Members of the Federal House of Representatives have commenced the amendment of the Nigerian constitution with far-reaching decisions that they expect would deepen the country's democracy and accelerate its development.
The review of the constitution had commenced with the participation of Nigerians with the general decision collated by the Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution led by Deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha.
At plenary on Thursday, Ihedioha presented the report, aimed at creating financial autonomy for Local Government Areas in other to reduce the overwhelming influences of the respective State governors.
In this case, as stated in the report, the joint accounts operated by the states and local councils would be stopped, so that the latter would begin to receive their statutory allocation directly from the Federation Account.
The report also cancels the existence of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC), thus giving the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the power to conduct local council elections henceforth. This is aimed at frustrating the influence of politicians the choice of persons elected into positions at the grassroots.
The report, which suggests a four-year term for political officers elected into Local Government councils, also suggests the establishment of an Independent Electoral Offences Commission to handle election matters and stipulates that anybody found guilty of electoral offences by any court in the country would be barred from contesting elections at both the State and Federal levels.
The amendment is to be debated in the form of 25 bills, and also disapproves the creation of more states in addition to giving traditional rulers representation in the National Council of State.
The committee moved items including railways, devolution of powers, health, housing and electricity from the exclusive to the concurrent list.Portions of the report contained:
•A Bill for an Act to alter Sections 7 and 162 of the Constitution to provide for independence and financial autonomy of local councils in Nigeria, and for related matters; 2011 (H.B 122);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of Nigeria to provide a definite date for the President to present an Appropriation Bill for the next financial year to the National Assembly, 2011 (H.B114);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of Part II of the First Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, by deleting the word “Plateau” in line 14 and inserting instead thereof the word “Nasarawa”, 2011, (H.B 102);
•A Bill for an Act to alter sections 89 and 129 to direct the Attorney-General of the Federation to prosecute any person or authority found wanting by the Senate or the House of Representatives; and for connected matters, 2011, (H.B 177);
•A Bill for an Act to amend the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, Cap 7, LFN, 2004 and other matters connected therewith, 2012, (H.B 190);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution to remove the word, “Force” from the name of the Nigeria Police Force in order that it becomes the “Nigeria Police”; and for related matters, 2012, (H.B. 135);
•A Bill for an Act to amend the Treaties (Making Procedure, etc.) Act Cap. T20, LFN, 2004, to make consultations with relevant committees of the National Assembly a mandatory Treaty- making Procedure to all Treaties entered into between the Federation and any other country and for matters connected therewith, 2012, (H.B. 189);
•A Bill for an Act to alter Section 58 of the Constitution to make the Resolutions of the National Assembly have force of law; and for connected matters, 2012, (H.B 115);
•A Bill for an Act to alter Section 315 of the Constitution to remove the power of the President or Governor to amend an existing law, 2012, (H.B 151);
•A Bill for an Act to alter Section 7 of the Constitution to ensure efficient operations of the Local Councils in Nigeria for social, economic and political development; and for other matters connected therewith, 2012, (H.B 176);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, to vest appellate jurisdiction on the Sharia and Customary Courts of Appeal in respect of all matters emanating from Sharia, District and Area Customary Courts; and for other matters connected therewith; 2013, (H.B 406);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to amend the definition of a citizen contained therein to include all persons indigenous to communities now forming part of Nigeria; and for related matters; 2013, (H.B 414);
•A Bill for an Act to further alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to make provisions for the enforcement of certain provisions of the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy as contained in the Constitution; and for matters connected therewith, 2013, (H.B 123);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to criminalise contempt of the House of Representatives, 2013, (H.B 430);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, by providing immunity for members of the Legislature in respect of words spoken or written at the plenary session or at committee proceedings, to guarantee that freedom of speech, debate and proceedings in Legislative Houses are not impeached or questioned in any court or place outside of Parliament; and for related matters (H.B432) and a Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of the Nigeria to guarantee freedom of speech and Legislative actions for members of the National Assembly, (H.B 457);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to place the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation on the first line charge of the Consolidated Revenue Fund and to empower the Auditor-General of the Federation and the Auditor-General of State Governments to audit the accounts of statutory corporations, commissions, authorities and agencies in Nigeria; and related matters, 2013, (H.B 442);•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of Section 143 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to remove ambiguities in the process of removal of the President and the Vice President from office on an allegation of gross misconduct and to provide for a more transparent and democratic procedure for impeachment; and for other matters connected therewith, 2013, (H.B 498);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and for other matters connected therewith;
•A Bill for an Act to amend sections 315 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and for related matters;
•A Bill for an Act to alter Section 285 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Second Alteration) Act. No. 2 of 2010; and for matters connected thereto, 2012, (H.B 247);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to separate the office of the Attorney-General from that of the Minister of Justice and to provide for an independence office of the Attorney-General; and for matters connected thereto, 2012, (H.B 262);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and for other matters connected therewith;
•A Bill for an Act to alter provisions of the First Schedule, Part 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to allow for the change of “Egbado North” and “Egbado South” to “Yewa North” and “Yewa South”; and for matters connected therewith, 2012, (H.B 373);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of Section 7 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to make it mandatory for election to the offices of the chairman and councillors of local councils in Nigeria to be held on a date to be appointed, and on the conditions prescribed by Laws made by the State Houses of Assembly; and for other matters connected thereto, 2012, (HB 259);
•A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 in section 162 (2) to provide for the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission to table directly before the National Assembly the commission’s proposals for revenue allocation; and for matters connected thereto, 2012 (HB 343); and
•A Bill for an Act to alter the provisions of item No. 1, Part III, Third Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to allow for additional Membership of the Federal Capital Territory Judiciary Service Committee, include the Customary Court to the list of Courts in the Federal Capital Territory; and other matters connected therewith, 2012 (HB 352).
Some of the other areas examined by the report included:
Section 12 where the committee altered the provisions concerning Nigeria’s international treaty obligations, to provide for National Assembly’s ratification and enactment, Section 25 where the committee redefined citizenship to take away the question of who is an indigene or settler in the community, meaning that a person who has lived in a community for a specified period is entitled to the same rights and privileges as citizens of that community and Section 42 where the committee altered its provision to specifically prohibit discrimination against persons living with disability.
The committee also added new sections 45A-D where it made a significant proposal by making enforceable certain socio-economic rights as fundamental rights and incorporating them into Chapter IV, the justiciable part of the Constitution, thus creating as justiciable, the rights to education, right to favorable environment, right to free primary and maternal health care services, and the right to basic housing; and Section 65 where the committee agreed to allow for independent candidacy in elections in Nigeria but that this would, however, be subject to conditions stipulated under the Electoral Act.
Others include:
•Section 66: To give seriousness to the issue of electoral offence, the committee provides grounds for disqualification of a candidate from contesting elections where he has been found guilty of an offence. This is also applicable at the state level.
In order to entrench the independence of the offices of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Auditor-General of the Federation, and insulate them from political control, the committee put these offices on the first line change of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
•Section 80: The committee strengthened the provisions of Section 80 of the constitution to plug leakages from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation and public funds of Nigeria to ensure that no expenditure is made by any organ of government without appropriation by the legislature.•Sections 81 and 82: To ensure timely passage of the national budget, and discipline in expenditure, the committee stipulated that budgets be submitted by the executive for approval no later than 90 days before the expiration of the fiscal year.
•Sections 84A-C: The committee included a new section in the constitution creating a new office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and Accountant-General of the Federal Government to ensure that persons are appointed into these two separate offices for professional management of resources.
•Section 150:To give effect to the results of the Peoples’ Public Session which voted to separate the office of the Minister of Justice from that of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the committee made amendments to reflect this and insulates an independent office of the Attorney-General of the Federation from partisanship and to be managed by a professional lawyer. This is also applicable at the state level.
•Section 153: The committee felt that the issue of electoral offences is of such importance as to warrant the creation of an independent electoral offences commission to handle it.
•Section 162: The committee also altered the constitution to abrogate state joint local government accounts and empower each local government to maintain its own special account to be called “Local Council Allocation Account” into which shall be paid directly allocations made to the local government by the Federal Government from the Federation Account and from the government of the state.
•Section 197: The committee felt that it was important to protect the integrity of the electoral process at local government level and respond to the complaints of partisanship of SIEC. Accordingly, it removed SIECs and vested the power to conduct local government councils across the federation in INEC.
•Section 201 and 3rd Schedule, Part I: Role for Traditional Rulers: The committee in response to the results of the Peoples’ Public Sessions created a role for traditional rulers at the federal and state levels providing for representation of traditional rulers in the National Council of State and the creation of a State Council of Chiefs at the state level.
•Section 214: The committee in this section and across the entirety of the constitution deleted the word “Force” from the name of the Nigeria Police providing for the name of the Police to now be “Nigerian Police” rather than “Nigeria Police Force.”
•Section 241: The committee reviewed memoranda submitted on the judiciary and agreed to address concerns over delay in the courts by limiting the use of interlocutory appeals to stay proceedings in court.
•Section 308: In line with the results from the Peoples’ Public Sessions, the committee also removed the immunity from prosecution from criminal offences for persons occupying the position of president, vice president, governor and deputy governor, and to stem impunity levels.
•Section 315: The committee also altered this section of the constitution as approved by the Peoples’ Public Session removing the powers of the president and governor of the state to modify existing laws.
The Speaker of the House, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said he would consult with other principal officers and members for the consideration of the report before they embark on recess which is two week awa
 |
|
Former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate Peter Obi has disagreed with Atiku Abubakar’s proposal to restore Nigeria’s fuel subsidy if elected president in 2027.
Speaking on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Obi argued that removing the subsidy was necessary but faulted the Federal Government for failing to properly manage the resources generated from its removal.
Atiku, who supported the removal of fuel subsidy during the 2023 presidential election, has since indicated that he would reconsider the policy and restore the subsidy if he wins the 2027 election.
Obi, however, maintained that reversing the policy would not address the underlying problems. According to him, the major failure has been the poor management of the funds saved after the subsidy was removed.
He said the government should have accompanied the policy with measures designed to reduce the hardship faced by Nigerians and should have channelled the resulting savings into productive areas of the economy.
“What we should have done is that when we removed it, we should have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy,” Obi said.
He further alleged that the funds recovered from subsidy removal had not been adequately accounted for, claiming that the resources were being “mismanaged and stolen.”
Obi said he had advocated a more structured approach to subsidy removal before the 2023 election, arguing that the savings should have been deliberately invested in areas capable of improving the lives of Nigerians and strengthening the economy.
“Go to my manifesto, I said it before, I said I will do it in an organised manner and whatever we recover would be invested appropriately,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023. The decision led to a significant increase in petrol prices and intensified concerns over inflation and the rising cost of living.
While the Federal Government has defended the policy as necessary to reduce pressure on public finances and redirect government resources, the implementation of the reform and the management of the resulting savings remain contentious issues.
With the 2027 election approaching, the contrasting positions of Obi and Atiku have added fuel subsidy to the growing debate over how Nigeria should manage its economy, protect vulnerable citizens and use public resources more effectively.
News
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has warned the 31 companies that emerged successful in the 2025 oil and gas licensing round to pay their required signature bonuses within the statutory timeframe or risk losing their provisional awards.
The warning comes one month after the commission conducted the commercial bid conference in Abuja, where the successful bidders were announced for 37 oil and gas blocks.
In a notice issued on Sunday, the NUPRC said the compliance process had commenced following the issuance of provisional award letters to the successful companies.
The commission stated that bidders who failed to meet the payment deadline in accordance with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) would forfeit their bid guarantees and have their provisional awards transferred to the next-ranked reserve bidders.
“Exactly a month ago, the NUPRC hosted the 2025 commercial bid conference in Abuja where 31 companies emerged winners of 37 oil and gas blocks. Having issued the winners with the provisional awards, compliance with the payment of signature bonuses has already begun,” the commission said.
The 37 blocks awarded in the licensing round cover several areas, including the Niger Delta onshore and shallow-water fields, deep offshore assets and frontier basins.
The assets include PPL 2A29 to PPL 2A62 in the Niger Delta, PPL 2010 in the deep offshore, PPL 308 in the Benin Basin, PPL 900 to PPL 903 in the Anambra Basin, PPL 700 in the Chad Basin, and PPL 800 and PPL 801 in the Benue Trough.
The NUPRC also released the names of the 31 successful companies, together with the ranked reserve bidders for each of the 37 blocks.
A total of 143 companies participated in the licensing exercise, submitting about 200 bids for the assets on offer. However, 13 of the 50 blocks originally listed for the round received no bids.
Under the PIA and the applicable licensing guidelines, successful bidders are required to pay signature bonuses ranging from $3 million to $7 million for each awarded block.
In addition to the signature bonus, the companies must provide the required guarantees, pay first-year rents and fulfil other post-award obligations within the prescribed period.
Failure to satisfy these requirements will result in the forfeiture of the affected company's bid guarantee and the revocation of its provisional award. The block will then be offered to the designated reserve bidder.
The NUPRC Chief Executive Officer, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, had previously urged the successful bidders to complete their payments promptly and move ahead with the development of their awarded assets.
The commission has advised bidders, industry stakeholders and members of the public to consult the 2025 Licensing Round portal for additional information on the awards and compliance requirements.
Under the applicable PIA framework, successful bidders have 90 days from the issuance of their provisional awards to complete the required payments and other conditions.
With the provisional awards issued following the July 21, 2026 commercial bid conference, the 90-day compliance period expires on October 19, 2026.
As of August 23, 2026, 33 days of the 90-day period have elapsed, leaving 57 days for the successful companies to complete their statutory obligations.
Companies that fail to pay their signature bonuses and first-year rents within the deadline risk losing both their bid guarantees and the provisional awards. The affected blocks would subsequently be reassigned to the respective reserve bidders in line with the licensing rules.
The NUPRC's latest notice therefore signals that the successful bidders have entered the final stages of the award process, with compliance now required before the provisional awards can progress toward full development of the assets.
Business
In The Spotlight
Vanguard recently published pathetic pictures of the Benin-Sapele-Warri Expressway; and Punch revealed to us what happens to the Lagos-Calabar Expressway, not even 15 per cent completed, each time there is a heavy downpour in the Lekki peninsula.
The road becomes so flooded, it becomes barely usable. Morning shows the day. If Tinubu-Umahi’s legacy road already shows evidence of long-term stress, pity the Nigerians who will ply that road ten years from now.
The Minister was in Lagos State recently, half-begging, half attempting to blackmail Governor Sanwo-Olu to cough up funds to repair the mistakes made by Engineer Umahi and the contractors who hastily embarked on the road without Environmental Impact Assessment. He is building in Lagos and coastal states the sort of rickety roads he left in Ebonyi State. He has the right President for that sort of shoddy business. Right now, parts of the road have been vandalized – even before completion. Fellow Nigerians are not paying attention as they should. Pity.
Vanguard, Punch and Daily Trust have been doing Nigerians a favour by pointing to one of the greatest failures of the Tinubu administration – the maintenance of federal highways under Minister David Umahi – whose major achievement in three years had been attracting attention to himself through a scandal involving homicide. On the whole, Nigerian roads, federal and state, have not been receiving the attention they deserve in the last eleven years; the neglect just got worse.
Experience on Nigerian roads from 1974-2019
“Hit the road, Jack”. Advice from my Sales Manager, in Boston, USA, 1968.
My first full time job was in selling. It was as a salesman for a leading pharmaceutical company, Lederle Laboratories, in 1968, that Mr. Al, for Albert, Abby, came into my life. As my Sales Manager, he monitored my activities and also as my mentor. He drilled into my head the idea that a salesman’s work consists of being on the road as much as possible; in order to meet customers. By the time I arrived in Nigeria, in 1974, to start work as the Marketing Manager of Abbott Laboratories, marketers of SIMILAC baby food, being on the road 70 per cent of the time had become routine. It was new to my sales staff, but proved rewarding for all concerned – company, staff and especially me.
Until August 1974, Ughelli, Delta State, was the farthest distance I ever traveled in Nigeria. I hit the road. By August 1975, I had covered all the 12 State capitals created by General Gowon, at least three times; and the trips had just begun. By 1998, after Abacha had increased the number of states to 36, I was in charge of Circulation in Vanguard; and my annual itinerary called for visiting all the offices at least once a quarter. In fact, I opened new Vanguard Offices in Ado-Ekiti, Yenagoa, Abakaliki, Gombe, Damaturu, Birnin Kebbi and Dutse. From 2001 to 2007, I traveled to all the stations at least three times a year. Over 80 per cent of the trips were by road – even though flight options were available to me. I got to know Nigerian roads as nobody I have ever met knew them. Divorce was threatened by the occupants of the home front. There was no major road constructed, expanded or diverted which I was not familiar with. By 2017, the trips were reduced to about 20 states every year.
Thus, each time a new Minister of Works is appointed, at least until 2019, I know the problems he faces. Shortly after President Jonathan assumed office, I published an article titled Nigeria’s 70 Most Important roads. These are the roads over which 70 to 80 per cent of goods are transported every day. Lagos-Ibadan Expressway remains the first one in all respects. I went further. The biggest map available at the CMS Bookshop was obtained and all the 70 roads were identified for the Minister in charge of roads with the advice: “take care of these roads and Nigerians will never forget you”. I wasted my time and effort; and Nigerians have been paying dearly for it. Since then, two Ministers of Works were appointed; each left Nigerian roads infinitely worse than when he started.
Three years of Umahi, more of the same
“It aint the things you don’t know that cause the problem; it’s things that you think you know that aint so.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
To the best of my knowledge, no Minister of Works has been appointed in Nigeria, with the exception of late General Mamman Kontagora, who can be said to have had a fairly good knowledge of Nigerian roads by the time he was appointed. Consequently, we have selected so many good men; but, for the wrong task. Many people, including me, would have protested if Fashola was not appointed Minister by Buhari after his sterling performance as Governor of Lagos State. But, he failed dismally as Minister of Works. So, in all fairness to Umahi, many of the roads in terrible condition were inherited from past administrations. That said; it is also a fact that every new appointee is not compelled to accept the offer; and “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”. Umahi inherited several death traps; but, like all members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, he also helped to conceal the truth from Nigerians. Now, he is holding the bag; with all the incriminating evidence of poor performance. Umahi should also be excused for the failure to establish priorities. His boss, without consultations, despite all the lies told, had already conceived of a new road – the Lagos-Calabar Expressway – and the preferred contractor was determined, without bidding. The Minister spent his first year defending a decision made without his input. He added his own.
Umahi started out sounding like a “know-it-all”. He is an Engineer; so he knows all there is about road construction. He even dictated that all federal roads, irrespective of terrain, would be paved with cement – without consideration for the impact on the price of cement; which is essential for building construction.
Perhaps, not establishing objective priorities was his biggest blunder. Some Nigerian roads carry most of the heavy loads and require more attention. The Lapai-Bida, the Benin-Sapele and the Asaba-Onitsha roads each carry more loads than all the Federal roads in Taraba, Ebonyi and Kebbi states put together. I could not agree more with Senator Adams Oshiomole who recently carpeted Umahi for lack of priority in his selection of roads receiving his attention. The Okene-Auchi-Benin road carries the largest load of cement heading for Southern States, as well as fuel tankers moving North. Without prioritizing the most important federal roads, we are indirectly slowing down economic development, making products made in Nigeria less competitive and entrenching poverty. In the absence of rail nationwide, roads constitute the life-blood of our nation. They are soaked now with our blood.
By Dele Sobowale
In The Spotlight
How many fake agencies can the Tinubu Presidency go after at a time? When I posed this question in my column in early August, I intended it as rhetoric. The fake agencies and their operators apparently took it as a challenge.
On Friday evening, the ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, emerged from his second meeting with the President in 48 hours to announce the discovery of yet another fake agency, grandly named the National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office and promoted by one Prince George Buchi Nwabueze.
Side note: Because of the length of these agency names, I’ll refer to them by their promoters, who happen to be ‘Princes’. Say, Prince Adeyemi’s PFIFC or Prince George’s agency. Okay?
So, I sat there among my colleagues, listening to Aliyu reel out another episode of an ongoing soap opera whose production studio is in the Nigerian civil service. We were arguably the first set of ears to get the gist, a privilege that comes with the burden of sharing it with the rest of the world.
Twenty-four hours earlier, I spotted the ICPC chairman making his way through the corridors leading to the President’s office for the umpteenth time. Aliyu had since become a standard feature at the State House since revelations about Prince Adeyemi’s fake agency, the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, first went public.
Draped in a white agbada, Aliyu sounded fulfilled as he announced another big catch, Prince George. Unlike his counterpart in the PFIFC, Prince George did not settle for a spot in the Federal Secretariat. No! He operated from inside the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He was also found to operate under at least five variations of his own name, which is fitting. A fake agency deserves a fake agency’s worth of aliases.
The President ordered his immediate arrest and suspended three permanent secretaries: M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare and Richard Pheelangwah.
If you are keeping count, you would have counted six fake agencies or actors in the past few months. Four! First came Prince Adeyemi’s now-dissolved PFIFC. Then the ICPC’s interim report of August 6 unearthed two more: the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership.
There is also the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, a body created in 2000 under Obasanjo to manage the sale and lease of federal landed assets.
Though now dissolved, its erstwhile secretary, B.S. Dutsin-Ma, had continued operating. In early August, the Presidency directed him to cease acting on behalf of the committee and the Federal Government.
Last September, the Presidency distanced itself from Mr Fegho Umunubo, an erstwhile Special Assistant on Digital and Creative Economy in the Vice President’s office, whom it warned was still acting in his old capacity despite being let go.
Now Prince George’s outfit makes six similar instances in under a year. At this rate, the fake agencies and actors may soon require their own coordinating ministry. And who knows if the next ‘Prince’ may be found operating from the Presidential Villa itself?
Lest we think this plague is new, history says otherwise. You see, Nigeria has always had people who understood that in a country where government is everywhere, the most profitable business is to impersonate it. From the 1980s and 1990s, there are tales of fake recruitment syndicates selling appointment letters into the Army, Customs and NNPC from rented offices with convincing letterheads. Some past regimes responded with periodic raids, tribunals and occasional decrees. But the racket always reincarnates.
Over the years, the ICPC and EFCC have busted fake job-racketeering “ministries” in Abuja that interviewed hundreds of applicants and collected “processing fees” for years before anyone really noticed. The sobering reality is that we have always chased the “Princes” one at a time. And there will always be another ‘Prince’ to sit on that throne.
Also, it is not uniquely a Nigerian thing. In California in 2015, authorities uncovered a self-declared “Masonic Fraternal Police Department”, a policing outfit with its own badges, uniforms and a website claiming a 3,000-year history. It was run by three “Princes” until the state of California charged them with impersonating officers.
The difference is not that other countries breed fewer fraudsters than we do. It is that their systems make the fraud quite short-lived because the list of legitimate agencies is knowable by the public, leaving the fake ones to glow in the dark.
Moreover, if government ministries, departments and agencies were fewer than they are now, there would be fewer hiding places for the fakes.
Which brings me, once again, to one document still gathering dust on the President’s desk: the Oronsaye report. Commissioned in 2011 and submitted in 2012, Steve Oronsaye’s committee found 541 federal parastatals, commissions and agencies and recommended pruning them to about 263. It recommended mergers, scrapping, subsuming and anything else that could shrink that number.
To his credit, President Tinubu revived it in February 2024, ordering full implementation. Two and a half years later, however, the rathole of redundant agencies has only widened, and now fake ones are camouflaging among the real ones. Implementing Oronsaye would arguably leave fewer agencies with clearer supervision and a slimmer cost of governance. Again, it is not a silver bullet. Matter of fact, the report is 14 years old; some recommendations would need fresh legislation. But why chase rats one by one when we can fumigate the entire network of holes?
While the ICPC is hunting “Princes”, President Tinubu is assembling his Avengers. According to the APC Presidential Campaign Council list the Presidency released on Saturday morning, Tinubu will sit as chairman; Vice President Kashim Shettima and party chairman Nentawe Yilwatda will co-chair the council. Ex-Zamfara governor Abdulaziz Yari will serve as DG, and Hope Uzodimma, still fresh from surviving the storm that rocked the Progressives Governors’ Forum months ago, will serve as secretary.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, Speaker Abbas and Governor Buni will serve as zonal heads; Oshiomhole will head mobilisation, while James Faleke will return to his 2022 role in election planning.
The media directorate already looks like a special-purpose media house of its own. Information Minister Mohammed Idris will coordinate alongside Dr Dele Alake, Bayo Onanuga, Issa-Onilu, Mr Tunde Rahman, Dr Sunday Dare, Daniel Bwala and Felix Morka.
By Stephen Angbulu