In the face of unreliable electricity, individuals are switching to solar energy to light their homes

Erratic electricity from the national grid is increasingly forcing many Nigerians to rely on solar energy to power their homes and businesses. At the launch of new solar energy products in Lagos recently, the technical lead for Mission 300 in Nigeria, Dayo Olowoniyi said the country recorded more than five million new-off grid electricity connections between 2025 and now. A joint initiative by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank, the Mission is aimed at providing electricity access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030. “The government, through a programme, a World Bank programme called DARES, provides some level of capital subsidy to companies like Sun King, which reduces the burden and the cost to Nigerians,” Olowoniyi said.

DARES, acronym for Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up, is being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) as a key intervention supporting the deployment of solar equipment in rural and low-income communities. But besides these incentivised interventions, chronic power shortages and frequent collapses of the national grid have made the search for alternatives imperative. Individuals and businesses are switching to solar and inverter solutions, prompted largely by increasing cost of running petrol and diesel generators.

In June, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) introduced a new framework that now allows Nigerians to sell surplus power generated from solar systems to distribution companies (DisCos). “The Regulations establish a framework that enables eligible electricity customers (Prosumers) to generate electricity from renewable energy sources, primarily solar photovoltaic systems, for their own consumption and export surplus energy to the distribution network under a Net Billing Arrangement,” the commission said. The growing interest in solar and inverter installations is accentuated by changes in Nigeria’s electricity pricing structure.

 From residential solar installations on rooftops to large-scale renewable energy projects, there is a significant shift to solar, a clean and quiet source of energy. Many are increasingly adopting hybrid solar setups, leading to an explosion of demands for solar panels, batteries, and inverters. In 2025, Nigeria reportedly imported around 2.9 million solar panels from China, valued at over N435 billion. Privately installed rooftop solar panels are now regular features of many homes, offices, and many businesses. Several commercial banks now use solar to cut down on high cost of diesel and reduce dependence on generators. Indeed, many of their ATMs are powered by solar energy, with some banks also offering loans to their customers to purchase solar appliances to light up their homes and power their businesses.

 Some hospitals and universities are also hooked to off-grid solar panels to power their daily activities. Many federal universities are powered by the federal government’s Energy Education Programme (EEP). The University of Maiduguri, for instance, has a massive 12 MW hybrid solar plant that also powers its teaching hospital. Even the seat of power is caught up in the solar frenzy. The Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja is transitioning to solar power. Initial testing of the mini-grid system with battery started in late 2025 and is expected to be fully operational this year. The State House Medical Centre has been running on solar since May 2025.

 Solar panels have become a more convenient source of electricity because of the abundance of the sun. Meanwhile, switching to solar is not cheap. The cost of installation has continued to push solar energy out of reach of millions of Nigerians. The cost of solar panels, batteries and inverters is relatively high, running from hundreds of thousands to millions of naira depending on the size. And once installed, solar systems generate electricity at little to no cost, making them a financially attractive option. But experts have warned that the solar boom should be properly managed to avoid an environmental e-waste crisis.

We should strive for a state where governance matches the expectations of the citizenry

Every nation is perpetually engrossed in the quest for the realisation of its founding ideals. Very few are anywhere near that goal. Nigeria, which marks its 66th Independence anniversary today, remains a work in progress. There may be disagreements as to how best to create a fair, equitable and prosperous nation but has Nigeria survived a nasty civil war that could have extinguished less fortunate states. We have a diversity that others envy. We are educated, enterprising and optimistic. The world’s two most antagonistic faiths co-exist. Our brilliant citizens lead some of the world’s most successful organisations and most profitable corporations. Amid all this, Nigeria remains a young nation with rusty ancient maladies.

However, there is a strong consensus that given our human and natural resource endowments, Nigeria has not fared too well compared to its peers in the congregation of nations. Today, members of the generation of Nigerians who were around in 1960 have a right to sigh in disquiet. At 66, most of Nigeria’s age grade nations have made commendable progress. Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Singapore have all become globally notable nations. The much that can be said about Nigeria today is that it has enormous potential. To most Nigerians, 66 years of independence have not translated into much even when the concept of nationhood has persisted and survived.

In many ways, the age of nations can measure their achievement in established identities, stable cultures and a global reputation for good or ill. The sorry state of our public utilities does not match our bulging population. Worse still, our democracy has largely been more formal than substantial. We have embraced democracy as a ritual observance rather than an instrument of economic development and social advancement.

Our leaders must understand that the mere passage of time does not confer greatness on nations. Nor does platitudes, no matter how repetitive. It is the realisation of promises made at the foundation and the hopes raised at the beginning that matter most. Even the enemies of Nigeria do not deny its social and economic potential, despite the generations of waste and abuse it has so far experienced. Also, as home to about one out of every four black persons on earth, its abundance of human resources is not in doubt. But there is a leadership challenge at all levels of governance, and that holds us back. On a day such as this, therefore, people in leadership positions must reflect on some of those things that are keeping the country down.

Despite recent measures that have pauperised majority of Nigerians, profligacy remains the name of the game for public officials at all levels of government in our country. We therefore call on the federal government and the 36 states to begin to cut down on the waste that is now associated with government. We suggest a review of government spending and, more importantly, a rethink of the cost of maintaining our public office holders. Most of the resources being wasted can be deployed to areas of pressing challenges both at the federal level and in the states. 

The challenge of the next three decades as Nigeria pursues centennial goals is therefore how to escape from the doldrums of insecurity, avoidable poverty and state incompetence. We need to evolve into a more efficient and more meritocratic state in which the conduct of state affairs matches the general expectations of the citizenry and civil society. To change that narrative would require a new mindset by both the leaders and the citizens.One, government must do more to provide security and insulate Nigerians from the effects of the catastrophe that has overtaken the land. Two, the withering economy must be reinvigorated and put Nigerians back on their feet.Over and above all, we must all commit to the unity of our country and its diversity.

We wish all Nigerians happy 66th Independence anniversary.

The authorities can still do more to minimise the impact of floods

The rainy season has peaked, creating an unfortunate potential of avoidable deaths and destruction of property due to a lack of mitigation planning. But more concerning is the latest warning that residents of 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stand a high risk of heavy flooding between September 27 and October 10. The warning was contained in a flood prediction issued by the National Flood Early Warning Systems Centre under the Erosion, Flood, and Coastal Zone Management Department. In an advisory signed by its Director, Usman Abdullahi Bokani, the department attributed the heightened risk to heavy rainfall, rising river levels, saturated soil, increased surface runoff, drainage surcharge, and elevated soil moisture. States with communities classified under the critical-risk category cut across the six geopolitical zones in the country.

Across Nigeria today, there are unending stories of anguish thrown up by submerged homes and vehicles in communities and settlements. The real challenge is that the authorities responsible for mitigating the impact of floods seem to have no actionable plans for these unfortunate Nigerians. Yet, on 25 June, Vice President Kashim Shettima directed a shift from reactive response to proactive preparedness, saying the direction of the administration leaves no room for ambiguity in combating flood and other climate-related disasters. According to Shettima, preparedness, coordination, and early action must become the standard practice of how risk is governed in the country. But words are cheap.

With its urbanisation rate put at 5.5 per cent yearly and considered one of the highest in the world, the number of Nigerians at risk or vulnerable to flood hazards is high. It therefore came as no surprise that a recent heavy rainfall extended to many parts of the Southwest, flooding the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, from Ogere to the Sagamu inter change. This was despite repeated Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) warnings on residents of coastal states to prepare for a heightened risk of flash flooding, as it forecasts sustained and widespread rainfall across southern Nigeria. And without immediate adaptation measures, many Nigerians are now being plunged into further misery due to flooding.

As we have repeatedly highlighted, flooding does enormous damage to the ecosystem and destroys public utilities. It also elevates the risk of hunger and malnutrition because of disruption of farmlands and commercial losses for farmers engaged in subsistence farming. But perhaps most significant is that we have lost thousands of people to flooding in the past decade while millions remain displaced. One needs to quickly recall the devastating effect of flooding in various parts of the country in times past. In the flood of 2012, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), no fewer than 665 people died while the World Bank estimated losses at about $6.7 billion. More than three million people were displaced across the country.

Meanwhile, the Ecological Fund was established in 1981 to pool resources that would help mitigate natural disasters like flooding. From inception, the fund originally constituted one per cent of the Federation Account but was later reviewed upward to three per cent. Unfortunately, the management of the fund has been marred with controversy, essentially due to the discretionary powers given to the president in the disbursement. Such is the abuse of the Fund that officials of both the federal and state governments now see it essentially as a slush fund to be deployed for all manner of things.

However, at a period when the forces of nature are raging, Nigeria seems to be at the mercy of the environment. By ignoring early warnings in the past, several farms, roads, bridges, and homes have been submerged, and several lives have been lost. We should do everything to avert these serial tragedies.

Government should invest heavily in cold chain equipment and services

For years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) have warned repeatedly that millions of Nigerians are at the risk of hunger. But the challenge is not about food cultivation but rather the loss and waste at different levels. Just recently, the Organisation for Technology Advancement of Cold Chain in West Africa (OTACCWA) disclosed that Nigeria recorded trillions of naira in post-harvest losses last year. “In 2025, Nigeria lost an estimated 30 to 40 million metric tonnes of food to post-harvest inefficiencies across major value chains, particularly tomatoes, vegetables, fruits, dairy, meat, fish and root crops,” the President of OTACCWA, Mr Alexander Isong, said while expressing the frustrations of farmers in the country on the issue. “In monetary terms, this translates to approximately N3.5 trillion to N5 trillion in economic losses.”

In November 2024, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published a report titled, ‘Nigeria General Household Survey (Wave 5)’ which revealed that approximately two out of three households in the country indicated being unable to eat healthy, nutritious or preferred foods because of lack of money. Similarly, 63.8 per cent of households ate only a few kinds of food; 62.4 per cent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 per cent ate less than they thought they should. As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the 2026 International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste today with the theme, ‘Transformative Potential of Reducing Food Loss and Waste,’ it is important to pay attention to the amount of wasted food that contributes to hunger in the country.

Several experts have warned on this vexatious challenge in the agricultural sector that successive administrations in the country have been unable to address. The World Bank estimates that Nigeria loses and wastes 40 per cent of its total food production each year. When such volumes of food that cannot be accounted for due to inadequate cold storage, poor logistics and weak infrastructure, the implications are dire for the ordinary citizens. “Farmers had already invested in land preparation, seedlings, fertilizer, labour, irrigation and transport before these products were lost due to weak cold storage and logistics systems,” Isong explained while calling for investment in a cold chain. “Post-harvest loss is not just an agricultural problem; it is an infrastructure and economic challenge.”

Ordinarily, food loss is accounted for in the production and supply chain after harvest on the farms. Waste is at the level of consumption through retail, food service, and household. It has long been established that fresh farm products like cowpea, garlic, pepper, onions, maize, potatoes, tomatoes, and several others that are grown in Nigeria start losing their nutrient value almost after harvest in the absence of refrigeration. Since some of these food products also have a short lifespan, many of them end up being wasted.

Power supply is a big factor in this. It is estimated that 37 per cent of Nigerian agricultural production that requires refrigeration is lost due to inefficient or non-existent cold chains. Food spoilage due to a lack of cold storage costs small scale farmers about 25 per cent of their annual income. Tackling the challenge requires more than documenting its scale, according to Ifeoluwa Abulude, a postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute of Metabolic Science, University of Cambridge, who has done extensive research on the problem. Reducing this food loss requires the adoption of integrated approaches, he argues.

The 2026 International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste provides another opportunity to tackle this twin-challenge in a nation where many citizens go to bed hungry.

 There should be more to conditional cash transfer than sharing money

The latest reports that the cash-based social intervention programme of the current administration has reached no fewer than 67.19 million people and about 10.44 million households by August 2026, have continued to elicit debate. Some of the issues being raised include the identification and traceability of beneficiaries, especially against the background of the recent 2024 annual report of the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation. Among other infractions, the report revealed non-compliance/internal control weaknesses while questioning the documentation supporting N33.751 billion in electronic transfers to 3,295,207 households and beneficiaries across 35 states in 2023.

Managed by the National Cash Transfer Office (NTCO) and the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) under the supervision of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Finance, each eligible household captured in the programme received a total of N75,000, split into three monthly tranches of N25,000 each. While such an amount of money cannot meaningfully address the challenge of poverty, the real issue is transparency and accountability. According to the 2024 audit report, the payment vouchers did not contain full beneficiary details while the information required to reconcile those who received the payments with persons listed on the national social register and national beneficiary register was not presented for examination.

Beyond the issue of transparency and accountability, we are also concerned that this transfer is not tied to anything beyond beneficiaries being recognised as ‘poor’. Besides, there should be more to conditional cash transfer than just sharing money that is not tied to anything. Several ideas have been tried in the past. Under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, for instance, the federal government paid women who attended antenatal clinics N5,000 each in the bid to tackle the menace of maternal mortality. The plan was executed as part of the Midwifery Service Scheme (MSS) introduced in 2010. More than 4,000 midwives were deployed to 1,000 health facilities nationwide under the MSS.

Although some federal government officials have touted different figures to make claims about the success of the conditional cash scheme, there is not much evidence to suggest that it is working. In fact, the 2024 audit report stated that it was difficult to authenticate the payments or establish whether the beneficiaries who received the money were genuine. Considering that there have been several such programmes in the past, several questions beg for answers on what lessons are being taken onboard if any. But the critical point is that this programme ought to have been targeted at addressing a problem to make it impactful.

For instance, high maternal deaths in Nigeria have been traced to lack of accessible, acceptable and affordable primary, secondary and tertiary health care; lack of drugs, dearth of skilled personnel, poor referral linkages in our hospitals, among others. As a result of the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira, virtually all the 36 states have got at least 40 per cent boost in federal allocations in the past three years. Unfortunately, many of these states still struggle to pick up their routine bills. Yet, they expend huge sums of money on frivolities. The indices of poverty across the country make it difficult to understand the recklessness in many of the states.

Against the background of the virtual collapse of the welfare state that has accentuated corruption in the land, supporting conditional cash transfers designed with the specific purpose of enabling mothers to access healthcare would have been a worthy cause for such a government intervention.

There is need to do more to achieve better female access to political power

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s final list of candidates released for the 2027 general election has continued to elicit debates, with candidates and political parties challenging alleged omissions or substitutions. The elections are for presidency, senate, governorship, house of representatives, and state houses of assembly. For instance, the Presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim whose name is not on the list, has challenged INEC. In many states of the federation, there are also contentions as to the real candidates for the elections.

While candidates whose names are missing blame the electoral body, the commission has dismissed their claims. “INEC did not commit any infraction. The commission handed over access codes to all the political parties to upload their candidates’ names, and INEC published what was submitted,” according to the deputy director, Voter Education and Publicity, Wilfred Ifogah. We agree with the commission. Most of the cases are internal disputes within the parties that are being litigated in court. The more substantial issue is that women remain significantly underrepresented, constituting only 9.65 per cent of candidates for all the elections.

From a total of 4,881 candidates cleared by INEC for the three elections (presidency, Senate and House of Representatives), only 471 are women, while 4,410 are men, representing 90.35 per cent. “Even when women get slots, such positions are presented as merely ticking off the box, and not necessarily a rightfully deserved position. The implication is that pressing issues concerning women take the back seat and are treated with levity,” said the Project Officer, Renevlyn Development Initiative, Tracy Ohovwore. “The minimal inclusion and abysmal representation of women in all strata of government and in political activities in Nigeria is the reflection of a deep and worrying trend in our society.”

It is disappointing that our political process increasingly disempowers women. At this moment when we require the contribution of every citizen for the peace and prosperity of the country, we cannot continue with one hand tied behind our national back by excluding women from political offices. The cost of such exclusion is not paid by them alone; it is paid by all of us, in a development deficit that compounds with every election cycle we allow to pass without correction. It is worrying because it has been a consistent pattern under the current political dispensation.

Available data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union reveal that Nigeria currently ranks 180th out of 185 countries evaluated globally for women’s representation in parliament. In sub-Saharan Africa, a region not exactly renowned for its feminist governance traditions, Nigeria sits at the very bottom. The region’s average is 27.3 per cent. Rwanda, our continental exemplar, has achieved 61.3 per cent women in its legislature. Sierra Leone enacted a Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Act in 2023 and within months saw women win 30.4 per cent of parliamentary seats.

The picture in the executive arm tells the same story. Across the country’s 36 states, women hold just nine per cent of political offices. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, not a single woman has been elected governor of any of Nigeria’s 36 states. Against the background that even when women contest elections, their chances of winning are far less than that of men, it is already settled that fewer of them will be in government in the dispensation after 2027.

Therefore, as we have canvassed in the past, there is need for our political parties to come up with an inclusive arrangement to accommodate our women. But a situation where parties come into existence only at election seasons and disappear afterwards can hardly advance the cause of women. Nor can such parties that are not founded on any ideals or ideas become instruments for gender inclusivity. Yet as a nation, we must find a way to confront the challenge of under-representation of our women in political offices.

THE BIG HEART ECONOMIC WORLDVIEW

CHUKWUEMEKA UWANAKA urges Delta State to take after UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman as economic development model 

“The Delta State Government has set aside $100 million, approximately ₦133 billion, as a Viability Gap Fund to de-risk new investments in the state. This demonstrates our commitment to turning investment commitments into measurable economic impact”. Governor Sherrif Oborevwori, August 3, 2026.

At the recently concluded Delta State Economic and Investment Summit 2026 in Asaba from August 3 – 5, 2026, the choice of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization as keynote speaker, puts into context, the economic aspirations of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori for Delta state within the context of the global economy. For a state with the sobriquet the ‘Big Heart’ of Nigeria, this global economic context looks feasible, especially when compared with the global economic achievements of some countries with relative comparative resource endowment, population and geographical factors such Qatar, Oman, UAE, Bahrain. It is therefore within this global framework of economic aspiration, and commitments from the economic summit, that certain catalysing sectors such as energy, digital economy, aviation, maritime, real estate and steel, can be assessed, for what is essentially a ‘Big Heart’ economic worldview.

Understanding the features of Delta state is important. With an estimated population 7.8 million and gross domestic product (GDP) of $40 billion, this energy-rich coastal state has four maritime ports, two airports, and an entreprising population. Delta state can therefore be assumed to be at the breakout stage that relatively comparable political entities such as Qatar ($215 billion GDP, 3.1 million pop), UAE ($571 billion GDP, 11.5 million pop), Oman ($105 billion GDP, 5 million pop), and Kuwait ($157 billion GDP, 5 million pop) as they were a few decades ago, before strategic leadership in these countries propelled them to their current socioeconomic standards. One major caveat in this comparison is that Delta state is a sub-national unit, and constitutionally lacks macroeconomic and foreign policy powers like these Gulf countries. This is taken into consideration, as some of the sectors that can optimally situate the state in the global economy are assessed.

First, the energy sector. While Delta state aims to enhance the contribution of its non-oil sector to economic development, the energy sector, especially petroleum, still has a major role to play. One of the major business decisions that has affected Delta state and Nigeria, has been the divestment of International Oil Corporations (IOCs) such as Shell, Chevron, Eni/AGIP, ExxonMobil and Total Energies from onshore and shallow water assets in Nigeria, especially since 2015. This divestment has led to oil production in Nigeria declining from 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in August 2012, to 1.5 million bpd in July 2026. At the macro level, this IOC divestment and subsequent production decline has contributed to Nigeria’s total external debt rising from $6.53 billion in 2012 to $51.9 billion in March 2026, as the federal and many state governments have had to borrow externally to augment severe revenue decline, while the federal government still struggles to implement its capital budget beyond 30 percent due to recurring revenue shortfalls.

At the sub-national level, energy-resource endowed states such as Delta state, have borne the brunt of IOCs divestment, as previous IOC capital, real estate, machinery and associated servicing companies have largely exited from Warri and other parts of the state. This has impacted the onshore investment inflow and its associated cyclical economic activities, which Delta state had been receiving since the 1960s. While domestic oil companies such as Renaissance Energy, Seplat Energy and Oando are making significant progress in energy investment in the state, the economic void left by the IOCs remain, as Gulf countries that Delta state have comparable prospects with, retain and facilitate IOC investments, not divestment. Delta state therefore will be best served with onshore energy and associated infrastructure investment from IOCs.

Given that major decisions by IOCs are made in Europe and the United States (U.S.) where the IOCs have their headquarters, any feasible attempt at attracting onshore IOC investments back into Delta State will require commensurate international human capital and strategy. This is where persons such as Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the WTO DG, return as strategic capital. After many years of unsuccessful attempts at securing external debt relief, the Nigerian government under President Olusegun Obassanjo appointed Dr. Okonjo-Iweala as Finance Minister in 2003. Though Nigeria was technically ineligible for foreign debt relief, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, who had risen to Vice President at the World Bank before becoming Finance Minister, utilised her intellect, skills, teamwork and commensurate networks to facilitate the then total $30 billion foreign debt relief for Nigeria in 2005, with an $18 billion discount. Dr Okonjo-Iweala, who has origins in the state, is therefore the type of strategic human asset and person with gravitas and experience in international economic negotiations that Gov. Oborevwori requires to successfully convince IOCs to restart onshore, shallow water and dollar-based energy infrastructure investments in the state. IOCs are commercial concerns that can reverse their divestment decision in certain locations if there is evidence that many of the concerns that necessitated the divestment decision have been addressed. Negotiation is key, as IOC presence in many Gulf countries such as Qatar and Kuwait are due to negotiations between Gulf leaders and IOCs. Furthermore, the geopolitical risks with energy investments in the Gulf region have provided an opportunity for alternative sources without geopolitical choke-holds, which Delta state and Nigeria can provide.

Working with Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, can be Prof. Ibe Kachikwu, the Harvard educated former Executive Vice Chairman and General Counsel for ExxonMobil Nigeria, who has had stints as President of Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) and Minister of State, Petroleum Resources. With roots in Delta state, his IOC, political and industry experience, can significantly complement the efforts of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, and Gov. Oborevwori- who has sustainably addressed the security and community issues that contributed to IOCs onshore divestment.

And Gov Oborevwori may also want to strategically harness some of the energy investment policies introduced by Kachikwu as GMD of NNPCL and Petroleum Minister, especially the co-locationing policies for petroleum refinery investment. Given the capital intensive cost of infrastructure for new refineries, the co-locationing policy recommended that new refineries be developed in proximity with existing refineries, which allows for reduced development cost and faster project cycles, as well as optimization of existing infrastructure assets. With this policy in view, Gov. Oborevwori can leverage on his relationship with the ruling party and federal government to secure a concession of a minimum of 51 percent equity in the federal government and NNPCL-owned  Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) under the existing privatisation legal framework of government through the Bureau for Public Entreprises, to a consortium comprising Delta State government and the persons or commercial interests of Tony Elumelu (Seplat and Heirs Energy), Austin Avuru (Platform Petroleum), Benedict Peters (Aiteo Petroleum), Nduka Obaigbena (Global Hydrocarbon Resources and OML 120), among others. Gov Sheriff should utilise political relationship with FG to speed up the approval process, especially with Austin Avuru, Chairman of Delta Economic Summit as a NNPCL board member.

Still on the co-locatioing policy, the proposed new 100,000 bpd refinery by Aiteo Petroleum in the state should be located in proximity of Warri Refinery. With Warri refinery having total nameplate design capacity of 125,000 bpd, and Delta State producing 340,000 bpd of oil in 2024, a rehabilitated Warri Refinery with Delta State government led consortium owning 51 percent plus Aiteo Petroleum’s 100,000 bpd refinery project will have sufficient crude oil feed-stock to facilitate new high-skilled energy sector jobs and investments that come with refineries, similar to what is present in Gulf countries. And there is some precedence to state governments securing concessions from the federal government in the sector. Midwestern Oil & Gas Company Ltd where Delta State government owns some equity, was allocated a marginal field under the strategic Olusegun Obasanjo administration in the 2000’s. Gov. Oborevwori can therefore utilise this existing framework, as part of economic measures to ensure that value addition takes place in resources from the state. There is also a return on investment (ROI) projection to this type of investment, as the N42 billion invested into UTM Offshore for 8 percent equity in Nigeria’s first private Floating LNG under former Govenor Ifeanyi Okowa, is said to have increased in value of Delta state’s equity by over 400 percent.

With energy serving as a catalyst for other major economic sectors, the drive towards re-engagement of IOCs back onshore can also facilitate investment into the digital economy- essentially the ‘new oil’. Data centres serve as the backbone of the critical artificial intelligence (AI) sub-sector. Data centres however require lots of energy and water for operations, both of which Delta state has in large quantities, and can leverage for significant attraction of AI investment and infrastructure into the state. Chevron, one of the IOCs in focus, has a model that can feasibly be adopted in Delta state for AI infrastructure, and additionally attracting investment from global tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta and Google.

In June 2026, Chevron and Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement to power a huge AI data center in West Texas using local natural gas, with first power delivery projected for 2028. Known as ‘Project Kilby’, it features a co-located, off-grid power facility that is expected to consume 2.67 gigawatts of electricity,  through a phased, modular approach that supports incremental expansion over time. A majority of the generation will come from large GE Vernova turbines and associated electrical infrastructure, while additional capacity will be provided by Solar Turbines, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc. Chevron’s project design includes advanced solutions for reuse of produced water from oil and gas operations, advanced air emissions control technologies, including Selective Catalytic Reduction systems designed to reduce NOx emissions, plus methods that reduce noise and light impacts on surrounding communities to the minimum. Kilby has a full project cost of US$10 billion, and is expected to support thousands of jobs, and generate over $10 billion in state and local taxes plus wider economic benefits.

A similar project is feasible in Delta state, as some of the concerns that currently hinder AI infrastructure expansion in some mature economies are not present in Delta state.  The state produces 318.2 billion standard cubic feet of gas per annum. Delta state has feedstock for additional refining and gas processing facilities and associated industries. The Escravos-Lagos Gas Pipeline which supplies gas and electricity to Lagos state plus the 650,000 bpd Dangaote Refinery in Lagos, as well as West African Gas Pipeline that supplies energy to some West African countries, has its gas and infrastructure originating from Delta state.

GE, which supplies the gas turbines, has presence in neigbhouring Abia state, with its turbines powering gas-based electricity for Geometric Power in Aba and environs. Delta can partner with Geometric power for de-risking supply of GE gas turbines. Also, such project ensures that Delta not only export just gas, but is a location for industry and firms that provide high skilled jobs and earnings. The potentials that IOCs presence bring for investment in the ‘new oil’ and other sectors underscore its importance, and the task for Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, Prof. Kachikwu, with the Nduka Obaigbena’s media empire potentially available for international branding of Delta state as investment destination. As Africa remains a growth market for big tech, there is a demand by big tech companies for low risk opportunities for large scale data centres in areas with access to gas for energy and water for cooling such as Delta state, as this African presence reduces latency and enhances their market expansion. The presence of GE turbines in neighbouring Abia state and a talent pool for construction, maintenance and management makes Delta state a viable location. If the IOC return convinces Chevron to further replicate its partnership model with Microsoft in Delta state, it will provide a proof of concept that Microsoft’s competitors in AI infrastructure such as Google, Meta and OpenAI will explore in Delta state.  The $100 million Viability Stability Fund (VSF) can also come in handy here.

Aviation is the next sector for assessment in the state, as it is a major catalyst for any political unit with global and major economic aspirations. Just as Qatar, UAE and similar countries have access to regular international flights, Delta state will require international flights into the state, to facilitate the desired international investment and IOC presence. Delta is well primed with for international flights, with its two airports at Asaba and Osubi airstrip (Warri) currently running scheduled domestic daily flights. The economic aspirations of the state however require that international and domestic investors should be able to directly fly in and out of the state. That Delta is the only state in Nigeria with two viable airports, is testament to its existing economic potentials. The state government therefore needs to upgrade bigger Asaba airport to an international airport, and work towards facilitating international flights into the state.

Though aviation is on Nigeria’s exclusive legislative list, a number of state governments in recent years have been able to upgrade their airports, and also facilitate international flights into their states. In Akwa Ibom, the state government has completed the upgrade of the Victor Attah International Airport, while Ibom Air started operating international flights from the airport in 2026. The Enugu State government is expanding the FG owned Akanu Ibiam international Airport under concession from FG, while its Enugu Air will commence direct flights to Guangzhou China by December 2026, though Ethiopia Airlines has been operating international flights from Enugu since August 2013. A key enabler of this international aviation development by state governments, has been the liberal facilitation policies of Olorogun Festus Keyamo SAN, Nigeria’s aviation minister. His policy and governance framework have facilitated direct flights and routes by Nigerian airlines such as Air Peace to London Heathrow, the Caribbean, across Africa and Brazil upcoming. United Nigeria Airline has commenced international flights in 2026, while the Uyo airport also commenced international flight operations in 2026. Keyamo’s efforts have also led to the establishment of a Nigerian Aircraft Leasing Company and issued Practice Direction for the Cape Town Convention in 2024. Therefore, facilitating the upgrade and approvals of Asaba Airport for international operations should be efficient.

For commercial viability, the existing commercial and diaspora relationship by oil companies and people of Delta, and the neighbouring Edo, Anambra and Imo states, suggests that direct flights to a major European airport such as Amsterdam Schipol Airport will be viable. Asaba has existing road infrastructure to Edo, Anambra, Ondo, Imo states to facilitate international passenger traffic in and out of Europe. Delta state government can therefore partner with any of existing flag carriers already operating international routes such as Air Peace, United Nigeria Airlines or Ibom Air to commence direct European flights from Asaba airport, as they will have faster accreditation and approval with European aviation authorities. Air Peace, which flies daily to London Heathrow and Gatwick, as well as to Asaba and Osubi, may have a faster approval with the Dutch aviation authorities. That Olorogun Keyamo SAN has origins from Delta state is an additional fillip for faster facilitation.

The maritime sector is another sector that Delta state requires to facilitate its global economic aspirations. UNCTAD estimates that over 80 percent of global trade is maritime based, which explains why the Dubai Port and other major maritime ports in the Gulf and across the world are of critical economic importance. Refined products from an upgraded Warri Refinery and the proposed  Aiteo Refinery will require efficient maritime ports for exports and economic competitiveness, similar for ICT infrastructure, gas turbines and other industries. Though maritime is federally controlled through the exclusive legislative list, state governments in Nigeria have been making commendable efforts in developing their maritime assets. They include the Lagos state’s Lekki Deep Sea Port, Cross River’s Bakassi Deep Sea Port project with Afreximbank support, the Ibom Deep Sea Port project in Akwa Ibom, Abia State’s Obeaku Port project with China Harbour and Imo State’s Oguta Port expansion project in Orashi Free Zone Area.

Delta state has the enviable record of having four maritime ports namely Warri, Sapele, Koko and Bururtu. These federal government owned and managed ports however remain very inefficient, saddled by poor infrastructure, with the Escravos Channel not properly managed, all  resulting in low cargo traffic at the ports. The then Gov Ifeanyi Okowa, Oborevwori’s predecessor, made considerable efforts in enhancing access road and associated infrastructure for the Warri Port, but a lot more needs to be done, if Delta state’s global economic aspirations as espoused at the economic summit are to be realised.

What is therefore required is a bold move by the Gov. Oborevwori, utlising his political relationship as a member of the current ruling national party to speedily secure 51 percent ownership and management concession from the FG/NPA for the four maritime ports in the state. This 51 percent of the state can however be operationlised by a consortium led by Port of Rotterdam Authority, which creates a Dutch nexus when factored with the proposed return of Shell, one of the leading IOCs.  The Port of Rotterdam Authority manages the Port of Rotterdam in Netherlands, Europe’s largest seaport and for over four decades, the busiest port in the world by annual cargo tonnage. Acting as technical partners for the Delta state, collective management of the four ports in the state provides some economies of scale for the Port of Rotterdam Authority, which will include managing the Escravos Channel, automating the ports, and providing effective and efficient services of international standards for trade and economic facilitation.

In the real estate sector, there is no disputing the positive effect that entrepreneurs with large social media followings such as Obinna Iyiegbu (Obi Cubana), have had on Delta state’s real estate sector through his Cubana Millenium City. This much was attested to by Tony Elumelu, during the summit. This has complemented the already growing real estate sector in the state, and also provides an affordable leverage for other worthy real estate aspirations in the state. The Delta state government should consider offering Obinna Iyiegbu and Tony Elumelu’s Afriland Properties some stake for development and promotion in the  Asaba Waterfront City, and other propositions within the Warri-Uvwie and Environs Development Agency. This will lead to the development of more modern liveable cities and spaces in the state, as quality of living space and green environment is a major factor that investors and high skilled persons consider before making investment decisions.

The Asaba Waterfront City city located on 351 hectares of land along the banks of the River Niger, will consist of a central business district that caters for domestic and international economic activities; riverfront and lakefront residential development. That way, residents of the city can live, work and play. It strategically provides Delta state with the kind of waterfront environment that can compare with what is obtainable in Dubai, Qatar and other places of competition, which further positions Delta state on the global economic map. Nice signature real estate is always a part of it. Tony Elumelu’s Transcorp, which owns Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, can be granted land and long-term incentives as part of the business case for the building of new five star hotels in Asaba and Warri. Jim Ovia, the founder of Zenith Bank has also demonstrated his knack for waterside real estate with Metropolitan Towers in Lagos, and therefore has a role to play in the sector. Such investments and developments not only provide new attractive residential areas for trendy Deltans and international demography, but also opportunities for inflow of non-oil foreign investment.

The Steel sector is another sector that will require the attention of the Delta state government. The investments and economic aspirations in energy, manufacturing, ICT, maritime, aviation, real estate and infrastructure make heavy industry manufacturing such as steel, a natural progression. And Delta has some assets within the state to harness, especially the Delta Steel Plant at Ovwian-Aladja, owned by FG through the Delta Steel Company. The integrated green steel plant was  commissioned in 1982 with an installed production capacity of one million tonnes of liquid Steel per annum, but is currently near moribound.

Though the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Steel Development, has signed an agreement with Premium Steel and Mines Limited (PSML) to facilitate the revival and full operationalisation in August 2026, this isn’t the first time such efforts have been made to revitalise the plant. Therefore, the Delta State government should consider acquiring stake in PSML, as well as a part of the federal government’s stake in DSC, to be able to drive the revitalization of the plant in support of the state’s industrialisation and economic programme towards heavy industries. A part of the $100 million VSF can also be deployed in attracting technical partners for the state government in the steel sector.

The Delta State Economic and Investment Summit 2026 has been acknowledged as a demonstration of intent, with Dr. Okonjo-Iweala advocating for an economic worldview that situates Delta State within the global economy. As governor of the state prided as the ‘Big Heart’, Gov. Oborevwori has political entities such as UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman with comparable resource and human resources to serve as some level of economic development model. A strategic development plan towards returning IOCs to onshore and shallow water petroleum assets, utilising the state’s abundant gas and water resources for the development of large AI data centres, enabling optimal development and management of the state’s maritime ports, facilitating international air routes into the state, and supporting the revitalisation of the steel sector in the state for heavy industries, can enable Delta attain similar economic outcomes with comparable Gulf states.  While the $100 million Viability Gap Fund is a major demonstration of intent, will history look back at the Delta State Economic and Investment Summit 2026 as a defining moment for Delta State and Nigeria?   

Dr. Uwanaka writes from African University of Science and Technology, Abuja.

Immunisation shields dangerous infections and prevents unnecessary deaths

The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Mohammed Pate, has been proactive on the issue of children immunisation. Two years ago, Nigeria became the first country in the world to roll out a new vaccine (called Men5CV) recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which protects people against meningitis. But perhaps due to the security challenge that plagues the nation, routine immunisation and the inability to access certain areas remains a major problem. Health authorities therefore need the support of critical stakeholders, including the media, religious and traditional leaders as well as the civil society, to succeed in the campaign for the routine immunisation of children in the country.

Preventable and infectious diseases that children are routinely immunised against through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPCHDA) include Polio, Measles, Yellow Fever, Tuberculosis, Hepatitis B and Diphtheria. The current outbreak of Diphtheria that has led to several deaths across some Northern states shows how fatal it can be to ignore such immunisation. Over the years, there have been reports that the country’s childhood vaccination coverage falls short of Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) targets, making many children in Nigeria vulnerable to death and vaccine-preventable diseases. 

Lending his weight to the campaign, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar has highlighted the immense benefits of vaccination for children. We need other important voices. The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) recently revealed that 67 million children across the world missed out on either some or all routine vaccinations between 2019 and 2021. More disturbing is that on the number of children at the risk of death and vaccine-preventable diseases, Nigeria is second only to India, although we must commend Pate for his efforts. â€œWe cannot allow confidence in routine immunisations to become another victim of the pandemic. Otherwise, the next wave of deaths could be of more children with measles, diphtheria, or other preventable diseases,” UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell warned. 

The WHO report that Nigeria still has about two million zero-dose children who are yet to receive any form of vaccination is deeply concerning. More worrisome is that cases of polio virus have also been reported in Nigeria. “Every day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under five years old children and 145 women of childbearing age. Most of these deaths are occurring in northern Nigeria,” according to the NPHCDA Executive Director, Muyi Aina who lamented the avoidable deaths being suffered by the country as a result of poor vaccination.

Meanwhile, the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) has kept warning about the danger of high number of zero-dose children in our country. “The statistics of children who have received all the vaccines in the national programme is 23 per cent which is low. It is not surprising that our under-five mortality rate is so high,” said PAN president, Ekanem Ekure who disclosed that most of these children are in urban slums, conflict areas, and remote and hard-to-reach communities. “We have the highest under-five mortality rate in the world, and unfortunately, these children are dying from diseases that can be prevented, for which the government has made vaccines available for free.”

Immunisation as a measure used to track progress towards lowering child morbidity and mortality is one of the most cost-effective public health initiatives. It is thus essential that the health authorities do more to ensure that all children are immunised and protected. Government at all levels as well as other critical stakeholders must also act to “catch up” with those missed vaccinations to prevent more deadly disease outbreaks. More importantly, there is an urgent need to intensify education and awareness of the deadly consequences of avoiding childhood vaccinations. Prevention, which is the whole idea of vaccination, is better than cure.

Unreliable electricity supply is a bane to economic growth

When ‎the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Arewa Cotton and Allied Products Limited, Mr Anibe Achimugu said recently that “electricity has become one of the biggest threats to industrial survival in Nigeria,” he was only reechoing what many people, including Africa’s foremost businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, have repeatedly said. Unreliable power supply, according to both Achimugu and Dangote, not only disrupts production schedules and makes it difficult for businesses to meet delivery deadlines, but also deter prospective investors from the country.

The perennial national grid failure and attendant shortage of electricity supply place a constraint on our economic growth with industries and commercial organisations, including small and medium enterprises, relying on diesel and petrol as alternative sources of generating power. In most cases, the variable costs are factored into the cost of production which are indirectly borne by the end consumers. The fall-out of this situation is often grim, creating a situation where many businesses either fold up or lay off workers. For any serious nation that is seeking to actualise all its medium and long-term development goals and attain economic prosperity, neglecting the power sector is always dire.

It is indeed a notorious fact that the epileptic nature of power supply makes Nigeria one of the harshest environments to do business and this renders the country less competitive. In the face of this fitful electricity supply, individuals and businesses resort to self-help by generating their own power. But privately generated electricity also comes at a huge cost. This is aside the negative implications of the more expensive and self-generated electricity on the cost of living, on business profitability, on the incidence of poverty, and on health, safety and the environment.

 Unfortunately, the promise that the reforms in the power sector undertaken more than a decade ago would lead to increased access to electricity, engender private sector investments, improve infrastructure as well as create employment for the growing population of jobless Nigerians, has become a mirage. 

No nation can achieve true industrial growth or unlock its economic potential without stable power since businesses cannot expand or compete when basic infrastructure like electricity is unreliable. Indeed, analysis of firm-level data from the Nigeria World Bank Enterprise Survey showed that electricity supply is consistently the biggest constraint to doing business in the country.  Amplifying this challenge, the World Bank report further stated that annual per capita electricity consumption of Nigeria is 147 kilowatt hour (kWh), which is a fifth of the average low middle-income country consumption of 736kWh and a twentieth of the global average consumption of 3,298kWh.

Today, there is hardly any part of the country that does not presently experience power failure on a daily basis. In some places, several days go without electricity with its resultant effects on socio-economic activities. This much is contained in a recent World Bank report which revealed that Nigerian businesses experience an average of 239 hours of power outage every month. This, according to the International Bank, does not just push businesses to seek off-grid alternatives or causes economic losses but also creates payment apathy by consumers who do not feel obligated to pay for electricity services they consider to be unreliable. That invariably means double jeopardy for the economy.

For a very long time now, the challenges of poor electricity supply and its attendant impact on businesses have headlined conversations in almost every economic summit in Nigeria. But it is now time to move such conversations from the meeting rooms to the fields.

The authorities need to do more and free millions of people locked in poverty

The economic reform programmes of the President Bola Tinubu administration have led to skyrocketing transportation costs, food, and service prices, and precipitated a sharp erosion of real wages. More disturbing is that increased statutory allocations arising from the removal of fuel subsidies and merging of the Naira exchange rates have not translated into better governance at any level. In Nigeria today, prices of virtually everything are on the rise. Living in extreme poverty, as it is the case with millions of Nigeria, means living on an amount that cannot guarantee the barest minimal needs for survival.

While we are mindful that the current economic challenge may be global, what makes the Nigerian situation more sobering stems from several factors, including the high poverty rate. In most of the 36 states, pipe borne water remains a scarce commodity while thousands die every year because of poor sanitation and ill-equipped health centres. Many educational institutions are decrepit and inadequately staffed. Perhaps even more depressing, despite the stagflation that pushed the cost of food, goods and services beyond the reach of majority of Nigerians, some states are not only owing backlog of workers’ salaries and pensions, but are also yet to implement the National Minimum Wage of N70,000 signed into law two years ago.

Rising fuel prices amid astronomical costs of goods and services have continued to torment the people and render their lives miserable. The federal government often blames the activities of middlemen for the soaring cost of goods and services. While this observation is partly true, the unassailable fact remains that the nation’s monetary and fiscal policies are either wrong-headed or poorly implemented, thereby inflicting more pain on the masses. For instance, it is simple economics that if local producers source their raw materials and machinery offshore and are subjected to the vagaries of high exchange rate, the cost of their finished products would reflect their production cost and profit margin. The consumer bears the brunt.

Only recently, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-hit states in northern Nigeria face severe hunger. But this challenge is not restricted to only one zone, it cuts across the nation. For years, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UNWFP have warned repeatedly that millions of Nigerians are at the risk of hunger as prices of foodstuff skyrocket. Recent data compiled by an international e-commerce organisation also revealed that the average Nigerian household spends about 60 per cent of its income on food, one of the highest in the world.  

Meanwhile, public sector workers in the country have given the federal government till next Wednesday (30th September) to address the worsening economic hardship they and dependents face nationwide. Under the auspices of the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC), Trade Union Side, the workers are demanding a stabilisation of the price of petrol at N500 per litre. Even if this seems unrealistic now, the demand came after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) asked the federal government to urgently approve emergency palliatives and wage awards to workers nationwide.

While we recognise that many of the socio-economic challenges are global, what makes the Nigerian situation worse is that things have been pretty difficult for too long. We therefore urge the authorities in Abuja and the states to fashion out measures to salve the frayed nerves of the suffering masses who are currently assailed by unprecedented high cost of living. People-friendly programmes must be put in place to inject the much-needed hope into the populace. 

KCOBA’s initiative is worthy of commendation

Following a meeting with representatives of labour unions last Wednesday, the federal government has suspended the planned concession of King’s College, Lagos, to the institution’s Old Boys’ Association by two weeks. The decision came after some workers and parents had converted the premier school premises into a battleground of sorts. They shut out members of the Old Boys’ Association from entering the school premises, leading to a confrontation and police intervention. The workers and parents were protesting the proposed 50-year concession, arguing that it amounted to privatising the 117-year-old- school which, according to them, would threaten public ownership, and restrict access to only privileged children.

But the President of the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA) Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, has defended the concession, insisting that the school remained the property of the federal government, and that the association’s responsibility under the arrangement was simply to manage and restore the quality and excellence hitherto associated with the school. While agreeing with Ibrahim-Imam, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa confirmed that the decision regarding King’s College was driven by severe infrastructure decay and KCOBA’s readiness to invest heavily in the institution, adding that the agreement was designed to mobilise adequate resources for the school without transferring its ownership from the government.

Founded in 1909 during the colonial period, the school was a symbol of academic excellence. It came in the mould of Eton College in the United Kingdom which has played a significant role in developing generations of leaders, including prime ministers and members of the Royal families. Over the years, King’s College has also produced Nigerians who are manifestations of excellence in government, businesses, the professions and in the academia. The attainments at King’s College prompted the establishment of Queens College, and indeed the Unity Colleges across the country. There were no discriminations as it attracted the best from the remotest locations in the nation. But that record is increasingly becoming breached with admissions being localised to catchment areas in some instances.

However, there is no doubt that KCOBA has reasonable grounds to intervene in the running of their Alma Mater. Like most public schools across the country, Kings College has fallen into bad times. Decades of infrastructure decay have reduced the school to a depressing sight. Even the resources poured in by the well-heeled alumni at regular intervals to compliment the federal government funding appears too insignificant to make a difference. The classrooms, libraries, laboratories and all accessories of learning are down and out. The bathrooms and toilets stink. The quality of staff is also suspect. The recent unannounced inspections of the minister to the school exposed a school with severe funding gaps, a school clutching anything to stay alive.

We agree that the workers should be protected, and those wanting transfer should be taken to any area of choice as per the civil service rules. But the government cannot afford to shut its doors to KCOBA’s offer to restore King’s College as a model for the restoration of our high schools by important stakeholders. They are not even trying to reinvent the wheel on the issue. We understand that alumni associations of some high-profile schools in Oyo and Abia States have adopted the same model to rejuvenate their schools.

We urge the parents and teachers at Kings College to dispense with the notion that government alone can provide the resources needed to revamp the sector. For our schools to attract quality academic and non-academic staff, provide necessary teaching aids, and ensure a conducive learning environment for students, we must allow willing alumni associations to have a say in the management of their old schools. What KCOBA is trying to achieve with Kings College is noble, and we endorse the concession idea.

There is need to create more awareness on the medical condition

With the theme, “The Earlier You Know, the More You Can Do: A Dementia Diagnosis Matters”, the World Alzheimer’s Day 2026 is observed today not only to draw attention to the neurodegenerative disease but also to reduce social stigma and improve access to treatment for those who suffer the ailment. We urge health authorities in Nigeria to pay closer attention to the growing burden of a disease that affects many of our people with older citizens in the high-risk category.

To create awareness on what he described as a ‘quiet crisis in a young country’, Principal Officer, Family Ark Mission, Dr David Oludare Mark, prepared a paper for ĚÇĐÄĘÓĆľ, ‘From awareness to action: building dementia-friendly communities.’ It is on how a society treats its most vulnerable persons. “Nowhere is that test harder than with dementia”, which is not a normal part of ageing,” said Mark. “Everyone forgets. We now rely on phones to remember numbers, routes and appointments, and forgetting a password or a name does not mean dementia. Forgetting where you put your keys is ordinary. Forgetting what keys are for is not.” Mark stated, “Missing a name and remembering it later is ordinary. Asking the same question again and again within minutes, getting lost on a familiar road, or being unable to manage money or cook a meal you have cooked for decades is different.”

Dementia, according to medical experts, is a major decline in one or more cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, language, reasoning or judgement, serious enough to interfere with daily life. In Nigeria, Mark further explains, too often a person is described only through symptoms: “the one who forgets”, “the one who wanders” but this doesn’t help because these are individuals with each having a life story and preferences that deserve respect. Where a person disappears behind their symptoms, it can result in weak legal protection, which leaves elders exposed to exploitation and neglect just when they are least able to protect themselves.

When memory fails, judgment, communication and the ability to say “I am being mistreated” also weaken, according to Mark. “A person with dementia may not be able to report hunger, pain, theft or abuse, and may not be believed when they do. Cognitive impairment exposes people to neglect, financial abuse, exploitation, wandering and getting lost, and to the quiet loss of decision-making rights over their property, their money and their own lives,” said Mark. “This is why dementia sits at the centre of the safeguarding conversation. When a person with dementia can no longer speak fully for themselves, the systems around them must become stronger advocates for their dignity and their rights.”

Mark recommends calling people by the names they know, asking what they like, involving them in decisions for as long as they can take part, and using what still works: “familiar songs, old stories, favourite foods, touch and routine. In many people, older memories and emotional responses remain reachable long after recent memory fails, which is why reminiscence and music can bring someone back into the room.” To neurologist and Head of Department of Internal Medicine at the Maitama District Hospital, Abuja, Dr Mimi Osamwonyi, dementia affects much more than the person who has it. According to him, as the condition progresses, it reduces independence and quality of life, creates major physical, emotional, and financial pressures for caregivers and families, and increases demands on communities, healthcare professionals, and the health system.

On how to tackle the challenge in Nigeria, Osamwonyi advocates a shift from late diagnosis to early recognition: “Families and primary healthcare workers should be equipped to notice persistent memory decline, repeated questions, getting lost in familiar surroundings, difficulty managing money or medication, personality changes, and a decline in previously routine activities—and to recognise that these are different from ordinary ageing.”

There should be a thorough investigation into the cause of death

In the early hours of Thursday, officers at a Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) facility in the Wushishi/Lukoto axis of Minna, Niger State, made a troubling discovery: dozens of the men arrested two days earlier allegedly for illegal mining were dead in their cell. By Friday, the confirmed toll stood at 37; minors reportedly among them. Several others are still fighting for their lives. Images of the bodies followed swiftly on social media and, just as swiftly, an explanation came from the Corps’ own Niger State Commandant, Suberu Siyaka Aniviye. Without any investigation, he blamed the tragedy on a “suspected outbreak of disease.”

To the NSCDC’s credit, it has since resisted its own commandant’s rush to a diagnosis, insisting that the true cause awaits a proper laboratory examination. But whatever the pathologists eventually find, one fact needs no laboratory to confirm: dozens of citizens whose only alleged offence was digging for minerals without a licence went into NSCDC custody and did not come out alive. “This loss of lives cannot go unanswered,” according to Amnesty International Nigeria which has rightly demanded a prompt, independent and transparent inquiry. We subscribe to the demand. When the state arrests citizens over illegal mining and returns their bodies to their families, the burden of explanation sits entirely with whoever held the keys to that cell.

The Northern Senators Forum has described the tragedy as another reminder of what happens when human dignity is lost. In a statement by its Chairman, Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua, the Forum said history “has taught humanity how horrifying confinement can become when helpless people are deprived of dignity and treated as though their lives have no value.” While making allusion to what happened at Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp operated by Nazi Germany during World War II, the forum demanded independent autopsies for all 37 victims. “Their families deserve the truth, not conjecture. If criminal negligence, unlawful detention, reckless conduct or any deliberate act contributed to these deaths, those responsible must be prosecuted, irrespective of their rank or position.”

To be fair, the federal government has not looked away. The Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo moved quickly to suspend Commandant Aniviye. He has also constituted a 10-member independent committee to investigate the deaths. The NSCDC’s Commandant-General, Ahmed Abubakar Audi, has convened an investigative panel and summoned not only Aniviye but also the heads of his Corps’ Operations, Mining, Legal, and Intelligence and Investigation department. Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago of Niger State has declared three days of mourning, cancelled a political rally that was scheduled to hold this weekend, and set up his own committee of inquiry under his deputy, Yakubu Garba. The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the State Security Service (SSS) have also opened separate investigations of their own. On paper, that is five inquiries for one tragedy.

On the evidence of recent Nigerian history, five inquiries are no guarantee of anything at all. We have watched this exact sequence before; the swift suspension, promised panel, solemn statement of regret, etc. Within weeks, all these usually dissolve into silence until the next tragedy. Legal or illegal, the death in custody of such a high number of artisanal miners, desperate people trying to eke out a living, deserves a thorough investigation. Because it touches on the value we place on human life, and the steps authorities take in handling suspects, including those accused of committing serious crimes which is not even the case in this instance.

 This mass death of miners is yet another episode in a declining national psyche that treats human lives as statistics. It is similar to the way we have come to relate to casualties and victims of banditry and other vicious crimes. We count and publicise the numbers and then move on. Yet, there is a higher value to human life that numbers. Every Nigerian that dies an unnecessary death is a loss to their families, relations and the human asset base of the nation. We must account for each loss and ensure that those whose commission or omission leads to unnecessary deaths are held to account. Only then can we reclaim our collective humanity as a nation. 

Olu Jacobs, iconic actor and film executive, dies at 84

After nearly two decades of acting in Britain, the late Olu Jacobs returned to Nigeria in 1990 to an emerging local film industry with something it badly needed: the professionalism of a trained actor. It was a quality that stood him in good stead in the Nollywood industry where he played king and chief, father and patriarch, politician and businessman, villain and other men of authority. He was until his death a great thespian with one of the most impressive resumes on the continent. Yet, to get there, Jacobs trod a rather unusual route: he worked on repertory stages, appeared on British television and taken roles in international films. His return to Nigeria coincided with the rapid growth of the home-video industry, where his training and experience stood him out. Alongside such industry figures as Pete Edochie, Jacobs was regarded as one of its “godfathers”.

 After receiving his professional training from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, Jacobs started his career in the United Kingdom. Among his early-stage appearances was a 1971 performance at the Dublin Theatre Festival in Conor Cruise O’Brien’s ‘Murderous Angels: A Political Tragedy’ and ‘Comedy in Black and White’. Other theatre appearances included â€˜Cork Leg’ at the Royal Court, ‘Black Man’s Country’ at the Gate Theatre and ‘Julius Caesar’ at the Royal National Theatre in 1977. A year later, Jacobs played President Mageeba in Michael Codron’s production of Tom Stoppard’s ‘Night and Day’ at the Phoenix Theatre in London.

During the 1970s, Jacobs appeared in various British television shows and series, including ‘The Goodies’, ‘The Tomorrow People’, ‘The Professionals’, ‘Till Death Us Do Part’ and many others. He also appeared in several international films, including ‘The Dogs of War’, ‘Pirates’ and ‘Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend,’ etc. In 1990, Jacobs appeared in the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) detective series ‘The Third Eye’’. Although the industry was still finding its feet at the time as home-video production gathered momentum, Jacobs had arrived the country with years of stage and screen experience behind him. His voice, for instance, did much of the work, not merely delivering dialogue but establishing character. This was particularly useful in an industry whose productions were often made quickly and under considerable commercial pressure.

 Recognition came with the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2007. In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan conferred on Jacobs the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (MFR), for his contribution to the Nigerian film industry. He also received the Industry Merit Award for outstanding achievements in acting at the 2013 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards and the MAA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

  Jacobs’ professional life was closely intertwined with that of Joke Silva, whom he married in 1989. They had two children and together founded the Lufodo Group, with interests in film production and distribution, as well as the Lufodo Academy of Performing Arts. His later years were marked by fewer public appearances. In 2021, rumours of his death circulated on social media. They proved false, and in November that year Jacobs appeared at the Africa International Film Festival, where he was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award. His wife later revealed that he had been living with Lewy body dementia.

The career of Jacobs encompassed several distinct periods in Nigerian and British entertainment: the stage, British television, international cinema, Nigerian television and the rise of Nollywood. He experienced, and in his own way contributed to, the change from one era to another. For Nigerian audiences, however, the roles he played are likely to count for more than the chronology of his career. May God comfort the family he left behind.

Health authorities should embark on mass vaccination against the disease

Following a recent outbreak of diphtheria in Kano State which killed scores of children in Rano Local Government Area, we warned health authorities in the country to work to ensure the spread of the disease. It is now evident that warning was not heeded given the fatalities in other states like Katsina, Kaduna, Borno, Bauchi, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara. According to Zamfara’s State Director of Public Health, Dr Yusuf Haske, no fewer than 44 deaths have been recorded in the state with 367 clinically suspected cases and 320 patients successfully treated. While it remains a shame that Nigerians are burdened with these preventable diseases, especially at this period, we hope that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) will work with health authorities in the states where there is already diphtheria outbreak.

  Until about 15 years ago, this serious and highly contagious bacterial infection was known to be endemic only in the Caribbean and Spanish countries. Diphtheria affects the throat and nose and can lead to difficulty in breathing, heart rhythm problems, lungs, kidney issues, and ultimately death. Like many other African countries that do not take pre-emptive measures against looming diseases, Nigeria’s poor vaccination for Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus (DPT) has become the finger-bed for the incessant outbreaks of the disease in the country since 2011.   

In 2022, the NCDC issued a national diphtheria surveillance guidelines with specific measures on how to prevent, detect and respond to the disease. A few months later, hundreds of people were killed following an outbreak of disease in the country which suggested that no lessons were learnt. The challenge is obvious. A renowned epidemiologist and Professor of Virology, Oyewale Tomori once revealed that only about 60 per cent of Nigerians have been vaccinated against diphtheria, going by official figures. He added that the statistics cannot be relied upon. Conservatively, according to Tomori, the number of unvaccinated people in the country could be as high as 87 million. Unfortunately, most of those susceptible to the disease are children below five years. These are victims whose immunity cannot withstand the associated illnesses for diphtheria.   

   As experts have warned, the chief factors for the diphtheria scourge are low vaccine coverage, insufficient storage and transportation, as well as inadequate disease and laboratory surveillance. Poor response system, and citizens’ low awareness on vaccination against diphtheria are other factors putting the entire country at risk. The greater danger is that health authorities in many of the 36 states are not doing enough to tackle the problem. 

To deal with the challenge posed by diphtheria, government at all levels must take urgent coordinated steps, including mass vaccination of Nigerians. Infected persons should be hospitalised as against the current situation in which most persons are given medications while they remain in their homes. Health facilities, especially primary health centres, should be equipped enough to manage cases where secondary and tertiary health facilities are not available. 

In the immediate, health authorities in the affected states seem to be handling the issue on their own. That is not a helpful approach for a contagious disease like diphtheria. It requires the collaboration of the federal government and other critical stakeholders. For long-term planning, there must be collaboration between education and health authorities to ensure that vaccination against DPT becomes requirement for primary and school admissions or for continuous learning. They should also borrow a leaf from many countries free from diphtheria that require people already vaccinated against the disease to take booster shots after being vaccinated for a considerable number of years. 

As late in the day as it may seem, government at all levels should isolate infected persons and commence mass vaccination. 

The authorities in South Africa must be held to account

Like previous xenophobic attacks that now define South Africa, Nigerians are among the nationals of countries that are always targeted by their unemployed nationals (including those with neither education nor skills). Considering that their nationals also do businesses and are allowed to move freely in our country without let or hindrance, the federal government must make it clear to their authorities that they bear responsibility for the lives of Nigerians who reside in South Africa.

The statement by the Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Femi Fani-Kayode that more than 100 Nigerians have been killed in Xenophobic attacks in the last four years, with 30 of them masterminded by the South African police and defence force, should compel action. Among the most recent incidents were the murder of Bishop Michael Taiwo by some gunmen in Johannesburg, and the killing of Mr James Uchechukwu Nwankwo by officers of the South African Police Service. What is most disturbing, according to Fani-Kayode, is that despite reports made to their authorities, “not one person has been arrested, detained, prosecuted or brought to justice for ANY of these heinous crimes.”

The federal government must acknowledge that diplomatic niceties have failed, especially when another deadline has been issued to foreign nationals from the continent, including Nigerians, to leave South Africa by 30 September. This deadline, according to Fani-Kayode, like the last one, was issued by a number of xenophobic and Afrophobic South African non-governmental organisations who threatened to harm our nationals if their illegal deadline is not obeyed. The High Commissioner has called on the South African Government to protect Nigerians “from the excesses of these racist organisations and their misguided members, and to apply the full weight of the law against them for their lawless behaviour.”

 It is unfortunate that polite condemnations and routine assurances have not stemmed the tide of Afrophobic attacks in South Africa. If anything, the situation seems to have deteriorated. As a leading voice on the continent, Nigeria has both a moral duty and a strategic interest in taking decisive action. It must spearhead a firm and coordinated response that leaves the government of Cyril Ramaphosa in no doubt about the consequences of continued inaction. South Africa must be made to understand that the victimisation of Nigerians and other Africans is unacceptable, and that the killings, expulsions and wanton destruction of legitimate businesses must stop.

African migrants are not the architects of inequality in South Africa; they are, in many cases, fellow victims. The targeting of black foreigners is therefore not only morally indefensible but intellectually dishonest—a tragic expression of ignorance and misdirected anger. Even more troubling is the extent to which Afrophobia has seeped into South Africa’s political discourse. It is not merely fringe sentiment; it is too often legitimised, amplified, or tolerated by influential voices within and outside government. This normalisation of hostility has emboldened perpetrators and created an environment in which violence becomes cyclical and predictable.

 The current attacks are as horrifying as they are revealing. Mobs have stormed public hospitals, ordering patients, including pregnant women from other African countries, out of wards as though they were less than human. ĚÇĐÄĘÓĆľes owned by foreign nationals have been looted and set ablaze. On the streets, men and women are harassed, beaten, and hunted. There are chilling reports of victims being killed even as they begged for their lives. With another deadline for terror already announced, the federal government should make it clear to President Ramaphosa that it is also in the interest of his country to protect Nigerians from what has become perpetual hate mongering from the violent South African mob.

There is a surge in counterfeit and substandard products across the country, putting many at risk, stifling legitimate businesses, and discouraging investment. From food items to water to medicines, and building materials, counterfeit is everywhere. In recent months, viral social media posts have raised the alarm of fake toothpastes, body creams, contaminated bottled water, milk, baby products, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages to many household items. And the cost is high, as we can see from what is currently happening in Ondo State where a locally brewed alcoholic drink has led to the death of no fewer than 29 persons. “Today, the task force has moved around the parks, markets and streets to enforce the ban on the sale of herbal drinks,” said the chairman of Odigbo local government area of the state, Taiwo Adegoroye.

Counterfeiting is particularly helped when the cost of genuine brands doing reasonably well in the market is relatively higher, thus pushing many consumers to unknowingly embrace the fakes which are cheaper, and well packaged with the right labels and seals. Besides, the closure of some of the multinational drug manufacturing companies operating in the country like GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc as a result of adverse economic environment has also encouraged the influx of adulterated and counterfeit drugs. Since many of the drug stores across the country are kept in business by large scale importation from Europe, India and China, citizens of some Asian countries resident in Nigeria have allegedly been deeply involved in the counterfeit trade.

Poor quality medicines compromise the treatment of diseases like malaria, leading to drug resistance, treatment failure and death. Falsified drugs and unwholesome processed foods are reportedly one of the leading causes of organ damage, cardiac complications and cancer. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is very much aware of the proliferation of fake goods, but it is evidently overwhelmed. In August alone, NAFDAC received 225 counterfeit product complaints. Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, said recently that the regulatory body mopped up 7,210 products in nationwide post-marketing surveillance operations between May and July 2026, adding that some arrested persons were involved in the counterfeiting of CWay water, as well as Oral-B and Colgate toothpastes. The agency, in addition, has also secured some convictions against some counterfeiters, convictions regarded by many as unimpressive, considering the sheer magnitude of the challenge.

Since the current direction of Nigeria’s external trade is mostly with countries where faking and adulteration have become established sub economies, there is need for a diplomatic reorientation that involves government at the highest level. The near absence of controls in those countries and at our end increases the challenge. Corruption at our ports of entry and in the regulatory agencies is an area of concern that must be examined. The culture of complicity on trafficking in substandard products must be stopped. There must be an urgent and deliberate policy by the federal government to rid the country of fake drugs and other substandard goods that are killing our people. Collaborative attempts must also be made by governments, non-governmental organisations and corporate bodies to tackle the problem.

We urge the authorities in NAFDAC and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to work with the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the government agency saddled with protecting the public from unreasonable risks and injury on this menace of fake and adulterated products. There must be a consistent effort to alert the people to the risks of fake drugs, and other substandard goods, and reinforce the need for them to patronise the right health institutions. And importantly, penalties for the offenders should be strengthened from a mere few years in prison to life imprisonment.

States should be prudent in spending their scarce resources

Despite repeated warnings by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), many state governments are still embarking on airport projects without considering the implications. “The cost and investment in airports are actually greater than you think. It’s not just about the building,” FAAN Managing Director, Olubunmi Kuku said recently while arguing that the airports being built in some states are unviable. But not many seem to be paying attention despite the fact that only six airports in the country record above 5,000 aircraft movement in a year. All the others depend on just these six airports (Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Owerri, Port Harcourt and Enugu) to stay afloat.

When in 2020 some state governments decided to build airports in Anambra, Benue, Ekiti, Nasarawa and Ebonyi while the federal governmentwas being urged to take over the ones built by Kebbi, Jigawa and Gombe States, we queried the rationale behind the decision. The question we posed at the time remains unanswered: In a period of lean resources when the same government is borrowing to meet commitments, why does it have to saddle the country with more cost centres?  

The consequences of building unviable airports are that huge resources, which would have been used to provide essential infrastructure and other amenities are being frittered away. With the astronomical rise in the cost of air tickets in recent years, the number of air travellers has dwindled considerably. We fail to understand the obsession at a period the shortage of aircraft has forced local airlines to streamline their operations thus rendering many of the airports operationally redundant.

In recent times the federal government has taken over some state-built airports and handed them to FAAN to manage, but none is viable. For instance, the cargo airport at Lafia, Nasarawa State, has been abandoned with its facilities allowed to rot away. Conceived by former Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, the airport was estimated to have cost about N10 billion with the sole purpose of dumping it on FAAN, as many others have done. Unable to complete that process, most of the facilities and equipment at the airport have now collapsed.

 Today, FAAN is shopping for money to rehabilitate the runways of 17 unviable airports under its management. It is not only that these airports cannot generate revenue to justify the huge investment on them but also that they push aviation agencies like the National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and others into spending huge resources recruiting personnel and providing training and logistics to manage redundant airports. Meanwhile, in many states where airports have been built, their primary and secondary school infrastructure have collapsed, essential roads that connect to different parts are dilapidated while most of their residents do not have access to social amenities like hospitals and potable water.

Looking at market projections, there is not going to be sudden rise in air transport in Nigeria because of low per capita income, even if alternative means of transport like rail and road do not expand. We therefore do not understand the rationale behind building airports by the states beyond political consideration. Most of these airports only serve the interest of the governors and other government officials who travel through them with charter services, as scheduled passenger services cannot break even for commercial airlines due to low passenger throughput. 

Today, most of the existing airports rely on obsolete facilities because there are not enough funds to upgrade them.  Now that it is obvious most of these airports are unviable, we expect the federal government to put a cap on such projects.

Local governments must be sufficiently empowered to perform their duties

Based on the 1999 Constitution, the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) are established by the respective State Houses of Assembly in the 36 states to conduct elections to local government councils. But as we have seen over the past 27 years, such elections are conducted under an environment antithetical to entrenchment of democracy. Not only are these elections habitually rigged by governors in favour of the political party in power in their states, the governments they produce are run almost like private fiefdoms. And for more than two decades, the abuse of local governments by state governments has persisted, despite many court rulings. This no doubt accounts largely for the massive degradation at the grassroots, giving rise to insecurity and social strife in several parts of the country. 

 In the past three months, no fewer than six states have conducted local government elections in which each of these states secured 100 per cent victory for their ruling party. For instance, on 13 June, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won all chairmanship and councillorship positions across the 21 local government areas in Adamawa State. Four weeks later on 11 July in Edo State, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won all the 18 chairmanship seats after 16 months of an illegal caretaker administration. And on 29 August in Anambra, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) won the chairmanship seats in all the 21 local governments. A week earlier, little-known Allied People’s Movement (APM) won all 20 chairmanship seats in Bauchi State. That has been the pattern of local government elections in all the states under the current dispensation.

The key factors contributing to flawed elections include the absence of constitutionally guaranteed financial and operational independence for SIECs, according to the Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, Samson Itodo. “This lack of autonomy enables state governors to interfere in SIEC operations and deprive them of necessary funds, thus undermining their ability to conduct credible elections,” Itodo argued. “These constitutional weaknesses incapacitate the SIECs, depriving citizens of their right to elect leaders who represent their will.” The cumulative effect of these has been chronic underdevelopment of the council areas which, castrated as they are, remain unable to deliver on their primary mandate of providing basic social infrastructure, including primary healthcare, primary education, feeder roads and modern markets, at the local levels.

Worried by the deteriorating governance and democratic decline at the grassroots level, many Nigerians have sought constitutional backing to saddle the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with conducting local government elections. The reasons are not far-fetched. Even with all its drawbacks at national and state elections, INEC has been conducting elections into the six area councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with some measure of regularity and credibility. Indeed, at no time has one single political party won elections in all the constituencies in the FCT. This is in sharp contrast to the elections conducted by the SIECs whose outcomes are mostly predetermined.

 In a landmark judgment on local government autonomy, the Supreme Court in July 2024 ruled that henceforth, allocations from the federation account should be paid directly into individual local government account and no more through the State Local Government Joint Account. That effectively nullified Section 162 (6) of the constitution which established the joint account into which monies due to the councils from the federation account were paid for onward disbursement to them by the states. Unfortunately, more than one year after the apex court judgement, the decision is yet to be implemented as no local government is receiving allocation directly from the Federation Account. Besides, financial autonomy alone will not cleanse the councils of limited legitimacy, capacity problem, and the mind-boggling corruption.

  The abuse of the local council system by the states has created lack of good governance at the grassroots where the majority of Nigerians reside. A consensus has also emerged: for good governance at this critical level of government, there is an urgent need for root and branch reforms that must include the conduct of credible elections and true financial autonomy.

Regulatory authorities should live up to their responsibilities

For two years, a wellhead fire has been burning at Ofioma-Ama Alakiri, in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, upending livelihoods in the fishing and farming community. Last week, youths, elders, women and residents of Alakiri and surrounding communities staged a protest over the constant release of toxic fumes into their rivers and atmosphere, describing the persistent gas leak accompanied with fire as “genocidal Wellhead fire”. They raised issues of health, safety and other environmental concerns, while calling on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), operator of Alakiri Well 9, to extinguish the raging fire on their waters. “The continuous release of toxic hydrocarbons into the atmosphere forces the residents of Ofioma-Ama and surrounding Wakirike communities to inhale poisonous fumes daily,” they noted. “Our mothers, children, and elderly citizens are at high risk of severe respiratory illnesses and long-term health complications.”

Unfortunately, the Alakiri well fires represent just one among many in the oil producing areas of the country, contaminating waters, farmlands, and endangering the lives of the people. There is a more prolonged one at Ororo 1, located off the coast of Awoye in Ondo State, said to have been burning for the past six years without any deliberate attempt to put it off. Curiously, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) is silent over the raging environmental disaster. The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) described the sites as “time bombs,” adding that the ongoing fires compound environmental harms such as oil pollution, gas flaring and deforestation. “Protecting the Earth is not a choice, but a necessity for the health, economy and security of every nation,” said Nnimmo Bassey, HOMEF’s executive director, who called for urgent decommissioning, clean-up and support for the affected communities.

Oil bearing communities in the Niger Delta have long endured hardship and environmental pollution caused by the oil industry in decades of oil exploration. This is despite the enormous wealth they generate for governments and corporations.  Communities, particularly those close to extraction sites, often experience environmental degradation, poor health, declining livelihoods, and inadequate public services. According to reports, over 240,000 barrels of crude oil are spilled annually in the Niger Delta environment with over 178 active gas flare points within the region. Every day, flames burn beside homes, schools, rivers, and fishing communities, releasing dangerous chemicals, and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

In a presentation titled “Living in Danger: Health Harms of Fossil Fuel Extraction in Nigeria’s Niger Delta”, in commemoration of World Environment Day 2026, Executive Director, ‘We The People,’ Ken Henshaw, lamented that many people in oil communities suffer from respiratory illnesses, skin conditions, eye problems, declining agricultural productivity, contaminated water sources, and the destruction of local ecosystems. “Farmers speak of reduced crop yields,” said Henshaw. “Fisherfolk describes disappearing fish stocks and polluted waterways. Families recount generations growing up under the glow and noise of flare stacks that never seem to stop burning”.

Unfortunately, the problem will likely persist for a while. Oil spills have become a regular feature of the oil producing communities due mainly to accidents, obsolete equipment, and lack of maintenance of oil pipelines. But the oil companies have also blamed the spills largely on vandalism from oil thieves, illegal bunkering, and on aggrieved unemployed youths. Indeed, shortly after the protest by the Alakiri community, a dozen of persons reportedly died within the same Okrika local government area after inhaling toxic fumes from a petroleum product at the Okari Jetty in the Okrika Mainland area. The youths were reportedly loading petroleum product from an illegal tapping point when a strong smell suddenly saturated the air, causing several of them to collapse. But while investigations are still on, we call on the authorities to stop the endless pollution in Akairi wellhead gas leaks and beyond.

The authorities must do more to contain the growing problem

As Nigeria joins other countries today to mark the 2026 World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD), it is important for critical stakeholders to join the ongoing conversation on how we can collectively address what has become a major public health challenge. Last month (August), the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a proposal to amend the National Mental Health Act with the aim of removing criminal penalties for attempted suicide, officially shifting Nigeria’s legal framework from punishment to care and psychological support. Currently, both Section 327 of the Criminal Code Act (Southern Nigeria) and Section 231 of the Penal Code (Northern Nigeria) criminalise suicide attempts. But beyond the executive bill being prepared for the National Assembly to amend those colonial laws still in operation, Nigeria must do more. Changing the narrative on suicide, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “is about transforming how we perceive this complex issue and shifting from a culture of silence and stigma to one of openness, understanding, and support.”

 With only nine federal neuropsychiatric hospitals in the country, ignorance, serious budget constraints, and the exodus of many experts in the field who seek greener pastures abroad, it comes as no surprise that suicides are on the increase in the country. According to the WHO, one in four Nigerians suffer from some sort of mental illnesses. Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest that there are efforts to tackle this health challenge. In recent years, reports on suicide have moved to a very disturbing trend, and it is not restricted to any demographic group as both the young and the old are killing themselves.

 But the country is not doing enough to tackle this public health emergency, and it is responsible for the growing cases of suicides. Stemming the tide requires a multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach involving various government ministries, agencies, and departments (MDAs), especially that of health, labour and employment, and social services.   

 There are many theories as to why many Nigerians are now taking their own lives and they are traceable mostly to the enormous emotional and financial stress as well as pervading poverty and hopelessness everywhere. It is an established fact that impoverished individuals are a major risk group for depression. And depression, according to experts, is the most common reason why people commit suicide. For years, the nation’s present socio-economic environment has been a predisposing factor to depression and perhaps suicide. Besides, the use of hard drugs (particularly Indian hemp, cocaine and even methamphetamine) are commonplace in the society and one of the adverse effects is depression. 

 Medical practitioners under the aegis of the Society of Family Physicians of Nigeria, (SOFPON) have for years been raising concerns about the growing number of Nigerians living with depression, a major risk factor for suicide. While the authorities must begin to deal with this problem, there are also other reasons why people take their own lives and devastate members of their family and friends with shock. For instance, underlying mental disorders such as schizophrenia, excessive alcoholism, and drug abuse play a significant role in triggering suicidal thoughts.

 To successfully deal with this problem of suicides, stakeholders must do more, especially to address the issue of poverty and stigma We also recommend an awareness campaign on the prevention of social habits that are detrimental to mental health, especially among young people.  

Government should invest heavily in flood prevention

The people of Nepal are still counting their losses from the devastating flash flood which ripped through their border with China, inundating towns, crushing roads and bridges and causing the death of more than a thousand people in its path. The last time Nigeria witnessed this type of extremely shocking flooding was in 2012 which killed no fewer than 363 people, displaced about three million others and about 600,000 houses either damaged or destroyed. But following the tragedy in Nepal, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET), Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) are concerned that the 2012 flooding could happen again if their warnings continue to be ignored. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also enjoins Nigerians to remain vigilant because such a devastating flooding can occur with little notice.

Recurring flood disasters in the country are no longer isolated seasonal incidents but a growing national crisis demanding urgent action on urban planning, drainage, early warning systems and public preparedness. But the most disturbing aspect of Nigeria’s flood crisis is not that flooding occurs. It is that authorities and citizens largely know where the risks are located, but continue to allow development, particularly in highbrow estates. Yet government cannot simultaneously warn citizens against building on waterways and permit developments that obstruct free flow of water. Where planning authorities approve construction in flood-prone areas, responsibility does not rest solely with the property owner. The approving authority must also answer for the consequences.

This is why Nigeria’s physical planning system requires urgent reform. Land allocation and building approvals must no longer be treated primarily as administrative exercises. Every proposed development in a flood-sensitive area should be subjected to credible environmental assessments before approval. The government must also stop the practice of allowing development to precede infrastructure. No serious city can continue approving buildings without ensuring adequate drainage, storm-water channels, road network and waste-management systems. Nigerians, too, must exercise greater responsibility by carrying out due diligence before purchasing land and building on it.

 What the tragedy in Nepal also teaches is that early warnings must be more than technical forecasts. A villager, trader, commuter or resident does not need complicated meteorological terminology. People need to know whether they are at risk, when the danger is expected, what action they should take, and where they can seek safety. Government at all levels should therefore establish clear standards for issuing and disseminating flood alerts, including the use of telecommunications networks, radio, television, social media, community leaders and local emergency structures.

 More importantly, Nigeria needs to invest in prevention rather than continually spending heavily on response. Every naira spent clearing a blocked drainage channel before the rains is potentially money saved from emergency reconstruction after a flood. Every illegal structure prevented from obstructing a waterway may save lives and millions of naira in property losses. The federal and state governments must make flood prevention a measurable component of urban governance. Governments must embark on sustained drainage rehabilitation and maintenance rather than seasonal desilting exercises conducted only after flooding begins. Development approvals must be linked to environmental and flood-risk assessments, with no exceptions for politically connected developers or property owners.

Floods may be natural events, but the destruction they cause is often amplified by human decisions. Nigeria cannot prevent every rainfall-induced disaster. It can, however, prevent people from building on waterways, stop drains from becoming refuse dumps, enforce planning regulations, improve warning systems and prepare communities before the water arrives. The choice is no longer between flooding and lack of flooding. It is between preparedness and catastrophe. With the Nepal floods, Nigeria has been warned. It must act now by strengthening real-time hydrological monitoring and establishing binding information-sharing arrangements with neighbouring countries, particularly on major transboundary rivers and dams.

Like other major public agencies, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has given an interim report of its achievements in the last three and half years under the current administration. While the revelations are of grave national interest because of the overwhelming scale of corruption in the Nigerian public space, they also came as no surprise. Almost on a daily basis, disclosures of cases of corruption seem to compete with rampant insecurity for front page headline prominence. Oftentimes, the sheer volume of resources – cash, real estate, automobiles and precious metals – found with those accused and being investigated is mind boggling. Unfortunately, a good number of these investigations and the attendant court proceedings either run cold or simply lead nowhere.

That perhaps explains why the public perception of the EFCC is that it thrives on either media show conviction of suspects or sheer incompetence disguised in excessive showmanship. But the just released interim report paints a somewhat different picture of the agency. According to the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukayode, some 10,872 convictions were secured under his stewardship while a whopping N1.233 trillion, $684 million, ÂŁ373 million and â‚Ź9.34 were recovered. A total of 1,177 real estate assets and a slew of other tangible assets were also recovered.

Clearly, this scope of cash and asset recoveries is impressive by any standard. But it also reveals something deeper. First, it indicates that the EFCC may have been more successful in asset recovery mechanism than in crime punishment. Even those from whom these troves of cash and assets have been recovered are still freely operating in our society and many of them remain nameless. To that extent, while the EFCC may have succeeded as a mechanical public asset recovery outfit, its efficacy as a law enforcement and a crime deterrence agency remains doubtful. However, there is a larger cultural and political problem bigger than EFCC: the institutionalisation of corruption, especially in the public sector. For instance, many of the convicted politicians have in recent years been pardoned, contested and won elections despite having abused public trust in previous offices. While we cannot blame the commission for those political decisions, they nonetheless impact on its work and effectiveness.

Even more worrisome is the tardiness and rot in the judiciary which often hamstrings the best intentions of the EFCC. Indeed, the judiciary has to a large extent been a stumbling block to the efforts in fighting graft. Several cases against prominent political figures have been in various courts for years without the trials even taking off. The country’s feeble and overstrained judiciary offers infinite openings for experienced defence lawyers to secure never-ending and sometimes dizzy delays as well as dubious injunctions against criminal prosecutions. These are some of the challenges for which we cannot blame the EFCC.

  There was once a debate as to whether or not the federal government should establish specialised anti-corruption courts for efficiency, speed, integrity and expertise. But there were also questions about the relationship of such courts to the regular judicial courts, the procedures for appointing and removing such judges, and the substantive scope of jurisdiction, among others. Even though the idea has not gone beyond rhetoric, the mere suggestion of it is an indication that the EFCC has often been sabotaged by corrupt tendencies in the judiciary itself.

 In a nation where the political system continues to recompense rather than reprimand corruption and the boundary between right and wrong is becoming increasingly difficult to determine, we must acknowledge the commendable efforts of the EFCC under Olukayode. What is perhaps required is an urgent need to review the instruments establishing the agency to strengthen it in the area of asset recovery as well as in its criminal investigation and prosecutorial functions.

The authorities should do more by creating awareness among miners

Rich in mineral deposits including gold, Zamfara State first recorded a major lead poisoning epidemic in 2010 in Anka and Bukkuyum Local Government Areas, killing about 400 inhabitants, mainly children. A significant number of the children died within a short period, highlighting the severity of the infection. The poisoning was linked to unsafe artisanal gold mining practices, where gold ore with high lead content was processed in residential areas. Another lead poisoning epidemic seven years later in Yar-Galma village also killed many children, most of them under five years old. The contamination occurred through soil and dust exposure, with children being particularly affected due significantly to hand-to-mouth behaviour and accidental ingestion of contaminated objects.

Despite the ban on illegal mining, the practice is still booming, leading to another outbreak of lead poisoning in Bungudu local government area of the state. Like previous tragedies, the recent incident was linked to unsafe artisanal gold mining practices which led to environmental contamination and the poisoning of hundreds of residents. Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, had warned that mining activities remain on hold until the release of standard operating procedures, but the people are too desperate to care.

Artisanal mining is a poverty-driven activity that is widespread in many communities across the country as an important source of income. Indeed, many have transformed their villages into processing sites for all kinds of minerals including heavy metals that are associated with poisoning of humans – lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium. In a bid to separate the gold, the villagers grind the rocks, resulting in dust containing high levels of lead to settle on soil and other nearby surfaces, and in the process exposing the locals to the poison. Besides, many of the miners are themselves carriers of death. Some of them took home their dusty clothes and shoes contaminated with lead, which their innocent children inhaled to their peril.

Therefore, the menace of lead poisoning due principally to the activities of illegal miners is commonplace. Some recent â€œmysteries” leading to the death of 164 children in Sokoto State were traced to metal poisoning. A decade ago, no fewer than 28 children died after suffering symptoms of convulsions, insomnia and hallucinations in Kawo and Magiro, two remote villages in Niger State. Doctors without Borders (MSF) later discovered that the children died due to extremely high levels of lead in their bodies. Simba Tirima, an environmental scientist, noted that the outbreak resulted from unregulated rudimentary processing of lead-rich gold ores in the villages. 

 Lead is colourless, odourless and tasteless, making it an insidious killer. Besides death, the short-term effects of lead poisoning include acute fever, convulsion, loss of consciousness and blindness, while the long-term effects include anaemia, renal failure and brain damage in children, who are often the main victims. Some of them are left with severe handicaps in the form of paralysis while others are afflicted with severe mental retardation and other health disorders.

 Over the years, however, some interventions have largely reduced deaths from lead poisoning. The government and other international organisations have implemented measures to clean contaminated soil and water sources in the affected communities. Organisations like Doctors Without Borders (MSF) played a major role in providing medical care, conducting assessments, and assisting with environmental remediation. But as some recent outbreaks have shown, there are still challenges in addressing the long-term health consequences and preventing future incidents. 

There is a need to do more to regulate artisanal mining practices, and ensure safer methods are employed. Traditional institutions and local authorities have a responsibility to ensure that government directives are obeyed. The recent approval for the deployment of satellite technology to monitor mining sites nationwide will help in containing illegal mining practices. Communities must be stopped from digging their own graves.

The political parties must face up to the real issues

Right before our very eyes, a new political culture is unfolding in the country. From a sitting Senator publicly inciting people in Osun State to kill supporters of opposing parties, to a council chairman in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) threatening residents except they vote for his party, to a commissioner in Borno State promising to amputate the hands of anyone who exercises their franchise in a different way from his preference, the political climate in Nigeria is increasingly becoming toxic. To compound the challenge, a state governor is now announcing that he will remove from office any elected local government official who does not ‘deliver’ the votes for his party during the 2027 general election.

While swearing in the newly elected chairmen and vice chairmen of Ebonyi State’s 13 local government areas (all won by his party as is customary with such elections in the country), Governor Francis Nwifuru descended into the gutter. “Any chairman who fails to win his council will be removed from office and replaced with a councillor. I want this information to be on the headlines of newspapers because, as politicians, we would not speak in secret,” Nwifiru declared. “The chairmen know we would win in the state and if they choose to sleep and allow others to take their areas, they would be removed.”

The 1999 constitution in its Fourth Schedule is clear about the functions, duties, and responsibilities of the local governments. Unfortunately, the same constitution is silent on any protective mechanism that guarantees local governments financial and political autonomy. Despite the Supreme Court ruling awarding them financial autonomy, this crucial decision is still at the whims of the state governors who, indeed, imposed the local officials on their councils in the name of elections that are neither free nor fair.

In office, many of these officials are either only too grateful to do the bidding of the governors or are too scared to assert their independence. In most cases, they are constantly reminded of the skewed process that brought them to office. These supposedly elected council officials are therefore constantly warned on the repercussions of holding any dissenting views or not obeying whatever ‘mandate’ they are given by the governor. Cowed and compromised, they end up serving the governor rather than the people.

 Ordinarily, an effective local government administration is much needed for human development. But where the mandate of such public officials is already reduced to securing or procuring the votes for a political party as is now the case in Ebonyi State, it stands to reason that the plight of the ordinary citizens would not feature much in their calculations. Yet the received wisdom is that with the local governments not performing to the required optimal level, the nation generally suffers because this is the level of government that is closest to the people, and should be the most responsive to their needs.

 What all the recent desperations in the campaigns leading to the 2027 general election speak to is a distorted mindset of impunity that must urgently be addressed by stakeholders.The Constitution did not grant a state governor the authority to remove an elected local government chairman.Since most of these politicians making these unguarded pronouncements belong to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the leadership of the party has a responsibility to rein them in.

 What they must understand is that the most dangerous consequence of this recklessness is not the damage it does today. It is in the tendency to entrench a political culture that normalises violence and lawlessness, and ultimately erodes democratic freedom. Such rhetoric also emboldens troublemakers and increases tension and insecurity in the nation. Because these threats are in violation of the constitution, President Bola Tinubu needs to quickly stem this dangerous tide and save the nation a descent into avoidable anarchy.

Regulators should enforce safety standards

Considering that inhabitants of most communities in the creeks and coastlines areas have no alternative means of transportation, boat accidents may be inevitable. But the frequency of such accidents in Nigeria has over the years become alarming. In the latest of what is now a festival of deaths on the nation’s waterways, the National Inland Waterways (NIWA) last weekend confirmed that no fewer than 41 persons died and 11 others were rescued in a boat mishap at Gorau community on the Goronyo River in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State. The NIWA Area Manager in Sokoto, Mr Abdulkadir Yusuf, said the boat was carrying about 82 persons when it recorded the accident that claimed many lives, including the community leader in transit to a rice farm for harvest.

Even before any official investigation, Yusuf has attributed the latest tragedy to negligence, overloading and violation of safety rules. We doubt if anyone would fault him. It is a notorious fact that there is hardly any ferry, canoe or the so-called “flying boat” that keeps to the exact passenger number specification. In some instances, boats that were constructed to carry not more than 20 persons could be loaded with 50 or more passengers, especially at peak periods when people are in a hurry to get back to their places of abode. Consequently, when the canoes encounter stormy conditions along the water, the sheer weight of the human cargo and other luggage would make them easily susceptible to capsize.  

  Aside from overloading, most of these boats are old and suffer from lack of proper maintenance. Perhaps more important is the obvious lack of safety standards. In fact, not much is still known about the existence of mandatory operational guidelines for ownership of ferries and boats, and the minimum standards that must be met to be in the business of ferrying people through the waters. This is where a lack of regulatory oversight comes in.

 Established in 1997, NIWA is saddled with the task of managing the nation’s 3000 navigable waterways from the Nigeria/Niger Republic and Nigeria/Cameroon borders to the Atlantic Ocean. These comprise Rivers Niger and Benue as well as the creeks, lagoons, lakes, and intra-coastal waters. NIWA’s mandate also includes providing “regulatory, economical and operational leadership in the nation’s inland waterways system and develop infrastructural facilities for efficient intermodal transportation system that is safe, seamless and affordable”. But the agency has been reduced to counting body bags after these tragedies. 

  It is unfortunate that almost everything worthwhile and ordinarily should be easily achieved always looks like a mountain in Nigeria. With the existence of waterfronts in various parts of the country and the increasingly devastating state of our roads, innovative leaders would have ordinarily explored the options of water transportation by heavily investing in our waterways with a view to making them safe. That sadly is not the case despite the fact that water transportation is one clear source of de-congesting the roads in places where road travel could result in frustrating hours on the traffic.

Going forward, we reiterate our call that operational standards be enforced nationally for those in the business of ferry and canoe transportation. The provision of emergency services along the waterways is also worth considering. It is disturbing that marine police are often missing in action in environs where water tragedies occur.  Should they not be permanently stationed around waterways and swiftly swing to action in case of accidents?   

 The authorities must put in place necessary safety measures. Travelling by water should not be a suicide mission. 

ˇĄłŚ´Ç˛Ô´Çłžžą˛őłŮ˛ő.Ěýrislanudeen@gmail.com