By Lasisi Olagunju

They did what locusts do to farms. They spared almost nothing. They ate road slabs, pilfered roofs and stole ceilings. They attacked and looted at least one mosque – and at least one church. They hammered concrete slabs and squeezed out of them iron rods for sale. Well-paved roads suffered their anger because the beauty of the asphalt offended them. In a library, they stole dustbins and spared books. Trash is valuable, book is worthless. They attacked public and private buildings; they looted doors, wrenched windows off their hinges and stole installed tiles. They are the perfect proof of what the unbuilt child will ultimately do to well-built structures.

The sickest, scariest part of the world is our North. In his inaugural address on January 20, 1961, American president, John F. Kennedy, issued a warning which talks directly to today’s Nigeria, particularly the North. He said: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich”. The out-of-school children in our North are in multiples of millions; they are the death of Nigeria and its elite. Their hunger unleashed a maelstrom of destruction on every part of that region last week, forcing the various states there to declare 24-hour curfews. The round-the-clock curfews remained active at the weekend but the rampaging genies stayed stubbornly out of the bottle. Some of the protesters were said to be with Russian flags on Saturday in Kano. What do they really want?

“The children that came out did not even demand anything other than to break offices and attack police,” Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State told Arise News on Thursday night. I don’t think that truth is the truth. In Daura, they did zanga zanga and massed at General Muhammadu Buhari’s house. They went with a message. In Sokoto, they carried leaves, put their anger on the boil and massed at the palace of Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar. They went there with a message that threatens democracy. 

Russia ‘rules’ in Niger Republic and media reports said some protesters in Kano were seen waving Russian flags. What is incongruous in that? Were we not told repeatedly that there is no recognized boundary between Niger Republic and Nigeria’s border communities? The NSCDC in Kano at the weekend complained that aliens, particularly Nigeriens, were among arrested protesters in Kano. I read that and asked what was wrong in citizens of Niger Republic lending a helping hand in bringing down their brother’s Wall of Jericho. Where were the security forces when the government of Niger Republic publicly interfered in our elections in 2019? Or have we forgotten that two governors from that country — Issa Moussa of Zinder and Zakiri Umar of Maradi — were part of those who came and campaigned for Buhari in Kano in January 2019 for his reelection? The alien governors came, wore APC attires, and members of the APC presidential campaign team in Kano celebrated and fetted them.

Today’s president of Nigeria. Bola Tinubu, was the national leader of the APC when that brazen misadventure happened. I can’t remember hearing what he said against it. Abdullahi Ganduje, Tinubu’s party chairman today, was the Kano State governor who hosted those aliens. The Nigerian government celebrated the meddlesome interlopers in photographs wearing Pepsodent smiles. Thoughtful Nigerians loudly complained against that foreign interference; opposition PDP chairman, Uche Secondus, asked INEC to sanction APC and Buhari for that misadventure. “They came with monies and mercenaries to influence elections in Nigeria,” Secondus shouted. INEC promptly replied him: “Their presence does not violate the constitution.” Case closed – that time. Now, the Nigerien chicken has roamed back home to roost. The ruling people and their agents should just shut up and lick their wounds.

The president made a broadcast on Sunday (yesterday). He spoke with the chord of Lizard who fell from the top of the Iroko tree and shook its head: If no one praises me, I praise myself. Did he say anything on the painfully sore soles of Nigerians? If he did, I missed it. He will probably address that in his next broadcast.

Someone should tell the president that what he said on Sunday was what the Hausa man calls dogo turenchi (long grammar). The broadcast showed that Tinubu’s understanding of what Nigerians are going through is zero. He spoke about the #EndBadGovernance protest being some people’s political agenda. If there is indeed an agenda, it must be secondary to the real rebellion of the belly going on. My people say malevolent medicines don’t work unless believable stories are woven round the spell (ejo ni aa ro fun oogun ki o to je). There would not be popular support for the protest if there was no general anguish in town. The hundreds on the street are (were) those who had the strength to go out; the millions who are at home are even more trenchant in their protest. What they say are not prayers. The president needs to go out, feel the street and do another broadcast.

If what you eat is exhausted, you go for what is classed as taboo. That proverb sounds like what a leader of the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, said about the last option of the hungry: “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich (Quand le peuple n’aura plus rien à manger, il mangera le riche).” From one end of the street to the other, a scary video shows children of the North blasting slabs fittingly placed on gutters, scavenging for iron rods. They did it with uncommonly calm fury, daring the state.

A government ICT centre in Kano was invaded and stripped of all its assets. Children without basic education can’t appreciate computers and their possibilities. There is a lesson there for our policy makers. First things first.

Kaduna’s Governor Sani said more: “If you look at the developmental indices, I made it clear to everyone last week that as far back as 2016 in the northwest part of Nigeria, there was nothing but kidnappings and banditry. We have found ourselves in this problem because of the lack of seriousness of the leaders, including myself.” That was a very candid admission of complicity in the tragedy that has unfurled in the north. Sani added that everyone in northern Nigeria who held a leadership position, including the business community, should reflect on why over 70 percent of adults are financially excluded, why 65 percent of people are living below the poverty line, and why 70 percent of Nigeria’s 18.3 million out-of-school children are domiciled in the north. “That is why, if you look at the protest today, most of the states that participated are from northern Nigeria…” the governor said.

That Kaduna where Governor Sani sits was where the maker of the North, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, sat and made a very sound difference in the lives of his people. Sardauna’s biographer, John Paden, says when Bello was a mere councillor in charge of the Sokoto districts, he ensured that “education was the key.” When he became the premier, he held on to that conviction that the system must run well in such a way that “there was no resentment from below.” Paden adds: “The Sardauna felt that if this system broke down, the whole of the society would break down.” What the Sardauna feared has happened. The system he built has broken down. Governor Sani said so. The fury on the streets of the North is the confirmation.

On Saturday, Borno State governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, expressed shock over what he called the involvement of children in the protests in his state. He said over 95 percent of the protesters were under 14. To him, most of the children were unaware of the reasons behind their actions. He said the situation was “astonishing”. “It’s astonishing to see a six-year-old child carrying a placard. They must have been directed by someone.” Many of the children, he said, were not from Borno State. So, where did they come from? Were the unknown ones from Niger or Chad? The governor needs to tell us.

How many children of Borno do Borno and its governor know? Some people’s blessings are as limitless as the waters of the Atlantic. Children of northern Nigeria compete with the sands of the desert in matters of number. Sometimes you are tempted to ask what music they listen to in that very expansive clime?

Queen of songs, Onyeka Onwenu, died last week; God bless her sweet soul. With King Sunny Ade in 1989, Onyeka did a duet on life and the need to plan it well. They labelled the album ‘Wait For Me.’ The song suggests that if your loin is virile enough to sire a million children, your hands must be strong enough to make billions to feed them. You can’t have “plenty children” and offload their care to society. The duo sings that a nation can’t have sad families and still be a happy country. They sing:

Having babies, no be joke oh,

You go feed them

You go give them cloth

Bring them up too…

If you never ready to carry the load

Why put am for another person head?…

Plenty children dey, but no food to eat

Oh my friend, this kain life na so so wahala…

King Sunny Ade and Onyeka Onwenu are not done. They also have these lines which are even more national in aim:

Happy parents, na happy children

Happy family na happy country…

If you love life, you go plan am well…

The album is 35 years old. Nothing has changed since it was released. Indeed, if you sing that Sunny Ade/Onyeka Onwenu song in the north, you are not likely to escape the sanctimonious sanctions of the leaders there. The singers sang nonsense, they would say. When families are wracked by hunger and anger, a million presidential broadcasts will not make patriots of them. “Happy family na happy country” The streets of Nigeria, north and south, are full of sad children of hunger and daring kids of anger. It is apparently worse in the North. The Almajirai who used to live on leftovers can’t get leftovers again. Everyone who still can afford some food is sticking to rations that serve their hunger. No excess food for excess children. The problem is real.

Nigerians are very hungry but it appears the North is hungrier. It will be hungry. Because of the choices it made yesterday, it can’t go to the farm today, can’t go to the stream to fetch water; the willing among them can’t go school. When you add mass hunger to mass illiteracy, you get perfect poison. Thunder claps of hunger are celting the stomach of Nigeria and there is no rescuing the afflicted. No country has what we have as street children in northern Nigeria and knows peace. It is not possible.

Like it happened in France of 1793, we’ve just heard a no for the very influential religious authority in northern Nigeria. The North’s feudal hierarchy, its autocracy and the clergy lost the street. The Ulama lost their command; the emirs lost their mane. The two lethal groups failed to convince the hungry that what they were feeling was politics and not hunger. The result, sadly, is the free reign of terror in that realm. If it was pupils of Muslim clerics that raged into a mosque and sacked the worship house from ceiling to floor, then the mallams should beware. Their domesticated lions have matured; the hungry cats want the wild and the food it offers.

There were protests also in the South – particularly in the South-West. Everyone who lives there should thank the protesters for staying the course peacefully. We should thank the state governments, particularly the governors of highly combustible Oyo, Osun, and Lagos, for not sleeping on duty and for fencing off their states from violence. We should also thank the police and other security forces in these states for not craving the taste of blood.

The biggest casualties of the protest in Yoruba land are, however, the pro-government political elite to whom double standards is honourable. They shaved clean the head of Agbe, bird of the creeks; they scraped clean the hairs of Àlùkò, bird of the desert; when it was the turn of their own bird, Àtíòro, they said their blade had lost its sharp edge. There is one word for that behaviour in Yoruba – it is Àgàbàgebè. We wait to see how they will find their vociferous voice again after this era.

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

115 years ago, in 1909, Walter Egerton, the Barrister-turned-colonial administrator, and then Governor, introduced the Sedition Ordinance into the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria. This drew a sharp response from Christopher Sapara Williams, Nigeria’s first lawyer, himself the son of an Egba mother and an Ijesha father, who challenged the Ordinance, describing it with considerable prescience as “a thing incompatible with the character of the Yoruba people, and has no place in their constitution…. Hyper-sensitive officials may come tomorrow who will see sedition in every criticism and crime in every mass meeting.”

Sapara Williams was Nigeria’s first articulate defender of civic dissent. The promulgation of the Sedition Ordinance was one of the fallouts of the Lagos Water Riots of 1908. The antecedents go back to the encounter between Lagos and colonial England. As the countries of Imperial Europe concluded their carve up of Africa in Berlin in February 1885, Oba Dosunmu of Lagos died, to be succeeded by his son, Oba Oyekan 1.

At the death of Oba Oyekan 1 on 30 September 1900, a fierce succession battle ensued. Sapara Williams was one of the lawyers instructed by the parties to the dispute. When the dust settled, his client, Adamaja, lost to the eventual winner and Oba Dosunmu’s grand-son, Eghugbayi Eleko who ascended the throne in 1901 but this did not becloud his clarity of principles on the rights of the peoples of the territory to protest. Unlike the supporters of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Sapara Williams’ views on the right to protest did not depend on the ethnicity of the person in power.

That was one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of Lagos and coincided with a most intense period in the colonial territorial consolidation that would ultimately result in the notion of Nigeria. An inevitable conflict between the colonists and dissenting natives revolved around two issues: racial segregation which privileged whites; and free expression which patronized native populations. Over one century later, these same issues – discrimination and freedom of expression – continue to plague and define governance in Nigeria.

Sapara Williams was implacable in his support of the right to protest. Long after his untimely death in 1915, his position remained a source of inspiration to the Eleko and people of Lagos in an even more consequential dispute over the control of traditional lands in the colony. This issue ended up before the highest court with jurisdiction over the territory in the case of Amodu Tijani, decided by the Privy Council in July 1921. The Eleko rallied behind the Idejo Chiefs, led by Amodu Tijani, the Oluwa of Lagos, who had the support of Herbert Heelas Macaulay, grand-son of the first African Anglican Bishop, Michael Ajayi Crowther and veteran dissenter.

For the hearing before the Privy Council in 1920, Herbert Macaulay travelled to London with the Oba’s Staff of Office in support of Amodu Tijani and the Chiefs. While in London, Herbert Macaulay issued a statement claiming that the Eleko was the King of over 17 million Nigerians and in possession of territory more than three times that of Great Britain. Despite a healthy revenue of over Four Million Pounds, he claimed, the British had reneged on a treaty commitment to compensate the Eleko. Embarrassed at being publicly called duplicitous in this way, the British required the Eleko to disown Herbert Macaulay. He issued a public statement clarifying his position on Herbert Macaulay’s statement but declined to disown him through the Oba’s Bell Ringers as required by the colonists.

Unable to secure the support of the popular Eleko, the colonists chose to head off rising tension by deposing him. On 6 August 1925, they issued an ordinance de-stooling him and, two days later, on 8 August they arrested and removed the Eleko into internal banishment in Oyo. In his place, they installed Oba Ibikunle Akitoye.

Oba Akitoye’s rule lasted an uncomfortably brief three years largely because he lacked the support of the people of Lagos. Indeed, in 1926, he suffered physical assault by is people. Supported by the elite and people of Lagos, the deposed Eleko took his case to the courts, fighting all the way to the Privy Council who decided on 19 June 1928 in favour of his claim for leave for a writ of habeas corpus. This all but sealed the fate of Oba Akitoye, who is suspected to have facilitated his own earthly demise shortly thereafter.

Just as the Eleko was on his way to being reinstated in Lagos, the Aba Women’s Uprising took off in 1929. Like the “Lagos Water Riots”, it was also anchored on dissent over colonial taxation in the foreground of what would become an incomplete colonial head count in 1931. The pivotal moments in the uprising of the women of the East actually covered the territories of what would today be known as the states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, and Rivers States.

On 16 December, 1929, Adiaha Mary Edem, a formidable female trader, led a contingent of women from the Andoni, Ibibio, and Ogoni nations, as well as women from Opobo Town to a meeting with the colonial officers at the Opobo Divisional Office. The purpose of the meeting was to address the concerns of the women over the new colonial tax proposals. In anticipation of the meeting, meanwhile, the Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) had arranged for the presence of well-armed soldiers from Calabar and Enugu under the command of Captain J. Hill.

Egbert Udo Udoma – the son of Adiaha Edem – who grew up to become Chief Justice of Uganda and Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, testifies in his memoirs that around mid-day on the day, while he and his mates were still in school, they heard, “a loud report in the form of volleys being the sound of a discharge of rounds of gunfire by soldiers. It came as a shock to all of us at school when we were told that the soldiers had shot some of the women who held the meeting with the Divisional Officer.” One of the women killed on the day was his mother, Adiaha Edem. The reason for the massacre was that “at the meeting, the women had raised objection to the imposition of poll tax by the government. The SDO apparently did not like that; hence soldiers mowed down the women.”

20 years later, on 18 November 1949, the colonial authorities killed 21 miners and injured 51 others in Iva Valley, near Enugu. The most that came out of the inquiry that followed was the creation of the Ministry of Labour. Following the adoption of McPherson Constitution in 1951, Ladoke Akintola became Nigeria’s first Minister of Labour, as a direct result of the Iva Valley Massacre. In the period since then, organized labour has mostly been the biggest force of dissent and protest in Nigeria. That was at least until the onset of the digital revolution put the organization of protests to scale within reach of everyone with a digital device.

It is beyond ironic that rights of protest secured with the heroic sacrifices of Nigerians under colonial bondage are now endangered over six decades after Independence at the hands of a government that trumpets its electoral legitimacy supposedly through the votes of the same Nigerians whose rights to protest it, however, chooses not to respect.

The colonists defaulted to violence in response to protest because they lacked legitimacy with the natives. 95 years after the colonial regime massacred Opobo women in Ikot Abasi at the onset of the Aba Women’s Uprising, the response of Independent Nigeria to the idea of dialogue with its people under the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains largely un-evolved and, if anything, even more lethal. Today as then, whenever government does that, it is because it suffers a costly crisis of legitimacy.

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at [email protected]

By Richard Odusanya

George Orwell once wrote or said, “The further a society drifts from the truth, the more they will hate those that speak it,” or similar words. Truth is universal and never changes. But there are people determined to destroy the truth and subvert it with their thoughts and ideas. Their purpose is to replace the truth with lies. After enough “drift” society accepts the lie as if it were true and then hates the people who speak it. 

For example: For hundreds of years in the Western world and some other societies, sex outside of marriage was considered immoral. A movement began in the 60s to change that. Now in 2024 if you say that you’ll be hated for saying it and possibly offend the LGBT rights. Oh yes! One reason is that the truth reminds society how chaotic and frightening the unsustainable alternative reality we have created must eventually become.

Additionally, our identity is defined by our worldview, values, beliefs, traits, habits, preferences, background, achievements, goals, and failures and lessons we learned from them. Furthermore, our culture establishes our worldview and informs our behavior. Language creates human culture. The transition from vocalizing to verbalizing in the evolution of our species was the beginning of language and culture.

On the other hand, in the profound words of Frederick George Hilmer AO, an Australian academic and business figure. Frederick posited that leadership requires five ingredients: brain, energy,  determination, trust, and ethics. The key challenges today are in terms of the last two: trust and ethics.

To build a little context, I had some disturbing and serious concerns about the caliber of leadership entrusted to us through our electoral process. First, Peter Ayodele Fayose served as governor of Ekiti State from 2003 to 2006, and again from 2014 to 2018. Fayose a friend of President Bola Tinubu, says that northerners marrying multiple wives and having many children indiscriminately constitute a huge problem for Nigeria and a burden on the government.

Secondly, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike CON, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory since 2023. He previously served as the governor of Rivers State from 2015 to 2023. In his words: “That day is not available for those who want to protest, and FCT is not available for the protesters,” he said.

He said that the security council was aware of the threat of the protest and what some people may call “end bad governance.”

The worst of them all is Godswill Obot Akpabio CON, currently serving as the 15th president of the Nigerian Senate since 2023. He had previously served as the Governor of Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015. ‘We’ll be eating, protesters can go protest’, Akpabio mocks organizers. 

The arrogance of power as displayed in recent days established a clear disconnection from the reality faced by ordinary Nigerians and suggested that citizens cannot hold them accountable and there will be no consequence for bad behavior.

Let me be clear: good men are often humble and don’t require positions of authority for self-validation. In Plato’s opinion, Good Men shouldn’t rise to office because they want it for their gain. But Good Men should rise to office because it is their moral duty to prevent evil men from doing so.

I’ve been trying for a while to find a way to situate the divisive and inflammatory statements and the position of our dear President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT), as presented by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale. He assured the citizens that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is poised to serve Nigerians, not “dominate” them.

With the examples of Fayose’s divisiveness; Wike’s arrogance of power and Akpabio’s recklessness. It is a clear message to the president that now and then, there will be people who will challenge his leadership by testing or questioning his authority. More often than not, this is the time to determine if we can trust your leadership and if you are who you are supposed to be. Because when you’re walking at the front, it’s difficult to see what’s behind you. Given the multitude of work and responsibilities, it is clear that it takes a great deal of time, discipline, and practice to become a great and effective leader.

In addition, I will consider the golden words of Dr. Dale C. Bronner, a bishop, church planter, author, conference speaker, and leadership trainer. He is the founder and senior pastor of Word of Faith Family Worship Cathedral. Bishop Dale Bronner posited: “If serving is below you, then leadership is beyond you” 

In conclusion, I, have an abiding suspicion of some of the people who are given to recklessness, careless whisper at critical times, self-centered and ostentatious lifestyles.

Finally, I wish to join millions of our compatriots at home and abroad in dedicating the article on LEADERSHIP in memory of our beloved songstress Onyeka Onwenu MFR (31 January 1952 – 30 July 2024) a Nigerian singer/songwriter, actress, human rights and social activist, journalist, politician, and former X Factor series judge. Dubbed the “Elegant Stallion” “Nigeria: The Squandering of Riches”

Richard Odusanya

[email protected]

By IfeanyiChukwu Afuba 

Whether said openly or in hushes, there’s a perception out there that the country’s Civil Services are underperforming. This poor rating of the federal and state bureaucracies is  shared strongly by leaders of governments across the country. It would  account, in part, for  the unwillingness of political leaders to accede to meaningful wage increase for workers. Dating back to the still – born Third Republic, we have seen some State Governors proposing reduction in number of working days as alternative to wage increase. But this recommendation would only be running away from a problem. 

Since the focus is on greater performance, we should be concerned with feasible approaches for “recreating” the Civil Service. Although several civil service reforms have been attempted in the past, it is to be noted that the challenges facing the administrative organ of Government in the country are neither static nor permanent. They continue to vary in time, shape and content being themselves impacted by the forces of sociology and development. Furthermore, past civil service reforms tended to prioritize bolstering of the leadership cadres rather than sustainable development of the entire workforce. 

The Civil Service Reforms of 1988, remarkable for it’s emphasis on career  professionalism, weighed in favour of potential heads of MDAs. Rising to the apex is invariably a pyramid trip, with the number of successful candidates narrowing in the progression. While the concept of Director – General created room for non administrative officers to attain the equivalent of Permanent Secretary, this did not stir noticeable ‘interest’ in the middle and lower rungs. The new headship position was not an attraction nor incentive for hard work because the prospect of attainment was not in view.

Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo recently tried to extend the stakes factor in the appointment of 18 new permanent secretaries. This harvest of “accounting” officers for Ministries, Departments & Agencies was unique in it’s extent of competitiveness. The recruitment process broke with tradition in two significant ways. Pre-qualification was thrown open to all in  senior management cadre. Secondly, applications were also invited from outside the Civil Service for candidates with cognate experience for the job. Doubtless, these provided a wider, richer resource pool for talents. The experiment with private sector engagement however, did not yield the intended input. The vacancies were probably not sufficiently publicized or the age factor vis a vis conditions of service was seen as a disadvantage. Civil Servants retire at 60 with pension right proportionate to number of service years. Consequently, a folk assuming  Permanent Secretaryship from outside the system at say, age 55 will leave at retirement age without being qualified for pension and gratuity. 

In the context of inclusivity, there is  need to give the middle and lower rungs of the Service not just a sense of belonging but indeed, opportunity of stakeholdership. Thus, at the various levels of the system, conditions can be created for recognition and reward of sterling performance to serve as general motivation. 

A major problem of the Civil Service rarely captured by past reform studies is the negative attitude of many officers to democratic governments. This is a case of widespread resentment arising from the “corruption” of military rule. Till date, many civil servants rate military regimes as generally performing better than democracies. But this preference for military dictatorship actually has to do with the sense of marginalisation  associated with democratic dispensations.

It is to be remembered that military rule was structurally and politically dependent on the Civil Service for it’s operation.This administrative necessity opened handsome opportunities at power play for civil servants. The hitherto anonymous bureaucrats became Secretary to Federal/State Governments; Resident; Senior Divisional Officer; Local Government Chairman; Sole Administrator of Parastatals and Agencies, Heads of Commissions and so on. Permanent Secretaries transited to super permanent secretaries, with sufficient clout to instigate renunciation of the Aburi Accord. As advisers to military regimes, top bureaucrats emerged as both policy makers and policy executors. The benefits of this empowerment trickled down to the lowest step of the officer corp with severe consequences for ethics and accountability.

Although the generations that experienced military rule would phase out from service in the next ten years, the heritage of the military era would continue to impact the character of the Civil Service for some time. The gaps between “with immediate effect decrees” and the rounds of participatory democracy are too wide to be underplayed. Similarly, the conditioning for illicit enrichment arising from over – exposure of ideally anonymous bureaucrats cannot be erased overnight.

Unfortunately, the  irresponsibility and looting of the Nigerian political class has fueled nostalgia for military rule among public servants. With the winner – takes – all – orientation of Nigerian politics, many an elected administration have descended on government institutions as conquered territories, seeking to subject them to partisan ends. In the event, civil servants’ resentment of democratic government fosters.

Ordinarily, the Nigerian public service is over bloated. The Stephen Orosanye Report of 2012 established the existence of 541 federal Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies. It went ahead to recommend reduction of statutory agencies from 263 to 161, scrapping of 38 agencies and merging of 52. For Ehi Ibrahim, “trimming the civil service to a manageable size” must be undertaken before the system can achieve efficiency. When we add to above scenario, the hundreds of political offices created by elected governments, the inherent administrative challenges become clearer. Not only are some of the offices multiplications of existing ones or conflicting with statutory regulations, the bossy ways of the political appointees make relations with the bureaucracy difficult. 

The first task here would be to summon the political will to cut cost of governance to the essentials. Secondly, the gulf between politicians and non politicians can be bridged through blending of political and career offices at some levels. Closer and cooperative interaction of the two sides are necessary for smooth functioning of government machinery. Joint undertakings will also enhance civil servants’ appreciation of the Government’s manifesto, thus, increasing their capacity for service delivery.

As a product of society, our Civil Services are contending with the quality of our developmental efforts. The manpower of our administrative institutions are largely products of underfunded universities caught in a vicious circle of prolonged  shutdowns, commercialized academic assessment and rushed school programmes.

Add to that the toll youth addiction to social media is taking on education and the crisis stares in the face. _Punch_ news story of July 18, 2024, titled “6500 Federal Workers Fail Promotion Exam” leaves nothing else to the imagination. And this is not the kind of deficiency Administrative Staff College of Nigeria can remedy. The situation demands a continuing education programme. Staff should not be assessed only at (four yearly) promotion intervals. Governments must ensure that every Ministry has a well – stocked library. And as Stephen Olugbemi canvassed in “The Nigerian Civil Service and National Development,” the use of modern management practices and policy monitoring mechanisms will make a difference.

Afuba is Director, Public Administration Circle, Awka.

By Richard Odusanya

Let’s begin with the profound words of Pan-Africanist scholar PLO Lumumba, PLO, profoundly posited: “Religion has been used to manipulate Africans into poverty”

From my personal experience and observation; the more religious a person is, the more dangerous he is. Because religion carries with it deep-rooted prejudices that cause conflict, mistrust, and oppression. When you use religious faith to determine what is true, then you open yourself up to delusion. The more religious or “faith-full” someone is, the more likely it is that they will hold destructive, delusional beliefs as truth.

Here is a good example of the challenge: for example, the thing about a delusion is that it is often very difficult to crack from the outside, and intelligence is no defense from the inside against delusion. So, it is this herd mentality, that I think has gotten perverted into religions. Ultimately, religious differences increasingly, cause mistrust, animosity, misunderstanding, and conflict.

More than any other factor, religion divides us mostly when it tells us that it alone codifies true rules for determining what is right or wrong. We are then led to believe that the actions, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of others are inconsequential when they appear to contradict our understanding of the proper religion of our choice.

We become less empathetic, less tolerant, less merciful, less gracious, less generous, and less humble when we believe that our religion’s morals, cosmology, or manner of thinking are more correct and righteous. We become less connected to the people, animals, environment, and even ourselves when we believe that religious influence renders the influence of those things less important.

Although this might sound idealistic, human beings, if united, could overcome enormous obstacles. Yet, here in the 21st century, religious differences are still dividing us, holding us back from reaching our full potential. Human unity and peace are made unattainable because religion segregates people into clusters of believers and “nonbelievers”. 

Religion instills in people the idea that those who differ with their religious beliefs are evil and undeserving of association, or even of their humanity. I was raised in Christianity; I am no longer comfortable with the resultant realities of religiosity because religion instilled certain values into me that it never intended to, through its examples of superstition, irrationality, and dishonesty.

Religion, especially such as the Wahhabism and Pentecostal brands of Islam and Christianity respectively, have continually demonstrated a potency of reducing the masses to illogical complacency.

Consequently, I have learned not to equate belief with knowledge. Belief starts where knowledge stops. They do not shade into each other; no matter how fervently you believe something, you cannot claim to ‘know’ it, unless you can demonstrate it in a way that can be ‘known’ by those who do not believe it. I have learned that it is dangerous to accept irrational claims at face value and that implausible claims, especially relating to the supernatural, would require particularly plausible evidence.

Asked about his thoughts on the future of religion in our growing civilization, Stephen Hawkings responded even in his state of paralysis which is ironically assisted by technology, he posited: “Religion was an early attempt to answer the questions we all ask: Why are we here, where did we come from? Nowadays, Science provides better and more consistent answers but people will always cling to religion because it gives comfort and they do not trust or understand science”

Additionally, faith is impossible to deal with logic. The tragedy of our time is that we seem to rely more heavily on faith than logic and this is perhaps the catalyst for majority of the word in our society and country today. The Government and leaders seem to take the masses for granted knowing the masses can always be manipulated for them by the religious leaders. As such, it is the process of distribution of patronage to the religious leaders that often instigates the many religious tension in our society and country.

In conclusion therefore, this is a clarion call to our revered faith leaders across the different religious bodies in Nigeria to come together and advance interfaith collaboration for peace-building and peaceful coexistence amongst people of divergent creeds. Particularly at a time like this when we are at a crossroads and difficult period given the relationship that exists between politics and religion cannot be over-emphasized in Nigeria’s polity since the evolution of a sustainable democracy has heightened the relevance of religion in our society. Religion has been identified as one of the factors that have divided the people of Nigeria who are divided already.

Finally, while reflecting on questions asked some four decades ago by the Ozzidi king Sonny Okosun “Which way Nigeria is heading to? I love my fatherland. I want to know which way Nigeria is heading to.?” The questions asked in that song are still relevant. 

Richard Odusanya

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