freedom of speech and freedom of choice are part of the cherished ideals of democracy. When politicians and citizens cannot freely join any association or political party of their choice or cannot openly express their views, democracy is imperilled. Those opposed to the Tinubu administration should understand that they can issue diatribes, without fear, against the government because we practice a thriving democracy.
It is hypocrisy writ large when opposition politicians and their collaborators in the ‘human rights’ movement desire that the party of the President should implode so they can gain electoral advantage and cry wolf when their wish does not materialise.
We want to state that democracy is not threatened or undermined simply because politicians exercise their rights to freedom of association. Nigerians migrating to the APC and expressing support for Tinubu are doing so out of their free will, based on the belief that the reforms being executed are in the interest of Nigerians and the unborn generation. It is a gross disservice to democracy in itself for these emergency defenders of democracy to delegitimise the political choices of some Nigerians while upholding the choices of others to form a coalition against Tinubu and APC.
Under President Tinubu, democracy is strong, and the multiparty democratic system will continue to flourish unhindered. His administration remains resolutely committed to upholding and strengthening the democratic foundations upon which our Fourth Republic has stood since 1999
Politicians changing party affiliation is not new or peculiar to Nigeria. In more advanced democracies, there are ready examples of notable politicians, statesmen and women who changed their parties.
President Tinubu and the National Working Committee of the APC, under the leadership of Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, deserve commendation for making the ruling party viable and attractive to all Nigerians willing to participate in the democratic process.
President Tinubu is an avowed democrat and a firm believer in multiparty democracy. His political activism and democratic credentials in galvanising and strengthening opposition platforms as a force that defeated a sitting President and the then ruling party attest to his credibility as a tested defender of multiparty democracy.
We urge all Nigerians to join hands with the administration in protecting our democracy by respecting our people’s choices and giving alarmists, who draw their narratives from the pool of fiction, a wide berth.
DEMOCRACY STRONG AND ALIVE IN NIGERIA; IGNORE ALARMISTS
National News
At World Bank/IMF Spring Meeting, VP Shettima Pushes For Nigeria’s HCD 2.0 Agenda

At World Bank/IMF Spring Meeting, VP Shettima Pushes For Nigeria’s HCD 2.0 Agenda
** Calls for evidence-based interventions, stronger global partnerships in education, health, labour sectors
By: Our Reporter
Vice President Kashim Shettima has called for stronger international collaboration to advance Nigeria’s Human Capital Development 2.0 (HCD 2.0) strategy.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to positioning human potential at the heart of national development.
Speaking virtually at a high-level roundtable on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, VP Shettima said the success of HCD 2.0 will hinge on data-driven, evidence-based interventions and sustained political will.
The HCD 2.0 programme is designed to elevate Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI) and equip Nigeria to face both national and global challenges, including climate change and digital transformation.
The Vice President pointed out that the meeting was necessitated by the urgency to invest in the Nigerian people and by the recognition that true national wealth is found not in natural resources, but in human potential.
“This meeting, for us, is not just another item on our global agenda. It is a continuation of a journey whose beginnings I had the privilege of witnessing about seven years ago. True national wealth is found not in natural resources, but in human potential.
“We will offer our HCD 2.0 Strategy the political backing it deserves to be the priority of our nation, and His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has never wavered on this,” he said.
The session featured key stakeholders from the World Bank, including Executive Director, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed; Regional Director for Human Development in the Western and Central Africa, Trina Haque; Senior Social Protection Specialist and Regional Task Team Leader, Africa West & Central region, Tina George, and Chief Economist for Human Development in the World Bank Group, Norbert Shady.
The Nigerian delegation included the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President/ Chair of the HCD Core Working Group, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia and Special Adviser to the President on National Economic Council & Climate Change/National Coordinator of HCD programme, Rukaiya El-Rufai.
VP Shettima reiterated the federal government’s determination to ensure the continuity and deepening of the HCD agenda.
“Government is a continuum. Nowhere is this truer than in programmes that demand patience, vision, and long-term commitment—programmes such as our Human Capital Development programme,” he noted.
He revealed that under HCD 2.0, six priority indicators from the health, education, and labour force sectors have been selected as “quick wins” to guide policy interventions and track measurable progress.
“We have carefully curated priority indicators and an HCD Dashboard to track them. This allows us to make informed policy decisions and measure our progress against tangible benchmarks,” Senator Shettima said.
The Nigerian Vice President also reaffirmed the administration’s resolve to remain transparent and results-oriented to achieve measurable outcomes.
“We will continue to hold ourselves accountable and press forward toward our bold goal to elevate Nigeria among the top 80 countries in Human Capital Index rankings,” he said.
Senator Shettima also called on the World Bank and other development partners to support the availability of disaggregated, state-level Human Capital Index (HCI) data to enable more targeted interventions.
Stressing the need for equity and inclusiveness in implementing the HCD 2.0 strategy, he said, “We are leaving no sub-national in Nigeria behind. Some of the states have already set a template for the others, having localised the HCD strategies to align with the peculiarities of their people while, of course, aligning them with the national strategy.”
The World Bank representatives at the meeting committed to strengthening the bank’s partnership with Nigeria to improve the country’s Human Capital Index and proposed senior-level stakeholder engagement to identify optimal areas for technical support.
There were also several speeches from representatives of Nigerian state governments, including Akwa Ibom and Lagos, as well as representatives of other local and international development organisations.
At World Bank/IMF Spring Meeting, VP Shettima Pushes For Nigeria’s HCD 2.0 Agenda
National News
VP Shettima Extols UBA’s Dedication To Innovation, Emerging Markets At 75

VP Shettima Extols UBA’s Dedication To Innovation, Emerging Markets At 75
** Says bank has shaped narrative of what African institutions can become
By: Our Reporter
The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has extolled what he termed the staying power of the United Bank of Africa (UBA Group) in the past 75 years, describing the financial institution as a pacesetter in innovation, emerging markets and generational ambition.
“Seventy-five years is not something you pick up at a supermarket. It is earned. It’s through risks and calculations, through storms and sunshine, through mergers and acquisitions, and through the brainpower and courage of those who believe in its promise of a new world. That is what leadership means,” he declared.

Senator Shettima, who spoke on Friday evening during the UBA 75th Anniversary Dinner at Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, noted that the celebration of an institution like UBA “that has outlived generations and still pulses with the vibrancy of youth” is not something that happens everyday.
He said, “The United Bank for Africa, or simply UBA, is not what it is because of the age of its ideas. It is what it is because of the attention it pays—attention to innovation, attention to emerging markets, attention to shifting dreams, and attention to the changing contours of generational ambition.
“UBA has remained a pacesetter because it is led by people who do not just manage capital, but manage curiosity”.

Applauding UBA for outliving all its contemporaries, VP Shettima attributed its staying power to its passion for relevance, even as he described the bank as a quintessential specimen of what an African institution could become by institutionalizing excellence.
His words: “UBA’s staying power is owed to its pursuit of relevance. It has stood as a reward for new thinking, expanding not just across geography, but across ideas.
“It serves millions, it shapes economies, and it influences the narrative of what an African institution can become when excellence is institutionalised and when well-intentioned dream-makers are in charge.”
The Vice President did not celebrate UBA without acknowledging the leadership ability of the bank’s Chairman, Mr Tony Elumelu, whom he described as one of the finest sons of the African continent, just as he observed that no institution writes its history without the signature of those who believe in it.
According to him, Elumelu has “become a bridge between the old and the new, between the outdated and the emerging,” adding that he “has won the trust of even the Gen Zs, or whatever this brilliant, digital generation calls itself.”
The Gen Zs, VP Shettima noted, have absolute trust in Elumelu “not because of the era he was born in, but because of the attention he pays to theirs,” observing further that he is being heard across generations because he listens across generations.
He continued: “Tony Elumelu is not a dreamer. Dreamers are those who are stuck in the bubble. Mr Elumelu is a dream-maker. He has made true the imagination of those who wish for an empire from the comfort of their homes. He has taught us that it is possible to build without breaking, to lead without losing touch, and to dream without borders.
“One thing that has amused me about Mr Elumelu over the years is that he has cracked a code many still struggle to decipher—the delicate art of balancing the boardroom with the living room, of being a captain of industry and still a commander at home.
“Not many men have managed a balance between building empires and building families, between saving the world and being present at Christmas in their village. But this man, this maverick, this dream-maker, has shown us that you can help move the continent forward without losing touch with home and family.”
The VP also lauded Elumelu’s wife, Dr Awele Elumelu, saying she is not just a spouse, “but an Amazon—a matriarch who gathers the kith and kin under her warm canopy,” as well as the quiet strength behind the force that is her husband.
Earlier, Group Chairman of UBA, Tony Elumelu expressed profound gratitude to the Vice President while acknowledging the bank’s foundational history.
“This is a night of celebration, gratitude to God and to customers and shareholders who have made it possible,” Elumelu stated.
The Chairman emphasised the importance of honouring those who established UBA’s foundation, saying, “We all today are under the shields because someone planted the tree. The foundation of UBA was laid by people before us, we are only taking it further.”
Looking toward the future, Elumelu expressed confidence in the bank’s continued success, tying it directly to Nigeria’s economic environment.
“On the vision of the next 75 years, just keep transforming our domestic economy as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing, and UBA will keep roaring,” he affirmed.
In his welcome address, UBA’s Group Managing Director, Dr. Oliver Alawuba, expressed gratitude to attendees while highlighting the bank’s remarkable journey since its inception.
“75 years ago, UBA commenced operations at Kakawa Street in Lagos as British & French Bank (BFB),” he said.
The GMD emphasised UBA’s impressive expansion over the decades, noting the bank now operates in 24 countries with 1,000 business offices, over 25,000 staff members, and a customer base exceeding 45 million people.
Dr. Alawuba shared financial metrics demonstrating the bank’s robust performance, including a profit after tax of N766.6 billion and total assets reaching N30.4 trillion.
He said shareholders have been rewarded with a dividend of ₦5 per share, representing a dividend yield of 14.5% – the highest among industry peers.
He also pointed out that the group’s shareholders’ funds rose significantly to N3.419 trillion in 2024 from N2.030 trillion in December 2023.
“The 2024 financial performance demonstrated the bank’s continued focus on driving earnings growth, preserving asset quality, expanding business operations and deepening market share,” Alawuba said.
Looking to the future, the GMD outlined an ambitious vision for UBA to establish a presence in every African country and expand to over 100 countries worldwide within the next 75 years.
VP Shettima Extols UBA’s Dedication To Innovation, Emerging Markets At 75
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