Opinion
Nigeria Rotten Under Buhari?
Truth often comes from the most unlikely places, and when it comes it is as refreshing as a glass of cold water in very hot weather. A fortnight, or so ago, the standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress, in the forth coming 2023 Presidential Elections, Bola Armed Tinubu, gave his verdict on the stewardship of his party in the last seven years. His language was so refreshing because, unlike other times, he did not sugarcoat the current state of the country under Buhari. He was blunt, just the way our elders in our villages are; and he refused to equivocate when he said: “Nigeria is rotten under President Buhari.” His verdict was in stark opposition to the drivel of the likes of Festus Kyamo, when he tried to score cheap political points by suggesting that the Peoples Democratic Party has an undismantled pipeline for corruption.
It was a case of the kettle calling the pot black. Interestingly, he doubles as the Minister of State for Labour, as well as the Spokesperson for the Tinubu Campaign Organisation. I believe that Nigerians are eager to hear his spin on the verdict of the Asiwaju on the Buhari administration, of which he is a cabinet member. Among the Ijaw people of Southern Nigeria, there is a common saying that the fish begins to rot from the head. By extension, Senator Tinubu has indicted no less than President Buhari himself. He has frontally accused him of running a rotten government. Of course, there is no gainsaying the fact that the fruit tells of what variety of tree it has come from. A rotten tree will definitely produce rotten fruits; in our case corruption, insecurity, injustices, lies, rank nepotism, and the like.
Incidentally, the tree called Buhari’s administration was planted by no other than Senator Bola Armed Tinubu himself, and he has told everyone who wants to listen. In fact, in the period leading to the primary elections, when it seemed like there was a gang up against his presidential ambition, his trump card was his role in President Buhari’s emergence as flag bearer in 2014. He reminded nay-sayers that he single-handedly brought Buhari out of retirement and made him president. The former governor of Lagos State cannot extricate himself from the baggage of the bad product he sold to Nigerians in 2015. He must carry the barge of one who sells rotten, or expired products.
Ordinarily, if Buhari were to be a material product in the Nigerian market, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) would have arrested Tinubu and his co-travellers since 2019. On another level, his statement tells us everything we need to know, so as not to cast our vote for the APC, and for him in particular, come 2023. Around the world, we have seen how heads of government and global CEOs stood out and led from the front against a barrage of global headwinds. These leaders have confirmed the words of the foremost leadership expert of our time, John C. Maxwell, when he observed that everything rises and falls on leadership. A recent case in point is the war in Ukraine, where a President, a former comedian has risen to the occasion in defence of his people.
For instance, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has been able to stand up to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin; a former KGB agent who has been in the presidential saddle for more than two decades. He has been able to rally his people to fight for their motherland; he is only 44 years old. But President Buhari, a retired general has been fiddling for seven years, while the country burns. Meanwhile, the amount of money spent so far on security, and the provisions in the 2023 appropriation bill show how inept, incapable, and corrupt Tinubu’s expiring product has become. The rottenness in Buhari’s government has expanded what we have now come to know as ungoverned spaces in the North. Earlier on in his administration, he prided himself as one who dislodged Boko Haram, from every territory. But that was all a lie. Residents of Maiduguri know the terrorists live with them and do business with them, and the government is also aware.
The rottenness in the military championed by Buhari, has given Boko Haram new siblings. It was under this government that banditry was redefined. Instead of going about their criminal enterprise, bandits now acquire surface-to-air missiles with the capacity to bring down jets. Under this rotten administration, the security architecture of the South East was completely undermined, giving birth to the unknown gunmen phenomenon. In the past seven years so many innocent Nigerians have met their untimely death in the hands of these faceless men of the underworld. As curious as Tinubu’s assertion may be, it is nothing new. It is even suspicious of him to be making such statements concerning Buhari at the twilight of his administration. For most Nigerian voters, the Jagaban of Bugu was only playing to the gallery.
The smell of political and administrative rottenness cannot effectively be removed by parting oneself in the back as Buhari did a few days ago. At this point, the challenging question on the minds of most Nigerians of all stripes and political affiliations is, “what is the degree, and where is the epicentre of the rottenness?” But we also know the answer, that the country is very rotten in every sector, starting from the gates of Aso Rock. Recall that one of President Buhari’s cardinal policy thrusts was fighting corruption, but seven years later, instead of improving on the global corruption index, Nigerian has continued to decline. Some cases of corruption under Buhari are nothing but mind bugling. Like the claim that hundreds of millions of naira was spent on school feeding programme, during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas schools were closed, and children were at home. Or, consider the dirty fuel saga that some billions of Naira were used to clean up; no one has been held accountable to date. Or should we challenge President Buhari on his position regarding the petrol subsidy in 2014? How he asserted that the whole subsidy regime was a scam, and how much he has spent on subsidies in the past seven years.
In fact, in the cases of subsidy, the former Emir of Kano, and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido, in a recent event at Kaduna questioned if Nigerians were drinking the fuel. He challenged NNPCL’s consumption projection. Sadly, if the 2023 Appropriation Bill is passed as proposed by Buhari’s government, it means that fuel subsidies will gulp a whopping N3.6 million which is equivalent to about 20 per cent of next year’s budget. Bear in mind that Buhari has been the Minister for Petroleum Resources since 2015 Before Tinubu’s recenter outburst, if I may use that word, many others within the ruling APC have voiced the same concern. In an interview on Radio France International in April, a member of the Police Service Commission, Mrs Najatu Muhammed, blasted the President for pardoning two former governors, Joshua Dariye, and Jolly Nyame of Plateau State and Taraba State respectively. Mrs Muhammed interpreted it as representing a systematic failure in the country. she lamented that the rot in Plateau State’s education, health, and infrastructure may have been caused by looting by Dariye.
She then went further to accuse the President, saying: “the president does only what serves his interest or that of his lieutenants at the detriment of public interest. Buhari was elected to fight corruption, sadly, he is now the person committing this atrocity. Buhari has proved that he is untrustworthy and unreliable. Buhari has failed all the promises he made to the nation, especially the northerners who lost their lives and property because of him. He has not fulfilled a single promise he made. Buhari’s administration is the most corrupt government ever in the history of Nigeria. The level of stealing is unprecedented. Everybody commits crimes with impunity.” In conclusion, Tinubu should hold his peace, or come up with other sweet nothings with the hope that Nigerians are still gullible. Nigerians are living in the midst of the rottenness under Buhari; and they also know that he, Tunubu, was the chief architect of Buhari’s second coming.
By: Raphael Pepple
The Niger Delta Development Commission was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria to mitigate the effects of oil exploration and exploitation activities on the oil bearing communities or States. It is worthy to clarify that some of the NDDC states are not from South-South geographical zone. NDDC is about oil producing States, irrespective of the geographical location. South – South geographical zone is made up of six states namely; Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers State. As it is today, there is no regional commission called South-South Commission. Rather, what is well-known, is Niger Delta Development Commission to aid development in the oil-bearing States. NDDC is a distinct interventionist agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria to douse down tension or agitation of the people of Niger Delta region.
Agitation by the bearing community led to the establishment of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, despite being scrapped by the present administration of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu. For instance, Abia State is in South-East region and it is part of NDDC, and it will benefit from South-East Commission established by the present Federal Government of Nigeria, to fast track development of South-East Zone. So, Abia State would benefit from NDDC and South-East Commission. Abia is an oil producing state in Nigeria. In the same position, Imo State is a South-East State and also an oil producing state; which automatically makes it a member of NDDC State. And would benefit from both commissions; and no doubt, because of being an oil producing State and by location, South-East State. Automatically, by virtue of oil activities going on in the two Eastern States, they are members of Niger Delta Development Commission.
In the line of operation, Ondo State is in South-West region and by virtue of being an oil producing State, is a member of NDDC. This no doubt, makes Ondo State a beneficiary of NDDC creation. There is no question to ask why Ondo should be member of NDDC? And Ondo State is a member of South-West Development Commission, because of its geographical location as a State in that region. So, the argument that NDDC is a regional commission is out of place. Thus, NDDC is not only for States in the Niger Delta. Another question is: is there an established commission known as South-South Development Commission, that Rivers State, Akwa Ibom, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Cross River should benefit from? The answer is capital No! So NDDC is not a regional commission because it is not only for the six states that make up the South- South. Hence, there is need for the present Federal Government of Nigeria, to urgently address the inequality and disparity created already.
This is because the six geographical zones have zonal commissions. The Federal Government should correct the equation. The misconception that NDDC is regional is not in order and is not correct. As it is today, there is no South-South Commission to help fast track development in the region. The political representatives from the South-South zone, should unite themselves and demand for South-South Development Commission as other zones have theirs. The Federal Government should put modalities in place to establish South-South Development Commission. The status quo should not be allowed to remain as it is now. Thank God, the daily quota of oil production has increased to about 2.5m barrel per day. And that is the reason why South-South should also benefit from the increase of oil activities in Nigeria.
Observationally, every region is bracing up to gain from the oil revenue of the country. And South South Zone which seems to be the hub of oil and gas is lagging behind in terms of purposeful development. NDDC should embark on an aggressive development of the member states. The Federal Government of Nigeria, should correct the negative believe that NDDC is a regional commission. Politicians of the zone should sheathe their swords of discrepancies and work together for the development of the zone. There should be a united front to convince the Federal Government to create or establish South-South Development Commission. Therefore State of the South-South zone in the Niger Delta Development Commission should be made to benefit like their counter parts from South- East and South- West in the NDDC. Thus, NDDC goes beyond regional vision. And that is why the Federal Government should establish South- South Development Commission to balance the equation of regional commission springing up in the country.
Frank Ogwuonuonu
Ogwuonuonu is a free lancer in PortHarcourt.
Last week, precisely Thursday, February 20, 2025, students in Nigeria and the diaspora, under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) inducted the former Chairman of Tai Local Government Council, Chief Matthew NenuBari Dike into its Hall of Fame and gave him a certificate of recognition for what they described as his “outstanding contributions to the development of education and students in Nigeria”. Presenting the award at Saakpenwan, headquarters of Tai Local Government Area, the National Vice President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Mohammed Sabo, said unequivocally that the induction into the Hall of Fame and conferment of the award on Chief Dike was essentially by merit; a product of his endeavor in building the education sector and human capital in Nigeria.
According to the National Vice President of the National Association of Nigerian Students in Nigeria and the Diaspora, the students body does not have a history of conferring frivolous and financially induced awards on people. Chief Matthew NenuBari Dike is one of fewest local government area chairmen of Nigeria that have been so recognised and honoured by students in Nigeria and the diaspora. This is a welcome development given the fact that Tai Local Government Area has not been one of the local government areas in Nigeria that has attained the social, economic and infrastructural sophistication to come to national limelight because of its rural and seeming obscure nature. However , good works and success like light cannot be suppressed, not even by enemies. Success is contagious, a force and voice that speak louder than arm-chair and callous criticism.
Looking at the antecedents of the awardee and recipient of the Nigerian students goodwill, Chief Matthew NenuBari Dike, it is not saying a new thing that he deserves the honour. Within 100 days in the saddle as chairman of Tai Local Government Area, Chief Dike had made significant achievements in driving the development of the education sector and students in Tai Local Government Area, and of course, Nigeria, a feat that marked him out for honour by the National Association of Nigerian Students. Aside recruiting 250 adhoc teachers to improve teaching and learning in Basic and Senior Secondary Schools in the Local Government Area, the former chairman has also established a Special Science School to develop manpower overtime in critical areas in the Local Government Area having noticed that in the last ten years no student of Tai Local Government Area had gained admission to read, Medicine, Engineering, Medical/Health Sciences and many other science based courses.
Chief Dike’s initiative is therefore to address a felt and critical need of the people. Through a rigorous screening process, 104 students emerged as the first set of students to begin the Special Science School at its take-off facility, Model Primary School 2, Uedume, under Mr. Tete Baridamue Osih as the Director. Speaking during the Inauguration of the School, two weeks ago, the former Chairman of Tai Local Government Area, Chief Dike affirmed his administration’s commitment to deliver a new building for the Special Science School . No doubt, the Chief Dike’s adventures in the Education sector is a novel, and capital intensive project. It is a road less taken; only Local Government Area chairmen who are selfless, sacrificial and committed to human capital development of their people can take up such gigantic project, considering the cost-implications. Establishing a fully-furnished Science School for the Local Government Area requires a modern laboratory, provision of science books, a state-of-art science library and adequate funding.
Recurrent expenditures such as payment of salaries of staff, political appointees, councillors, overhead, and other entitlements of workers combined with ongoing capital projects and empowerment programmes that the chairman of the Local Government Area is embarking on, amidst limited income source, make Chief Dike a celebrity in governance, after the like of his principal, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, the “Rivers First” Governor. Students in Nigeria and the diaspora therefore, were objective, sound in judgement and devoid of primordial sentiment when they adjuged the former chairman of Tai Local Government Area worthy to be inducted into their Hall of Fame and honoured for his contributions. The adage that the “aroma of the Fart determines the substance of the poo” finds expression in the person of Chief Dike whose exploits in the education sector aimed at developing the capacity of students to meet critical needs of the Local Government Area, is a testament that Chief Matthew Dike will do more when given higher responsibility or another term.
John C. Mason, in one of his best sellers, “Leadership Gold”, said every human organisation rises and falls on leadership. A good leader will inevitably midwife development in his sphere of influence. This corresponds with the wise saying of the Biblican King Solomon that ‘when the righteous rules, the people rejoice but when the wicked rules, the people groan”. The socio-economic situation of a people to a great extent shows who a leader really is. The works or activities of a leader in relation to the people speak volumes of leadership stuff. Chief Matthew NenuBari Dike made significant impacts in the education sector and human capital development for a greater development in Tai Local Government Area. He is determined to leave a legacy in the sands of time of that Local Government Areas by raising millionaires through his economic empowerment programme to drive self reliance and reduce the level of abject poverty the people wallow in.
If Chief Dike had to achieve such commendable feat within only 100days of 1,095 days term of office, with availability of funds or sustained financial resources, a stable economy and peace, he had the capacity to achieve ten times what he had done for the people of Tai Local Government Area. While this is the beginning of a long and tortuous journey in governance, it is necessary to join students in Nigeria and the diaspora to commend Chief Dike for his impacts in the critical areas of education, human capital development, economic development, etc. To act contrary is to live out the saying of Decimus Magnus Ausonius that “The earth produces nothing worse than an ungrateful man”.
Igbiki Benibo
Since late Prof. Dora Akunyili’s tenure as the Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the fight against fake, illegal and expired drugs seemed to be in limbo until the current raid by the agency. For over one-week NAFDAC has been in the news as it has taken the war to the door post of fake, unauthorised, expired medicine dealers across the country. From Ariaria Market, Aba to Bridgehead, Onitsha, Anambra State, to Idumota drug market, Lagos, the stories are the same. Warehouses are being raided, medicine shops are being closed, counterfeit and expired drugs are being destroyed and so on. The current Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, must be commended for the reinvigorated effort towards ridding our society of poisons in the name of drugs.
Some of these drugs according to NAFDAC are expired, imported drugs which are repackaged and pushed into the markets. Some of the seized drugs were vaccines stored in dilapidated, unventilated rooms, sealed with iron sheets in highly unsanitary conditions. It is doubtful if there is any adult Nigerian that is not aware of the damage caused to the citizens and the country by fake and substandard drugs. How many times have we or someone we know taken malaria drugs, antibiotics or other medicines for a cure of an ailment and they were ineffective? How many people in the country have died because fake or relabelled expired drugs were administered to them? Experts have posited that fake, adulterated, substandard drugs fuel antimicrobial resistance, as substandard antibiotics fail to properly treat infections, leading to stronger and more resilient bacteria.
The proliferation of these harmful substances is indeed a crisis of national significance. It threatens public health, weakens trust in the healthcare system, and exacerbates Nigeria’s already fragile health sector. Local drug manufacturers who invest millions of Naira to produce genuine, quality drugs for the citizens are denied the fruits of their labour by criminal syndicates who take advantage of regulatory loopholes and weak enforcement to flood the market with dangerous substances, putting millions of lives at risk. So, by all means, they should not be spared. But the question that begs for an answer is, where were the government agencies when these fake and expired drugs entered the country and travelled to the states? Why were they not intercepted at the point of entry either via the ports or the land borders and the importers arrested and prosecuted?
According to Adeyeye, most of these poisonous drugs are brought into the country through the ports and the porous borders. Is there nothing that can be done to beef up security and checks against illegal drugs at the borders? Or is it a case of the personnel at the borders looking the other way when they must have been settled thereby allowing unhindered entry of fake and unauthorised products into the country? It is also worrisome why we have allowed drugs to be sold in the open markets in the country. For many years, the federal government has been coming up with policies to address the uncontrolled and undefined buying and selling of medicine with or without approval, all to no avail. Open drug markets continue to thrive, leading to abuse and counterfeiting.
A former National Chairman of the Association of Community Pharmacists, Mr Samuel Adekola, in a recent interview bared his mind on the issue of open drug market. He said, “We know that open drug markets are not the best for Nigeria because of how the drugs are sourced. The government has been coming up with policies to address it, but you know that nature abhors vacuum, so once there is no alternative, these markets crop up because people must use drugs. Policies of the government must support alternatives which will make the drug distribution process/system in Nigeria a regulated and sanitised one. The whole essence of this is to save society from fake and adulterated drugs because the burden of fake drugs on citizen’s health and the economy is huge. Today, 70 percent of deaths in the hospitals arise from drug misuse or fake drugs.”
Early in the week, the NAFDAC DG during a television interview announced that the Kano Coordinated Wholesale Centre for drug marketers has taken off and that that of Lagos, Aba, Onitsha and other places are in the pipeline. Hastened efforts in actualising this will go a long way in checking the menace of fake drugs. Also, in addition to Adeyeye’s request for more funding and more staff for the agency to help in manning the borders and prevent the infiltration of poisonous drugs into the country, there is the need for technology-driven solutions to the challenge. The adoption of digital tools, such as mobile verification codes on drug packaging, can help consumers verify the authenticity of their medications. Blockchain technology can also be explored to track and trace pharmaceutical products from manufacturers to end-users.
NAFDAC and other regulatory bodies should be empowered with adequate resources to crack down on counterfeiters. Policies that improve oversight, enhance drug registration processes, and promote stricter penalties for offenders are essential. The nation’s drug distribution policy which stipulates penalties for defaulters must be implemented. While Adeyeye’s proposed death penalty for fake drug peddlers may be too harsh, many years imprisonment without an option of fine will not be out of place. While commenting on the recent raids, the National Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria – Young Pharmacists Group, Tekena George showered some encomium on the NAFDAC DG, saying that beyond enforcement, her transformational policies promote local production of high-quality medicines in Nigeria, noting that by encouraging domestic manufacturing, she is not only reducing the country’s reliance on imported drugs but also strengthening the nation’s medicine security and economic resilience.
Indeed, over-reliance on imported drugs increases vulnerability to counterfeit products. Both federal and state governments should therefore encourage domestic pharmaceutical production, backed by strong quality control measures. This will ensure a safer drug supply chain. Nigeria should work closely with international agencies such as INTERPOL and the World Health Organisation (WHO) to dismantle transnational drug counterfeiting networks. Sharing intelligence and coordinating enforcement efforts will help disrupt the supply chain of fake drugs. Awareness campaigns are inevitable in dealing with the menace of fake drugs in our society. Many Nigerians remain unaware of the dangers of fake drugs. Government agencies, civil society groups, and healthcare professionals must therefore collaborate to educate the public on how to identify counterfeit drugs and report suspicious products.
Most importantly, the National Orientation Agency, religious and traditional leaders, parents, schools and other organisations must join hands in changing the “get rich at all cost” mentality of some Nigerians. As some people say, corruption, greed and selfishness are the root of all the problems in Nigeria. And unless these vices are dealt with all efforts at stemming fake drug distribution and other menace in the country will bear no positive result.
Calista Ezeaku