Today, however, Nigeria is home to the largest single-train refinery in the world, with the capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude per day

Nigeria: The Changing Governance Story

By Temitope Ajayi

Sahara Weekly Reports That Tracking many stories of remarkable progress currently taking place in Nigeria can be a challenging task. This is so because these important stories are lost to some who daily indulge in the cacophony of adverse reports. These negative news often dominates the headlines.

With a 24-hour news cycle that tends to focus mainly on distasteful narratives, several Nigerians have been made to accept the view that nothing good is happening in their country.

Those who rely on the mainstream media and social media as the only sources of news and information they consume are the worst hit by the cycle of misinformation that portrays our country as descending rapidly to the edge of the precipice. However, the reality is different: the country is making progress in leaps and bounds.

Late Swedish physician and Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute, Hans Rosling, his son, Ola Rosling, and daughter-in-law, Anna Rosling, extensively dwell on this subject in “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think,” a book published in 2018. In the book, the authors demonstrate that most people are made to hold the wrong notion about the state of the world because the media project data, analyse trends and select stories to make people assume that things are getting worse around them. The authors assert that a majority of people view the world as poorer, less healthy, and a more dangerous place to live in than it actually is. In other words, many people believe they are living in a worse period in the history of mankind because of misinformation.

The same situation the Roslings describe in their book is at play in Nigeria, where individuals, interest groups, activists, analysts, self-serving politicians, and opposition elements constantly project and amplify negative stories.

It is as if we are in a race with those who can say the most horrible things about our country. Yet, we have an abundance of good stories to tell the world. We seem so numb to the good news that we are dismissive of breakthroughs and innovative trends. For instance, we downplay the significance of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and its possibilities to reflate the economy.

Many people forgot so soon that we had been importing petroleum products for over three decades because the state-owned refineries are moribund. Our national economy bled, and the country was in a fiscal cul-de-sac for those years as a result of subsidy payments on petroleum products.

Today, however, Nigeria is home to the largest single-train refinery in the world, with the capacity to process 650,000 barrels of crude per day. Cynics do not see this as a breakthrough.

Nigerians who are 60 years old and below started seeing modern rail infrastructure in 2016 when the All Progressives Congress-led administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the standard gauge rail system, beginning with the Abuja-Kaduna route, later Lagos-Ibadan and then the Warri-Itakpe.

The national rail modernisation project is progressing with Kano-Katsina-Maradi and Kano-Kaduna standard gauge rail projects at different stages of completion. The contractor working on the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge recently announced the completion of the Port Harcourt-Aba section. While the Federal Government is rallying stakeholders to promote economic integration across the country, the Lagos State Government recently launched two metro rail lines -Blue and Red Rail lines – as part of the state’s elaborate master plan to build a modern and efficient megacity. Like Lagos State, there are visible signs of remarkable, quantifiable progress in several other states, including Kaduna, Kano, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Kebbi, Borno, Gombe, Oyo, Ekiti and Ogun, among others.

A few weeks ago, the President Bola Tinubu-led administration embarked on the construction of the 700 kilometres Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway that will connect nine coastal states in another bold move to bolster economic growth further and open up the country to productive economic activities.

While it may be very easy for critics and other armchair analysts to ignore these developments and their significance to remaking Nigeria, there is no gainsaying that these projects and many more that are ongoing or about to be instituted across critical sectors are the core of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda. Indeed, it is hard to process why the so-called critics and cynics can not see the Lagos-Calabar Highway project as a clear demonstration of the President’s commitment to harnessing the potential of our renascent Blue Economy.

Despite what is bandied by the most vociferous critics

*PDP: How Primate Ayodele’s Prophecy Exposed Ex-Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike (VIDEO)

The national executive council (NEC) meeting of the People Democratic Party (PDP) that held yesterday further cemented the strength of the former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike and his G-5 group in the party despite the fact that they all worked against the candidate of the party during the 2023 presidential election.

Before the NEC meeting, many political analyst and commentators had predicted that Nyesom Wike, who is a serving minister under the current APC administration will not be admitted into the meeting because of his political affiliations and support for an opposition party but they were all caught by surprise yesterday when the former Rivers state governor was graciously admitted into the meeting.

It became more surprising that Wike’s ally, Umar Damagum was allowed to continue his rule as the acting national chairman of the party despite calls from different sections of the party that he had to step down. All of these only indicate that Nyesom Wike, in spite of his moves against PDP, still has so many grips on the party.

Interestingly, the actions of Nyesom Wike have all been foretold by Nigerian prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele who has been warning PDP stakeholders to put their house in order. In 2023, the man of God warned that the party will be destroyed by a force and that the party will be separated. He mentioned that Wike has a strategy and he will try his best to install the next chairman of the party because he has an ambition to become the president of Nigeria.

These were his words:

‘’There is a force ready to destroy PDP, if the party doesn’t rise to these big challenges, the party will be separated. One party will go to another party and that will be very tough. PDP should put their house together. Wike has a strategy because he still aims to become a president in Nigeria and is still willing to take over the party. He has not relent in his efforts of becoming president and is ready to hold PDP…..He will want to install the next chairman of PDP and this will begin to cause friction in the party. PDP must watch this’’

@primateayodele

#pdp #wike #nyesomwike #saraki #seyimakinde #pdp #umarilliyea #bukolasaraki #okowa #atiku #atikuabubakar #bala #governorsforum #ngf #primateayodele #iescworldwide

♬ original sound – Primate Ayodele

It is worthy of note that Primate Ayodele has been warning PDP to be wary of Wike’s grievances since 2022. Long before the formation of G-5 governors, Primate Ayodele warned that five governors including Nyesom Wike will work against PDP in the presidential election. He advised the party’s candidate and leadership to ensure the former governor doesn’t leave the party because it will cause jeopardy.

‘’PDP should not allow Wike to leave because if he leaves, the chances of the party in the presidential election will be jeopardized. What Wike is dragging can cause PDP so much that Atiku should try to adjust, and this is not about dominating.

‘’If PDP does not settle its crisis, the party will go into oblivion after 2023; Atiku should consult God, technocrats, and those that love him; otherwise, this Wike’s crisis can sink PDP.’’

Atiku vs Wike: PDP’ll lose presidency, sink into oblivion if Rivers gov leaves – Primate Ayodele

Till today, the crisis the party is experiencing is basically because of the withdrawal of support by Nyesom Wike. The party is currently going into oblivion due to the grievances of Nyesom Wike and the G-5 group. Primate Ayodele’s prophecies already exposed these plans but sadly, the party’s leadership didn’t listen.

Don’t desecrate the courts while fighting corruption, anti-graft CSOs caution EFCC, others

. Say ‘rush to arrest ex-Kogi Gov despite pending Appeal Court hearing suggests political persecution’

. Warn against ‘breaking a law to enforce another’

Anti-Corruption Civil Society Organisations have advised the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission not to desecrate the courts in the course of carrying out its constitutional role of fighting corruption.

The CSOs and human rights crusaders cautioned the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies against trampling on the rights of supposed suspects of corruption in order to avoid breaking a law to enforce another law.

The activists, who spoke at an emergency press briefing in Lagos on Thursday, noted specifically that the recent public face-off between the EFCC and a former Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello in Abuja, was “both unnecessary and unfortunate.”

The Executive Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), who addressed the press, suggested that the rush
by the EFCC to make an arrest, when the Court of Appeal hearing on its application to vacate the restraining order was just in a few days, might give credence to allegations of political persecution.

“Mr. Olukoyede is my friend. But if he begins to trample on the rule of law, then that’s the terminal point of our friendship,” Adeniran said.

The CSOs noted that the EFCC’s action on Wednesday was “tantamount to the agency preempting the outcome of its appeal and also violating a subsisting and valid court order to pause action pending the determination of the case before it.”

“Our layman’s understanding is that a Court of coordinate jurisdiction cannot assume superiority over another,” they noted.

Gbenga Soloki of the Centre Against Injustice and Domestic Violence, who also spoke, said civil societies in Nigeria would protest vehemently against any attempt to use the military to arrest an individual who had not been accused of treason.

“It is extremely disappointing to hear this afternoon that EFCC is threatening to involve the military in their desperation to forcefully or violently arrest an individual who has not been alleged of treason.

“Should that happen, we will be a laughing stock globally. Civil society will be active in protesting against such unforgivable infraction on our democracy should it happen as threatened. It should better not happen,” he said.

Adeniran stated, “We do not consider Yahaya Bello a saint, but even the devil deserves his rights under the law. Court documents at our disposal show that the former Governor had obtained a High Court restraining order on the EFCC not to arrest or prosecute him pending the determination of a case of the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, which the Commission has rightfully appealed with the intention of vacating.

“The Commission has done very well up to this point following the due processes of law because without vacating that order, it cannot proceed with arresting the suspect.

“According to available court documents, hearing on the appeal has been slated to come up on Monday April 22nd in Abuja. However, suddenly yesterday (Wednesday) the news of the foiled arrest of the former Governor by the Commission went viral. One would have expected the Commission to wait for the determination of its own appeal before going after the suspect.

“We think it is an abuse of court processes to ignore a court order still on appeal at the instance of the Commission and to obtain a warrant of arrest from another court on the same suspect.”

The CSOs urged the EFCC to fight, prevent and prosecute corruption cases strictly within the ambit of the law set up to regulate the interaction between them and corruption suspects.

They noted that laws, including the Nigerian criminal justice system regulations and court processes, were meant to be obeyed non-selectively by both state and non-state actors.

The CSOs recalled that when the current Chairman of the EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, came on board last year, one of his promises was to operate strictly within the rule of law.

“For those who are likely to misinterpret this intervention as it is their regular trademark, this goes beyond Yahaya Bello. Injustice to anyone should not be allowed to stand because it may be your turn tomorrow,” they noted.

The activists therefore urged the EFCC to revert to status quo antebellum pending the determination of its appeal and a vacation of the restraining order placed on it, saying “that is the way and dictate of the law.”

The press conference was attended by Comrades Debo Adeniran, Executive Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership CACOL); Sina Loremikan, (Campaign Against Impunity); Declan Ihekhaire, (Activists for Good Governance); Gbenga Soloki, CADOV; Ochiaga Ohaneze, (Ohaneze Youth Council); Funmi Jolade, (Women Democratic Vanguard); Kola Abe, (Centre for Socioeconomic Rights); Ologun Ayodeji, (Transparency and Accountability Group); Femi Lawson, (Centre for Public Accountability) and Gbenga Ganzallo (Media Rights Campaign), among others.