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FCT Judge questions lawyer about client in a divorce matter, “Did you advise her that husbands are scarce?”

The reason why many women would rather die in abusive marriages than seek divorce or even speak out was accentuated on Wednesday morning at a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where the presiding judge asked the petitioner’s counsel whether she advised her client that “husbands are scarce.”

Not a few Nigerians have expressed outrage over a bizarre incident which occurred in open court leaving lawyers and litigants alike stunned.

When the matter was called, the lawyer handling this matrimonial matter sought to move a motion to serve the Respondent via email but the Judge refused her application stating that he does not grant such applications in his court.

Undaunted, she pointed out that the court should be guided by the Rules of Court and proceeded to read out the relevant portion which said service could be done via email.

At that point, His Lordship asked whether the Petitioner was the husband or wife and the lawyer responded, “the wife.” He asked if the woman was in court and she said no.

Pressing harder, the Judge asked whether she advised her client that husbands are scarce and hard to come by, adding that a woman who is not married is like a goat in the market that anyone can approach.

Swiftly, the lawyer told him she was glad her client was not in court to hear him say all the things he was saying.

Also, she told the court that she had discussed with her client and that she would not miss whatever benefits marriage confers on women since she had not enjoyed them in a long while.

Interestingly, the Judge continued without appearing to hear all she said; only stopping when he asked if he was making sense and all she could muster was “I wouldn’t want to say no!”

Describing the judge’s remarks as scandalous, several public affairs analysts noted that Nigeria has a long way to go in combating gender prejudices.

Lawrence Agbo a social justice advocate posited that how a presiding Judge could jump into the arena and make such a statement so callously in open court is mindboggling.

A female lawyer who does not want her name in print added: “They bring their religion, culture and patriarchy to court to oppress women. I find that this is a big problem with male Judges in matrimonial proceedings especially when the woman is the petitioner. This is just unacceptable.”

Another lawyer who also spoke under anonymity, disclosed that a high court judge has failed to give a ruling in a motion she moved since April requesting a virtual hearing for children in a matrimonial cause petition she filed in 2022 considering that one is in a boarding school and the others outside the country.

Tribute: How Justice Emmanuel Ayoola changed my world; a father and confidant

By Sir Folu Olamiti

It was happenstance I least expected that Monday morning of 1999. I had dressed up to go to work as Editor of Nigerian Tribune from my new home at the outskirts of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. Moments later, Justice Ayoola drove in, in his yellow 19th century Mercedes Benz car. He alighted to discuss heartily with one of my neighbors. He was obviously in an expansive mood that morning.

I greeted him with reverence he deserved as a man of his stature and standing in legal jurisprudence and society in general.

“Are you the editor I was told, has this imposing building?” he asked with a smile across his lips.

I chuckled and nodded affirmatively. He shook my hands and started discussing with me as if we had met a decade before. He told me of his undeveloped land behind my house. We bantered a while, then he drove off

It would take two solid years after that chance engagement before we would meet again.

However, a divine intervention came in 2003 and shattered the lull in our relationship.

Then, President Olusegun Obasanjo nominated me as a member of the Presidential Action Committee on firearms and light weapons. Justice Ayoola was named as chairman of the committee. His appointment as chairman marked the beginning of a bond that would last till he passed on August 20, 2024, at the age of 90.

The chemistry between us became stronger and solidified by the fact that we were both from Ibadan. Besides, I had more time to play with as I had just resigned my appointment with the Nigerian Tribune after 32 years of meritorious service to the company and my country. Leaving my job at Nigerian Tribune Newspapers without pension made my future look very bleak.

But God brought Justice Ayoola as my guiding Angel as he used him to reassure me about the future, a future pregnant with opportunities. He took me not just as a member of his great family but as a close one at that. He made sure I lacked nothing, always meeting me at every point of need throughout the two years that I served on the committee.

The Committee’s assignments took us to all the 36 states of the Federation. It afforded me another opportunity to know every nook and cranny of Nigeria . My first opportunity was with Chief Obafemi Awolowo during the 1983 general elections.

I never traveled alone. I was always riding in the same vehicle with Justice Ayoola. We were so close. As the assignment wound up, I began to have a sense of foreboding, thinking that the committee’s assignment would be the last close tie that I would have with Justice Ayoola.

How wrong I was. When he was appointed as Chairman of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission, he beckoned on me again. Though his stay on that beat was brief as President Obasanjo appointed him as the second Chairman of Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission, ICPC.

It was a tug of war between him and the presidency before Justice Ayoola could accept the offer. He had just been offered a juicy and respectable appointment at the World Court in Hague. To discourage President Obasanjo from looking his way on the ICPC offer, he created some obstacles. He forwarded somewhat impossible conditions to the presidency, including his acceptance of the job at The Hague. He told me that he didn’t see how those prayers would be granted.

So, he waited. The response came the third day, and all the prayers were granted. President Obasanjo was looking for a transparent and incorruptible person to take over from the late Justice Mustapha Akanbi, the pioneer chairman of the ICPC, who rejected a second term in office.

Justice Ayoola became an ICPC Chairman in 2005 and turned things around for better in the fight against corruption. The assignment was easy for him as he told me: “I wrote 80 percent of the charter for the establishment of ICPC.” He said he did it pro bono because Justice Akanbi was one of his closest friends.

There were many challenges in the task of fighting corruption. He witnessed many battles of how corruption was fighting back from every sector . Justice Ayoola was undaunted. Most garrulous elements were firing from the corridors of power from the presidency and in the main the National Assembly, even to the point of blackmail. Justice Ayoola stood like a rock. He was undaunted. He stood his ground. During the period he was on assignments to the Hague with operational seat in Sierra Leone, Justice Ayoola ensured he put in place an iron cast structure at ICPC that made it easier for him to closely monitor activities at the headquarters in Abuja .

At the initial stage, my position and duties at ICPC were not clearly defined. However, after a few months of deliberations, the then Secretary to the Commission, Dr Tukur Ingawa, came up with the designation of Resident Consultant Media and Event. I became the first occupant of that office.

Justice Ayoola pampered me at ICPC to the extent that members of staff nicknamed me 2ic. I rode in the same official car with him in the morning to the office and back home at the close of work. Our frequent traveling from Abuja to Ibadan was most pleasurable as we gisted and brainstormed on so many issues I could not disclose here. I’m saving that for my next memoirs . God willing.

Justice Ayoola came up with a novel idea of fighting corruption through preventive mechanisms, using it in pari pasu with arrest and prosecution of alleged corrupt elements. As an offshoot of preventive mechanism, came the National Anti-Corruption Volunteer Corps NA VC, of which I became its grand commander.

Shortly after President Obasanjo tenure ended, Justice Ayoola made up his mind to quit. It was a tug of war between him and the late President Musa Yar’adua. Obasanjo told President Yar’adua that Justice Ayoola insisted on quitting at the end of his President Obasanjo’s tenure so he can face his international assignments at The Hague with every sense of responsibility.

But President Yar’Adua, like Obasanjo, refused to let him go. He, therefore, stayed on to complete his first term in office. Sadly, with six months left for him to quit, President Yar’Adua passed on, and President Goodluck Jonathan came in..

I followed Justice Ayoola to President Jonathan’s office the day he was to submit his letter of resignation , having refused to seek a second term. President Jonathan refused to accept the letter, telling Justice Ayoola that he had no one in mind to succeed him. So, President Jonathan appealed to him to stay on. He gave Justice Ayoola one week to go and sleep over it. I, too, chipped in, asking Baba Ayoola to reconsider his decision.

But Baba appeared to have made up his mind. He told me: ” Folu, it is better to quit the stage when the ovation is loudest . I have worked with three presidents within five years, and I have been able to convince myself that this is the time to go. Out there, there are more opportunities to render service to humanity and to serve God.”

Indeed, he served God to the end. He was a committed and devout Christian. He authored a book of prayer, which he distributed to many faithful and non-Christians free of charge. Myself and Ambassador Godwin Adama became one of his many disciples. During his tenure at the ICPC, it was a daily ritual to pray before leaving his residence and another one as we stepped into his office. At the end of the day at work, we prayed.

Justice Ayoola was a workaholic. His daily schedule at work was to attend to various meetings and delegate officers to already vetted case files. Getting home, he would take his late lunch at 5 p.m. and thereafter retire to have a late siesta . He would wake up at 9 p.m. to take his late dinner and then move to his well stocked study room to work on case files he daily brought home. He would work till 4 a.m., leaving a little time for a short snap, after which he would wake up to have his devotion, have his bath, dress up, and have his breakfast. He would wait for me and Adama to join him at breakfast. It was our daily routine to plan for the day–a caucus meeting – for strategies, and chart new ideas in the fight against corruption. Thereafter, we would move in a convoy to the office.

Justice Ayoola was an extraordinary and very humane personality. No one that I knew that came across him that did not gain one thing or the other from him. He ensured that all drivers and house help were house owners. He gave out personal cars to the needy. He just loved to give. As old as I am and being one of his confidants, each time I was leaving, Baba would fish out his cheque book to give me something to take care of my emergency needs. Even when I did not need it, he would say: : ” Never reject a gift however small from an elderly friend. Such a gift is from his heart to show his fondness for you.”..

Baba Ayoola hated liars and lazy people . The other side I noticed of him was his short temperament. But his anger never lingers. He might get angry with you now. The next moment, he would be welcoming you with a broad smile. He was such a kind-hearted man. As the remains of this highly intelligent and quintessential jurist will be laid to rest on 22 November 2024 in Ibadan Oyo State, I am confident that his soul is resting peacefully with the Lord May his soul continue to find eternal rest. Adieu Baba. You came, saw, and conquered.

Sir Folu Olamiti, FNGE, writes from Abuja.

The president is missing

By Suyi Ayodele

I do not claim authorship of the above headline. That credit goes to Bill Clinton, former President of the United States of America (USA), and his co-author, the American novelist, James Patterson, who penned the words as the title of their novel, roundly described as “a political thriller novel”, The President Is Missing, published in 2018.

I adopted the title because the thematic preoccupation of the plot, with particular emphasis on the presence of inner enemies within power circles, resonates with the current state of the Nigerian presidency, especially under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

One of President Tinubu’s frenemies, Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South Senatorial District, last Friday, alluded to the bad elements in the Presidency who never wished Nigeria or its people well. Ndume suggested that these vipers in the corridor of power, have held Tinubu captive. He said those locusts were responsible for the bad economic policies of the president. He therefore asked the President to do something to ameliorate the pain in the land to avoid the impending disaster.

As much as I don’t trust Ndume or anyone else in his phylum, I think his allusion to bad close allies of the president is a bit plausible. That finds its strength in the saying of our sages that the insect which devours the vegetable lives right on the stems of the vegetable. Leaders, all over the world, are surrounded by terrible allies who engage their principals and feed them with the worst of ideas.

But that does not exculpate the principals. Show me your friends and I will tell you the type of person you are, goes the saying. President Tinubu must be bad himself to have accommodated those “bad advisers” for 17 months! I say this again because the elders of my place submit that a man who is taught bad behaviours and goes ahead to exhibit them must have been congenitally bad himself!

The fictitious President Jonathan Lincoln Duncan of the USA in the referenced novel above has trusted, but bad allies in his cabinet. One of them, and who is responsible for the entire incidents that permeate the episodic novel, “The Missing President”, is no other person than Ducan’s Chief of Staff, Carolyn Brock. How Ducan handles her and any other frenemy within the cabinet is what distinguishes a present president from a missing president. Ndume’s allusion to “bad advisers”, to me, only points to one thing, to wit: in the Nigerian Presidency, the missing link is nothing but a Missing President. I will explain.

Alhaji Abdulrazak Ganiyu Folorunsho, otherwise known as A.G.F. (1927-2022), was the chairman of the committee that gave Nigeria the current presidential system of government. When General Murtala Mohammed’s military administration conceived the idea of a return to democracy, A.G.F. headed the sub-committees of the 1975 Constitution Drafting Committee saddled with the responsibility of determining the modus operandi of the envisaged presidential system of government. It is on record that of all the sub-committees of the Constitution Drafting Committee, only the Ilorin-born lawyer and diplomat’s sub-committee had all its recommendations adopted without changes. The question is, what did the A. G. F’s sub-committee do differently?

In determining how the presidential system would work perfectly for Nigeria, the sub-committee placed a huge premium on the personality of the would-be president. With the precision of a thorough surgeon, the sub-committee defined the personality of who should aspire to be president thus:

“He must perform and be seen as performing the following functions: that of being a symbol of national unity, honour and prestige; being a national figure- a political figure in his own right; and that of being an able executive-someone who can give leadership and a sense of direction to the country”.

This submission entails that there shall be no abdication of responsibilities by the president. No buck-passing and no blame-game. The president must be someone who is ready “to give leadership and a sense of direction to the country”. This is where Ndume’s theory of “bad advisers” to President Tinubu falls short.

The 1975 sub-committee, which is 49 years ago, validates this position when it submitted, alongside other recommendations, that in arriving at the identikit description of the intending president, its decisions “were very much influenced by the debate on national objectives and public accountability…., adding that “What has been uppermost in our minds is how to provide for an effective leadership that expresses our aspirations for national unity without at the same time building up a Leviathan whose power may be difficult to curb.” The whole argument is about leadership and that, unfortunately, has been in short supply in the present administration.

No one expects Mr. President to do it alone. He must, as a matter of necessity, have people he can call upon to do one thing or the other. The difference here, however, is that the buck stops on his table. His personality also counts. Bad advisers or no bad advisers, President Tinubu is the one elected and he takes the blame for his inability to be firm, resolute and consistent. The nation’s economy is dancing to the yoyo percussion because the President has not demonstrated enough understanding of the simplest of governance intricacies.

If President Tinubu has failed in the last 17 months to identify the “bad advisers” in his cabinet, and he keeps listening to them as his voodoo economic policies push Nigerians to the pit of want, lack and abject poverty, he is to be blamed. At his electioneering, Nigerians were assured that Tinubu would assemble the best of “technocrats” and fix the nation. If what we are seeing now is the best that can come out of the ovens of his “best technocrats”, then something is fundamentally wrong! Tinubu therefore carries the can, no argument!

Unlike what happened in Clinton and Patterson’s novel, when Ducan deliberately goes ‘missing’ at one of the most crucial times in the history of America, in order to solve the riddle of the bad element in his cabinet, President Tinubu at the moment is holidaying in one of the coolest spaces in the world, doing nothing, at a time Nigerians are gasping for breath because his administration, has, within a month, inflicted pain on them, twice, by increasing the pump price of fuel. One of President Tinubu’s handlers, Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, told us, that while on leave, Tinubu could go anywhere he chose.

I have no problem with that, and I will also not join the ‘bandwagon’ of those who think the President should be sensitive enough to show compassion, even if feigned at this period.

I also don’t want to believe that Oga Onanuga is one of the alluded “bad advisers” of the president. Every man gives to the best of his aptitude. I have often heard that morality has no place in Nigerian politics. Only a morally-sound adviser would be able to tell his principal that this is not the time to junket at the expense of the people. What Onanuga failed to tell us is that while on holiday anywhere in the world, President Tinubu pays no bills. Our treasury does that. Tinubu is not just our president; he is equally our burden! Again, we are not at liberty to ask which duty has the president performed in the last 17 months to deserve a leave. A man who has the capacity to inflict this level of pain on us deserves a rest from his ‘hard work’! Phew!

I also think we should not blame Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, the president’s wife, who, last week, asked us to look in the haystack for the needle for those responsible for our present economic woes. To the First Lady, 17 months is not enough for Nigerians to start asking Tinubu questions about how their nation’s economy has nosedived. It would not matter to her that Nigerians cannot afford the N1,700 loaf of bread as long as she can donate the sum of N1 billion to her alma mater, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

How she came about the huge amount of money and the N500 million she earlier dashed the Borno flood victims, should we ask, Mrs. Tinubu is likely to remind us she told us, plainly, that her family was already well-to-do before her husband’s presidency. Mrs Tinubu can afford to throw around N1.5 billion in just a month! Only a beneficiary of the Biblical proclamation: “Blessed art thou among women” (Luke 1:42), can achieve that feat!

Writers are ‘bad’ people. They depict characters in very fanciful ways. In depicting an average Nigerian in his novel, “Lonely Londoners”, Sam Selvon, gives Captain, or Cap for short, the portrait of a roué. That identikit fits perfectly typical Nigerian leaders, who, like Cap, do nothing but live on our common patrimony, smoke the best cigarette, drink the most expensive wine and keep the most beautiful ladies as their wives or girlfriends.

Selvon says this of Cap: “It have some men in this world, they don’t do nothing at all, and you feel that they would dead from starvation, but day after day you meeting them and they looking hale, they laughing and they talking as if they have a million dollars, and in truth it look as if they would not only live longer than you but they would dead happier.” So, it is with our leaders who not only live parasitically on our commonwealth but flaunt the same and ask us to go hug the next electric pole!

“They say there’s no manual for overcoming the death of a spouse (110). Ducan again, the fictitious US President, utters those words in the novel cited in our opening paragraph. Nigerians are at that stage of our excruciating pain inflicted on us because we have a President who chooses to be missing in his own Presidency. It is only a missing president that would allow “bad advisers” to take over his government and dish un-squeezed bitter leave portions to the people at regular intervals the way we have in this Tinubu’s administration. The physical presence of the man notwithstanding, President Tinubu is missing in action in his own government.

The allusion to a “missing president” was first thrown at us when the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, in October 2017, asked rhetorically: “Who is the Presidency?” Lawal, who was accused of diverting the sum of N544 million meant for cutting grasses at Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camps to his personal company, was asked by a horde of journalists to confirm his suspension as the SGF, after he emerged from the office of the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. Bewildered that the information he shared only with Osinbajo had leaked, Lawal threw the question back at the journalists by asking them who suspended him. When he was told “by the Presidency”, he retorted: “Who is the Presidency?”

The former SGF asked that question because in the administration where he served as the SGF, President Muhammadu Buhari was a “missing president”, a President-do-nothing, at best! And that has been the misfortune of Nigerians in the last nine years. Everything in the administration has been on autopilot because the one elected to lead has abdicated that responsibility. President Tinubu had no mistakes about the tasks before him when he sought to be president. He told whoever cared to listen then that he understood the enormity of the problems and promised to fix them.

He assured the people with his “E lo fokan bale” campaign payoff. On the fuel increase prior to the 2023 general election, Tinubu said “a ma gbe wa le” (we shall reduce it). So, the excuse by Mrs. Tinubu that her husband’s administration just being 17 months old is to say the least, blether!

President Tinubu must change the narrative. What we have now is a situation where the government does not even know what the problems are. Nothing, I dare reiterate, in the last 17 months, shows that President Tinubu has the aptitude for the work he elected to do. If nobody has told the president that, I think we owe him that obligation to tell the President that he is missing in his Presidency!

Herbert Wigwe’s estate: It’s all lies, a simple search at probate registry would have revealed the truth — Family

  • Father refutes allegations of 20% demand on estate

The father of Herbert Wigwe, the late Chief Executive Officer, Access Holdings, and patriarch of Wigwe family, Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, has in a riposte -and in a seeming God forbid disposition-rebutted media report that insinuated him into legal moves to claim 20 percent of his late son’s property.

Below is the rebuttal issued on his behalf and on behalf of the entire Wigwe family by Emeka Wigwe.

“Rebuttal: Pastor Shyngle Wigwe’s Family Responds to Inaccuracies in Media Report”

We, the family of Pastor Shyngle Wigwe, wish to address a recent article titled “Family Dispute Erupts Over Estate of Late Banking Executive Herbert Wigwe” published on October 13, 2024.

This article has unfortunately spread widely across social and national media. While we recognize the role of the press in sharing news, it is vital that such reports are based on truth and accuracy.

To clarify, at no point has Pastor Shyngle Wigwe requested 20% of the estate of the late Herbert Wigwe.

Neither has there been any such request by other family members. The article’s claim that this demand contradicts Herbert’s will is entirely false and misleading. The facts regarding the estate are already publicly available in the Probate Registry, where an affidavit clearly outlines the correct details. A simple search by your reporters would have revealed this truth.

During this painful time of grief, our family remains united, focusing on healing and growing stronger together. We have no intention of engaging in a public defense because there are no sides to take. The only truth is that we are navigating this immense loss and will continue to do so with dignity.

Herbert Wigwe’s legacy as a visionary banker and entrepreneur is what should be remembered. He transformed Access Bank into a national leader and devoted himself to empowering others through initiatives like The HOW Foundation, which focused on education and healthcare. These are the values that define his life and should be the focus, rather than unfounded speculation.

We respectfully urge your publication to correct the inaccuracies in the report and to exercise greater diligence in fact-checking future stories.

Sincerely,
Emeka Wigwe for the
The Family of Pastor Shyngle Wigwe.

Empowering the Nigerian Rural Woman: A call to invest in dignity, economic development, and food security

By Mabel Adinya Ade

The Nigerian Rural Woman stands at the crossroads of tradition and modernity, holding the weight of her family, her community, and, to a large extent, the nation’s agricultural sector. Every day, she rises early to juggle domestic chores, farming, trading, and other activities, all while navigating a landscape shaped by patriarchy and systemic inequalities. Her resilience in the face of these challenges is admirable, but her full potential remains unrealized. Without urgent and targeted investments in her health, economic opportunities, and access to technology, the Nigerian Rural Woman will continue to be underserved, and the country will struggle to achieve inclusive growth and sustainable food security.

The Weight of Patriarchy and Social Exclusion

Patriarchy remains deeply rooted in rural communities, restricting the roles of women to domestic duties and farming, while barring them from decision-making processes. This exclusion limits their access to education, financial services, and political participation. Without a platform to express their views or engage in policy discussions, rural women are left at the mercy of decisions made on their behalf, reinforcing a cycle of poverty and marginalization. This gap in gender equality not only undermines the rural woman’s dignity but also stifles her economic potential.

Health and Maternal Care: A Critical Need

The health of Rural Women is often jeopardized due to poor access to healthcare, particularly maternal and reproductive services. Many rural areas lack healthcare infrastructure, and those that exist are often understaffed and ill-equipped. The inability to access sanitary materials, combined with limited reproductive health services, means that many rural women face preventable health crises that erode their productivity and wellbeing. This situation is further aggravated by the absence of comprehensive health insurance, leaving rural women vulnerable to life-threatening maternal complications. Addressing this health gap is not just a matter of equity it is essential for improving their economic productivity and ensuring the wellbeing of future generations.

Climate Change and Food Security

Climate change is an existential threat to Nigeria’s agricultural sector, and rural women, who rely heavily on farming, are at the frontline of this crisis. Unpredictable weather patterns, soil degradation, and reduced crop yields have made it increasingly difficult for rural women to secure food for their families and contribute to the nation’s food security. However, despite their crucial role in agriculture, they are often excluded from climate resilience programmes and decision-making processes. Without access to farm inputs, information, and technology that can help them adapt to climate change, rural women are left vulnerable, which in turn jeopardizes Nigeria’s food security.

Gender-Based Violence and Political Exclusion

Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a pervasive issue in rural communities, where cultural practices and social norms often perpetuate cycles of abuse. Women are frequently silenced, both in their homes and in the public sphere, where they are excluded from meaningful political participation. This social exclusion denies rural women the opportunity to advocate for their own rights, and policies that could directly improve their lives remain out of reach. The absence of women’s voices in political spaces is a critical gap that must be addressed for Nigeria to build an inclusive society.

The Role of Legislation in Women’s Health and Well-Being

The importance of strong legal frameworks cannot be overstated in the quest to enhance women’s health and well-being. The Nigerian National Assembly must prioritize the passage of pending Gender Bills that aim to protect and empower women. These bills are essential for ensuring equitable access to healthcare services, safeguarding reproductive rights, and addressing GBV. Furthermore, the ongoing threat to the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) law must be addressed urgently. This law provides crucial protection against violence and discrimination, and its reinforcement is vital for the safety and empowerment of rural women. By establishing robust legal protections, Nigeria can create an environment where women can thrive and contribute meaningfully to society.

Technology and Information: Transforming Lives

In the face of these daunting challenges, technology offers a beacon of hope. With mobile phones and internet access becoming increasingly available, rural women now have the opportunity to bridge the information gap that has long held them back. Technology is proving to be a game changer, particularly in enhancing access to financial services, health care, and agricultural knowledge.

1. Access to Financial Services and Markets: Mobile banking has revolutionized the way rural women access financial resources. With mobile money services, rural women can now save, borrow, and transfer funds without needing to travel long distances to banking institutions. This access to financial resources opens doors to entrepreneurship and enables them to invest in more profitable ventures. In addition, e-commerce platforms can connect them directly to consumers, eliminating middlemen and increasing their income from agricultural products.

2. Digital Agricultural Tools: Mobile applications that provide real-time information on weather forecasts, market prices, and sustainable farming practices are empowering rural women to make informed decisions that enhance their productivity. Access to climate-smart agricultural techniques and inputs, such as drought-resistant seeds, helps women mitigate the impact of climate change and improve food security for their families and communities.

3. Telemedicine and Health Information: Telemedicine is another powerful tool in bridging the health care gap. Rural women can now consult with healthcare professionals remotely, reducing the need for costly and time-consuming travel to health centres. Mobile health apps that provide information on maternal health, family planning, and menstrual hygiene further empower women to take control of their health, ensuring healthier outcomes for both themselves and their families.

4. Education and Capacity Building: E-learning platforms and digital literacy programs can unlock new opportunities for rural women, equipping them with the skills needed to improve their economic prospects. Online courses in business management, financial literacy, and agricultural best practices can empower rural women to build more resilient livelihoods and contribute more meaningfully to their communities.

5. Empowerment through Social Media and Advocacy: Social media platforms provide rural women with a voice to advocate for their rights and participate in broader conversations about governance and policy. By engaging in online advocacy, rural women can connect with development partners, policymakers, and like-minded organizations to drive change and raise awareness about the issues affecting them.

The Path Forward: Investing in the Nigerian Rural Woman

For Nigeria to achieve its development goals and secure a future of inclusive economic growth and food security, it is imperative that we invest in the rural woman. Here’s how:

1. Health Insurance and Quality Health Care: Establishing accessible health insurance schemes that cater to the unique needs of rural women will ensure they have access to quality health services. This will improve maternal and reproductive health outcomes, reducing the burden of preventable complications that currently hinder their productivity and economic participation.

2. Financial Empowerment and Education: Investing in microfinance initiatives and educational programs targeting rural women can help close the financial literacy gap and empower them to start or expand businesses. Financial inclusion will not only boost their individual economic standing but also contribute to the overall economic growth of rural communities.

3. Climate Resilience and Agricultural Support: Including rural women in climate resilience programs is crucial for safeguarding Nigeria’s agricultural sector. Providing them with the tools, technology, and knowledge to adapt to climate change will enhance their productivity and ensure the future of food security in Nigeria.

4. Political Participation and Social Inclusion: Creating platforms for rural women to participate in political processes and advocacy efforts is essential for their empowerment. Ensuring that the voices of Rural Women are heard in policy discussions will lead to more gender-sensitive policies that address their unique challenges and pave the way for meaningful change.

5. Legal Framework and Protections: The Nigerian National Assembly must prioritize the passage of pending Gender Bills and reinforce the VAPP law to create a robust legal framework that protects women’s rights and enhances their health and well-being. This legal backing is essential for fostering an environment where rural women can thrive.

6. Technology-Driven Development: Expanding access to digital tools and internet connectivity in rural areas will accelerate the economic empowerment of rural women. Technology-driven solutions can enhance their access to markets, financial services, health care, and education, ultimately improving their quality of life and their ability to contribute to the economy.

Conclusion:

The Nigerian rural woman is a pillar of resilience and strength, but she faces immense challenges that stifle her dignity and potential. To unlock her full contribution to Nigeria’s socioeconomic development, we must prioritize investments in health, education, financial empowerment, and technology. Policymakers and development partners must recognize that by empowering rural women, they are not only uplifting individuals but also driving Nigeria towards a more equitable and prosperous future. The time to act is now, and the future of Nigeria’s food security, economic growth, and social stability depends on it.

Mabel Adinya Ade is the Executive Director, Adinya Arise Foundation (AAF)

[email protected]

Citizen Usman Mohammed’s wickedness

By Tribune Editorial Board

In an unfortunate, recent incident involving unwarranted display of extreme cruelty, a 24-year-old man resident in Ambassadors’ quarters in Katsina, Katsina State, one Usman Mohammed, allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl and threw her into a well after the dastardly act! The girl, a minor under the law, was running an errand for her parents when she was waylaid by Usman who reportedly threatened her with a knife and dragged her into an uncompleted building where he allegedly raped her.

And as is common with most criminals, who ordinarily are cowards, Usman thereafter became jittery and afraid of taking responsibility for his action, and therefore sought to obliterate anything that could link him to the awful incident. He cast his victim into a well and hurled stones into it to make her survival and escape from death virtually impossible. Happily, however, he failed.

The police, upon receiving the report of the incident, swiftly swung into action, which culminated in the arrest of Usman and the rescue of the girl. Expectedly, the condition of the girl is described as grave, but she is said to be responding well to treatment in hospital. The question is, how wicked can someone get? Usman was not content with the physical and psychological trauma that non-consensual coitus entailed; he wanted to cut short his victim’s life just so he could go scot-free. After he had committed a flagrant and deplorable breach of the law, Usman thought he needed to engage in another but graver criminal act. He did not care a hoot if the innocent girl died, so long as his liberty was assured. That is tantamount to selfishness and callousness in the extreme.

The sheer preponderance of impure thinking by many, especially the youth, on certain issues today, has become a matter of grave concern. Thinking and acting within the precincts of decency and decorum is increasingly a rarity among young Nigerians. And it is down to the warped moral values over which we have urged reorientation and rearmament rearmament time and again. How do you throw a person into a well after raping her? And the suspect was not done with these acts of extreme wickedness: he hurled stones down the well to crush his victim!

Certainly, the suspect has no regard for human life; he is a lawless, irredeemably criminal and incredibly selfish person. And sadly, he is not alone: there are many just like him on the streets out there, people with defective upbringing who are making life a nightmare. Pray, how and why would a well-brought-up young man disrespect a girl, let alone raping and attempting to kill her? What happened to the traditional and time-tested values of decency and the sanctity of human life?

It is sadly the case that people, especially girls, can no longer move around freely and parents can hardly send their children on errands again because there are many beasts and sexual predators on the prowl. The society has truly lost its moral fabric, so much so that certain persons habitually carry out hurtful actions, including those that could cause irreparable damage to their fellow human beings, without blinking. A great deal of intense advocacy is urged to reorient aberrant members of the society on the perils inherent in the single-minded pursuit of objectives, no matter how ignoble.

The society must be deliberate and intentional about altering the notorious Machiavellian principle of the “end justifies the means” which has been imbibed by many people but which is flawed in many ways. Due cognisance must be taken of the consequences of actions rather than prioritizing just the outcomes. That is for the long haul. Meanwhile, it may be helpful and important to intensify neighbourhood watchfulness to protect vulnerable members of the community from the deleterious activities of ubiquitous malefactors and sexual predators waiting in the wings. The spate of lawlessness in the country is disturbing, and it is important that leaders and ordinary members of the society collaborate with the security agencies to rein in acts of lawlessness.

We urge that the victim of rape and attempted murder should be officially accorded as much assistance as she may need in order to fully rehabilitate her and also reassure her that she is a wonderful human being, and not a beast as her morally depraved assailant treated her. The chances of the victim collapsing under the psychological trauma of her recent horrible experience are very high. As such, the state should swiftly and robustly come to her aid. Increasingly, it seems, no one is safe in this country. The ease with which people are raped, defiled, kidnapped, maimed and killed is troubling. Governments at all levels are called upon to be alive to their primary responsibility and indeed the very essence of their existence, which is the welfare and security of the citizenry.

In addition to taking steps to prevent crimes in the society, the state must ensure that the chances of anyone escaping justice after breaching the law are negligible. If it becomes the rule rather than the exception that lawbreakers are apprehended and punished, aberrant behaviour will reduce drastically. Unfortunately, there is a sense in which a feeling of hopelessness could sway citizens with a weak moral fabric to commit crimes of different hues, including those whose outcomes have little or no connection with the restoration of hope, as in the instant case, but that does not stop the law from taking its course. For instance, today when the paramount concern of the average Nigerian is all about how to stay safe and navigate the current economic hardship in the land, it is unclear how raping and attempting to kill an innocent girl could positively impact the socioeconomic condition of Usman.

The police should launch a painstaking inquiry into the incident and ensure that Usman is charged under the appropriate code and diligently prosecuted. Truth be told, the beastly and extremely callous conduct which involved the alleged sexual violation of an innocent girl and the deliberate attempt at liquidating the victim reflects badly on the Nigerian society. It is yet another low in the seemingly inexorable descent of the country into the abyss. And unless serious and concerted efforts are made by the state and community to arrest the drift, many may continue to buckle under the weight of the overwhelming and multi-pronged challenges besetting the country.

UNICAL suspends another lecturer over misconduct

The University of Calabar (UNICAL) has suspended another lecturer, Dr Joseph Idung from the Department of Science Laboratory Technology, amid ongoing suspensions within the institution.

Tribune reports that a suspension letter from Registrar, Gabriel Egbe, indicates that Dr. Idung failed to return funds collected from students for their induction into the Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology (NISLT).

This decision comes just days after the Acting Head of the Department of Pharmacology, Dr Joseph Akpan, was suspended and dismissed following revelations of his involvement in altering examination scores in PHM 311 (Introduction to General Antimicrobial Pharmacology), as reported by the Senate Examination Misconduct Committee (SEMC).

The administration expressed disappointment over Dr. Idung’s refusal to refund the allegedly extorted money. The letter stated that Vice-Chancellor Professor Florence Obi has ordered his suspension from university duties to allow him to face the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Monitoring Unit (ACTU), which is tasked with investigating the issue.

He has also been instructed to return all university property in his possession to the Head of the Department and to avoid campus unless responding to ACTU’s summons.

Additionally, the letter advises the Bursar to place Dr. Idung on half of the salary during the suspension period.

[Video:] Over 3000 rendered homeless in Lagos over mass demolition

Sorrow and misery have gripped the over 3000 residents of Ayetoro community in Lagos State whose homes were demolished without prior notice by officials of the Lagos state government.

As they continue to cry out to the government following the demolition which left many of them homeless, forcing families to sleep on the streets without food or shelter, there seems to be no hope in sight to assuage their pain and hardship under the bleak economic hardship in the country.

AFCON 2025 Qualifiers: NIDCOM says treatment of Super Eagles players in Libya was despicable

PRESS STATEMENT

ABUJA, OCT. 14, 2024: Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has condemned the treatment meted out to Super Eagles team by Libya authorities ahead of its second leg match slated for Tuesday in the country.

She noted that travelling by road in Libya is most dangerous and totally not advisable because of the current situation in the country.

The team which left Nigeria on Sunday to Libya for their return match had their flight diverted to an innocuous airport far away from the venue of the match.

The implication of the diversion will now be another three hours of road travel to the main venue of the match, not minding the risk of road travel in Libya , considering the situation of the war-torn country.

Dabiri-Erewa said the safety of Nigerian players is paramount to the country, and was optimistic that the Ministry of Sports and the NFF will advice appropriately.

She also called on CAF to treat the matter with the seriousness it deserves.

Already, the players, the pilots and others on board the flight had been stranded and subjected to inhuman treatment at the airport for over 13 hours without water, food, rest and other means of communication.

“The team were delayed at an airport in Libya for more than 13 hours without any tangible reason”

 The Super Eagles flight was redirected air borne on Sunday and they were required to travel by road to their destination.

However, there was no provision made for them by the Libya authorities and all efforts to make alternative provisions by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was frustrated.

Dabiri-Erewa appealed to the Super Eagles to remain calm why the Nigerian Football Federation will decide the next line of action.

E-signed.
Abdur-Rahman Balogun
Director of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit NiDCOM, Abuja.

Petrol price as slow poison

By Lasisi Olagunju

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd of Minneapolis repeatedly pleaded for reprieve. “I can’t breathe,” he groaned while police officer, Derek Chauvin, smashed his knee on Floyd’s neck and back. A bystander saw what was happening and exclaimed “let him breathe.” No. The officer was killing Floyd slowly. For every plea for breath, Derek Chauvin pressed harder the back of George Floyd’s neck. The law enforcer kept his knee there – one minute, two minutes, three minutes….ten minutes. Then there was quiet. The bell tolled for Floyd. And then the war – Black Lives Matter. This government’s economic policies feel like Derek Chauvin’s knees on George Floyd’s neck. The more we plead for life, the harder the pressure from their knees.

Northern Nigerian politician and Borno South Senator, Ali Ndume, rushed out a warning to President Bola Tinubu last Friday. He said he was in Maiduguri and was alarmed by what he saw and at what was coming. He said so many eerie stuff in that short note: He asked the president to do something about the hardship in the country, before it is too late. He said that around the president are wicked advisers “who don’t mean well for the people of this country.” He said they “give him wrong advice.” He begged that Nigerians “can’t afford the things that are being pushed on them every day by enemies of (the) state.” He was afraid to name the enemies.

Before this government came into our lives last year, petrol sold for less than N200. Last week, I bought a litre for N1,200. Friends and foes of the president are now united in misery. Someone said the president is talk-and-do. They cynically said the man contested to be “pressdent.” Now that he has become what he wanted to become, shouldn’t he do what he said he would do? The ‘pressdent’ is pressing and denting. Loafers around power, and government defenders used to personify W.B. Yeats’ “the worst”. They used to be loud and “full of passionate intensity.” Now, they sound silent, they talk and write sober. What I meet in petrol stations is what they meet there. They plead for life too, but the knee is there, going down harder.

Petrol must be very expensive for our economy to be healthy. That is what the government says. It is the elixir as prescribed by the powers behind the throne. Shouldn’t they know that whatever is worth being called medicine could be poison as well? ‘Pharmakon’ is the Greek word for medicine; it is also the Greek word for poison. Medicine is Oògùn in Yoruba. Poison is also Oògùn in Yoruba when it is encased with appropriate parts of speech. A similar expression in Hebrew is ‘sam’, the use and meaning of which hint us of the very thin line between what cures and what kills. Another dividing line between what kills and what cures is how a drug is taken. That which is for external use only, what is it doing in our mouth? Haruna Ishola, deeply witted, foremost Yoruba musician, in an album said his enemies were in trouble because they drank what they were asked to bathe with. “Má dà wá l’órí rú Oluwa (May God not inflict us with madness)”.

Implicated in our case is the IMF. One official mission of the IMF is to discourage “policies that would harm prosperity.” Whose prosperity? Why has no sick nation ever been cured of poverty by that Fund’s prescriptions? Or do we take it that the problem lies with the patient and not with the physician? What this government force-feeds us with is a drug we took before. Almost forty years ago, the prescription was labeled Structural Adjustment Programme. It didn’t work for our health; it deformed our country and stunted its growth. Those who professed it that time are in our control room today, testing anew the old drugs. Now, we all can’t breathe.

The Nigerian vase of survival is broken and every one declares their innocence. The president’s wife was in Ile Ife last week where she posted a disclaimer: my husband is not the cause of this hardship. She didn’t name who caused the hardship. Ndume blamed not the president, but his nameless bad advisers for the poisonous prescriptions. “The tempter and the tempted, who sins most?” Shakespeare asks in ‘Measure for Measure’. But it does not look like the president is being misled by any tempter. He knows what he is doing. He tells us to calm down as he hammers out tooth after tooth. A giant using his strength like a giant, the man does his thing spraying pain as anesthesia. The closest persons to him impress it on us that he is a physician committed to healing the nation and its sick people. His party vowed last Friday that the pain in town notwithstanding, their man wouldn’t change the drug dosage regimen. So, whose knee is suffocating us?

The president and his clan are the only ones who see life at the end of today’s tunnel of pain. For us, their victims, the way the regime injects petrol price increments, almost monthly, into our lives makes it look like Doctor Death. They are very professional about it. They know what dose to drop and when. Professional poisoners do what they do. They remind one of France’s ‘L’affaire des Poisons’ (Affair of the Poisons) and the case that triggered it.

Almost two centuries ago, Dr James Johnstone was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics at the Queen’s College, Birmingham, United Kingdom. On October 5, 1847, Johnstone delivered a lecture at the college on what he themed ‘The Accumulative Action of Medicines, with Some Remarks on Slow Poison’. Midway into the lecture, the professor told the story of Marie-Madeleine-Marguérite d’Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers, a French noblewoman who was found guilty of several murders, and was executed in Paris in 1676.

Jonestone told the woman’s story to illustrate the lethality of slow poison. Several authors, playwrights and filmmakers have used her life to teach the consequences of wickedness. The ‘Marquise of Darkness’, a 2010 TV movie, is one. I use it here as a metaphor for the fatal effects of killer policies, greed and wickedness, and how populist palliatives can kill.

The woman in the story was wealthy but she wanted more. She was the kind who would be queen, yet invest in money ritual. She wanted everything around her to be hers only. Madame Marie wanted all of her rich father’s wealth for herself but she had two brothers and a sister whose claim to the wealth was as strong as hers. It was a difficult wish but where there is a will there must always be a way. She romanced a man called Sainte-Croix. Apparently an expert at preparing lethal substances, Sainte-Croix designed a scheme for Madame that would help her take out her ‘rivals’ one by one. Dr. Jonestone said the woman’s father was the first to go. He “was without hesitation sacrificed…The first dose of poison was given to him in soup. The man suffered so much pain after it…and in the space of a few days he expired.”

Madame Marie’s father was dead but her two brothers and a sister still lived to share the wealth with her. Those ones must die too. She agreed with her accomplice that what would kill her siblings must not look like what killed her dad. The murderous resolution was that “to avoid suspicion, it was necessary to employ a poison less rapid in its action than that which had killed the father.” They procured their substance but, first, they must test its efficacy. The wicked did not use animals for their experiments. They used human beings. And who? Poor patients in a public hospital.

Madame Marie had a reputation for piety, charity and philanthropy. She had repeatedly been to that hospital before with wine and medicine “to relieve the distressed.” Now, she went there with biscuits and fruits and other food items. The hungry, poor, and sick ate her food with much relish and thanks. A month later, Madame went to check on her patients. Their conditions had worsened; they suffered now a disease they did not have before. No one suspected Marie and her pan of palliatives. Doctors told her that “the disease was unknown, and defied their utmost skill.” Madame left. Two weeks later, she was back to check the result again. The story teller said “some of the patients were dead, others still lingered in hopeless agony – animated skeletons, whose only signs of life were the voice, sight, and breath.”

So, it happened that all who took Madame’s palliatives died within two months. Every expert inquiry as to what killed them drew blank. “Encouraged by this success,” Johnstone continues the story, Madame “commenced operations upon her brothers and sister. The sister escaped by leaving Paris, but one of the brothers expired in two months, and the other about five months after they had been subject to the influence of poison….”

Nigeria has become a nation of “animated skeletons.” The land is poisoned. Ndume spoke about “enemies of the state” advising the president. Who are they or can’t we ask who they are? Are we victims of some experiments by those governing our president? The way petrol price daily moves up the spiral staircase feels like Madame Marie’s poison. And just like her palliatives – the biscuits and fruits she graciously gave the needy at that Paris hospital – the kindness of the wicked here kills in devastating installments.

Yet, it doesn’t look like we’ve seen enough. The sad are many but they are past weeping. Shouldn’t there be an end to human suffering? Cornelius Lucey in his ‘The Mystery of Suffering’ (1931:401) writes about life, its constitution and how it handles pain and suffering. He says life sets “limits of time and of degree to the endurance of suffering” so much so that “when pain reaches a certain intensity, nature comes to the rescue. Self-consciousness is suspended, the patient faints off, and the pain ceases to be felt…” The passage you just read euphemises death. Mass suffering, administered in unremitting doses, kills massively.

Yet, in Nigeria, those who daily bake loaves of pain preach endurance. They say we will thank and worship them after this tenure. How many will be alive by the time these times are over? Is it not there in the Christian Bible that only the living strike up the tunes as “fiddles and mandolins.”? The dead don’t bite, yes. They also don’t praise. We beg those who minister pain to please read their Bible; Isaiah 38: 18-20: “The dead don’t thank you, and choirs don’t sing praises from the morgue. Those buried six feet under don’t witness to your faithful ways. It’s the living—live men, live women—who thank you, just as I’m doing right now…”

How many will be around when this government leaves power? Already the country is being emptied, one by one by starvation; en masse by emigration. Japa is no longer a southern Nigerian solution to destitution; resilient northern Nigerian middle class members are bailing out too. That is how forests lose their verdure and cities get abandoned. Look inside the houses around you; the buildings are either empty nests of lonely aged persons or completely abandoned sepulchers.

Alfred Joyce Kilmer (1886 – 1918) wrote ‘The House with Nobody In It’ – a poem about emptiness, about lost glory, about abandonment, about aborted promise. The poet looks at a poor old farmhouse. It hurts to gaze at this house with its crumbling roof and falling shutters. It hurts to think that this house has seen golden years when it sheltered life and hugged man and wife and echoed a baby’s laugh. It hurts to look at the poor old house and feel the pulse of its broken heart. It stands empty, it looks idle. It is stupid.

This poet talks to himself. He says this empty house needs somebody to weed the compound and cleanse the kitchen and the rooms upstairs and downstairs; it deserves some persons of courage and knowledge who would kill the snakes in the crevices, and the scorpions in the cracks. But nobody cares about the dirt and death stalking the stairs. The house needs people in its life. Even if they are ghosts, humming the right tunes. A country is a house.

The Nigerian house is damp and dank. Its hearth needs embers of care. Who will light the wood? The one holding the matches is holidaying somewhere on the moon, transiting from the infirmary of King George IV to the sanatorium of Napoleon Bonaparte. While he does that, this big house is left alone to drift in cold, mournful loneliness, broken hearted. Nigeria should not be that house. Or is it that house? I ask because it hasn’t been this dreary for it all its life. There was a fleeting past of warmth and hope.

It is in some records that this country showed some promise before the terrible crash of less than ten years ago. A World Bank study revealed that between 2003 and 2013, “the size of the middle class in Nigeria increased from 13 per cent to 19 percent while poverty reduced from 45 percent to 33 per cent.” But, by mid-2015, the bank had started asking where the Nigerian middle class was. “Nigeria, where is your bourgeoisie?”, it asked in a blog article in May 2015. Where growth grew yesterday, decay thrives there today. And, that is not the end of the horror. The worst is that those in charge are insisting that what is killing us will eventually give us life. Poison is remedy. Government by oxymoron.

We hope the president will listen to his friend, Ndume, and release us from his chokehold. If he is the thoughtful person they say he is, he will do the right thing on time and give life back to our country. If he refuses to do so, that day will still come when we will inhale and exhale like Philonise Floyd did after a guilty verdict on his brother’s killer. Survivors of this moment will chant: “Today, we are able to breathe again.” That day will come.

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