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OPINION: Betsy, Oshiomhole And Swine Fight

Published

11 months ago

September 3, 2024

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

The Benin people have long ago embraced the concept of ogieriakhi, which holds that an elder does not revenge an insult. This native wisdom is to ensure that the elders, who are the pillars holding the community, don’t engage in anything that would make anyone question their wisdom. The Oba of Benin is one of the most respected monarchs in the country. His subjects treat him like a deity. If for instance, the Omo N’Oba is annoyed by an act of anyone, he is expected to maintain his stoic disposition. He cannot betray emotions in the public; he cannot lose his cool before mere mortals. He has those who avenge insults for him. The best he could do, if provoked, it to make the traditional pronouncement, evbin ni tai mayewe, ya riukoror, which means, if you don’t like what I say, go and hang yourself. That is a command from the throne. The one so commanded must carry out the instruction. But that rarely happens. In the last two centuries, or so, there is no record to show that an Omo N’Oba made such a pronouncement. That is the dignity of the throne, which translates to the dignity, wisdom and maturity of the elders.

But Edo appears to have lost that in recent times. Elders no longer behave as elders. What used to be commonplace among guttersnipes is what grey hairs now do. My mind raced to the recent outburst by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole against the first lady of Edo State, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki. Madam Betsy had, while campaigning for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the forthcoming gubernatorial election in the state, Asue Ighodalo, among some women in Ubiaja, urged the womenfolk to vote for a candidate who has a wife, positing that he would appreciate women and give them more recognition. She then quipped that of all the candidates in the race, only the PDP candidate “has a wife”. Here is how she put it:

“Let’s campaign and vote for the best candidate in this forthcoming election. I want to introduce his wife. Incidentally, out of all the candidates contesting this election, only one has a wife. That is our own party candidate, Asue Ighodalo. This is his wife, Ifeyinwa Ighodalo.” Hardly had she dropped the microphone, when Oshiomhole reacted. And he was brutal in his reaction. The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), took Madam Besty’s comment to mean a reference to the APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo. The Comrade’s outburst was egregious! Hear him:

“I was shocked yesterday to see Mrs. Obaseki, the first lady, saying that our candidate has no wife. I’m sorry she had to say that because here is a woman who has no child. Between him (sic) and Obaseki, they are childless. They are not even ready to adopt. I don’t blame anybody who doesn’t have a child but people who have love for children go to a motherless home and adopt. They have not adopted. They are both in their sixties. So, your marriage, I don’t know whether it is a contract one or whatever it is, but they have no child….” Both parties missed the point. But in my own judgement, Oshiomhole’s response was the most infelicitous! I will explain.

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Marriage is a permissible will of God. We all make choices. And like our elders say, marriage is like a market that is set up in darkness (ojà òkùnkùn), it is only when the light shines that one knows what one has bought. Some are lucky to get good partners. Many are not that lucky. However, individuals have control over what they make of their marriages. Sustaining a home requires a lot of things: temperance, accommodation, wisdom, love and many more. If a man married two wives and threw the two of them away, we should look at his character alongside those of the two women. A man who says every firewood in his cooking spot brings out smoke instead of flame should be studied very well before a higher responsibility is added to him. Most good managers of homes are likely to be good managers of a collective destiny. That is what I think Madam Betsy alluded to.

Even at that, a simple stylistic study of her statements at the campaign rally shows that she is a better student of communication. She mentioned no names. She mentioned no political parties. That is what my Stylistics teachers called “Avoidance Strategy”, a principle that allows the communicator to extricate himself from the web of controversy. I still don’t get how Oshiomhole equates “Incidentally, out of all the candidates contesting this election, only one has a wife”, to require an indecorous response deriding the childlessness of a couple! The only explanation that is close to the equation is the saying of our elders that when dry bone is mentioned in a proverb, the old woman thinks that she is being referred to.

If, for instance, Madam Betsy had mentioned Okpebholo’s marital condition, knowing that the man lost his wife or wives to the cold hands of death, she would have stood condemned before God and man. But is that the case here? No. Okpebholo’s two wives are alive but might not be under his roof. That also does not mean it is right for Madam Besty or anyone else to deride another on account of a failed marriage. We all do our best to keep our homes going. If her jab is to say that those who threw away two women in quick succession, or those who could not sustain a marriage for just one year have no business running a state, since charity begins at home, she might be making a seemingly valid argument except that nobody knows the circumstances surrounding those failed relationships. Honestly, our politics has not grown beyond banal issues. That is sad enough.

Childlessness in a marriage, on the other hand, is beyond any mortal. Every man or woman desires to procreate. If it doesn’t happen, it becomes a problem. And it is not a problem anyone should use as a point of attack. That will be most the stone-hearted to do. Africans have different euphemisms to describe a woman who suffers such a fate. In my Yoruba environment, we don’t just call a woman barren. We call her Ìyá olómo púpò (the woman with many children). If, during an interrogation, you ask a woman without a child the number of her children, her response will be Omo pò lówó mi (I have numerous children). You don’t mock a woman with her childlessness. We use “àpón” to abuse someone, especially a man who is of age but refuses to marry, but not “àgàn” (barrenness).

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It is also not in the place of Oshiomhole to say that couples in their 60s who don’t have a child must adopt. Comrade as a Christian must have been told in his Catholic Catechism that Abraham and Sarah did not have Isaac until they were 100 and 90 years. Isaac had to beg God for Rebecca to have Esau and Jacob. Jacob’s favourite wife, Racheal waited on the Lord for long before she had children for Jacob. In our African Traditional Religion (ATR), Ifa, in Ogbè Òyèkú, tells us the Lapetun, the mother of Adan (Bat), waited for so long before she had her only child, Adan. Incidentally, Adan is our traditional symbol of fertility because if one opens the bowel of a Bat, one finds another Bat inside, and if that one is opened, another Bat is also found. This is why a good Babalowo prays for the woman trusting Eledua for a child thus: àtolè dolè ni ti Àdán, bí wón bá yèdí re wò omo ni (from foetus to foetus is the lot of the Bat; if they open your bosom, it is a child they will see).

I don’t know if Oshiomhole plays our local game, Ayo, the 48-seed game of 24 seeds in each row. Those who play that game very well are not known to have the capacity to keep secrets. If you want to know the latest gist in town, just go over to an Ayo spot. There, nothing is hidden. The beauty of it is that nobody takes any offence even when the topmost secret is laid bare in the public. Our elders warn those who have something to hide not to participate in Ayo game. They say àsírí ò bò lénu aláyò (Ayo players do not keep secrets). That is what Oshiomhole did when in the video, he alluded to the relationship between Betsy and Godwin Obaseki being a “contract” marriage.

If Oshiomhole had limited his tirades to his allusion that whatever marriage arrangement between Madam Besty and her husband, Godwin Obaseki, is merely contractual, one would have understood, though that is also belittling of his status in the society. This is also why Mrs. Obaseki should have known that anyone living in a glass house should learn not to throw stones. Oshiomhole, no doubt, knows, more than any other person, how the Obaseki couple came to be before the 2016 governorship election that produced the Governor Obaseki. The lesson here is that there is little or no difference between a contractual or cosmetic marriage and a failed one. In our culture, a cosmetic marriage is never the template given to would-be couples. We had a case in the early 90s, when a Military Governor (MILAD) of one of the states in the South-West drove out of the Government House in one vehicle, and his glamorous wife in a separate vehicle, when the MILAD’s tour of duty ended. To date, nobody has seen the duo together in any public function. Ironically, the ex-military man, now old, postulates on virtually every public policy. Whoever midwifed the “contract marriage” Oshiomhole mentioned is as good as the ‘contractual’ couple!

If Oshiomhole knows anything about the “contract” marriage between the Edo State first family, and he is bringing that to the public because of politics, it tells more about his personality. There should be decency in one’s utterances, especially at that age. Our elders are not wrong when they say an elder talks more in his stomach than in his mouth (inú ni àgbà ńyá, àgbà kìí yá enu). How many other ‘secrets’ does Oshiomhole know? How many will he reveal whenever he is provoked? I used to think that they say age and wisdom are siblings. Why do we have the contrary now?

Mrs. Obaseki on her part should know that marriages break down for several reasons, and it is a worthy credit for those who navigate the odds and keep their marriages. However, asking Edo voters, especially the women, to put into consideration the ability of any of the candidates to manage his home before entrusting the entire state to him is not entirely out of place. It takes a lot to run and sustain a marriage. This however does not approve the tendency of any man to change wives the way a nursing mother changes the baby’s diapers. If such a man comes knocking to ask to rule a state, there is nothing bad in interrogating his managerial abilities to see how he has fared in life, especially in the little assignment of a home manager. Afterall, the Holy Writ, the Bible, enjoins that he who is faithful in little things should be given bigger and higher responsibilities (Luke 16:10)

Those statements by Oshiomhole are, to me, most inconsiderate and hare-brained considering his age, and absolutely unstatesmanlike going by his status as a former Labour leader, a former governor, a former National Chairman of a political party, and now a serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The devil-may-care way he said it all in the 59 seconds video is something a tear-away would cringe to say. It is misogyny carried too far. There is no justification for it, there is no excuse for such recklessness in public communication. The argument that Madam Betsy started it will not suffice here. When others are losing their heads, elders like Oshiomhole are expected to keep theirs. It is most unfortunate that at 73, Comrade Oshiomhole would choose to engage in a swine fight with a woman in the first place!

The APC stalwart is an experienced married man; one who has handled women for decades. One begins to wonder what lessons he has learnt in marriage if he could descend to the mud the way he did in this instance. If the younger generation can no longer look up to the older generation for wisdom, guidance and discretion in the face of provocation, what else is left of the society? This is beyond politics and its dirtiness. The outburst speaks more to the personality of the ex-governor. This is the same man who as governor told a widow, who only begged for sympathy, if not empathy, to “go and die.” I think I am genuinely ashamed. It is embarrassing if we must counsel Oshiomhole at 73 that it is unacceptable before God, and condemnable among men to deride a woman on account of her childlessness.

Childbearing, we need to reiterate, is an exclusive preserve of God, the creator, who gives and refuses to give. It is not for nothing that my people praise the Almighty as Aseyiowu (He who does as he pleases). On the other hand, failure or success in marriage is the man’s prerogative. If Betsy indeed alluded to whatever failure Oshiomhole’s candidate might have suffered in marriage, bad as that may be, it does not justify Oshiomhole’s mockery of Betsy and her husband, Governor Obaseki, on the account of their childlessness. Doing that, we need to tell the senator, amounts to mocking God and, who knows tomorrow? My countryside upbringing teaches me that eni omo sin ló bí’mo (It is who is survived by offspring that can be said to be fruitful). An elder does not run a zigzag. Edo people are too civilised. They are too cultured. That is why they intoned that elders don’t revenge insults with their age-long concept of ogieriakhi. The elders of my place also say when a child defecates in the family mortar, and the elder uses a rag to clean it up, it is akin to moving from one filth to another filth. Oshiomhole is an elder by all standards. Can we all appeal to him to please demonstrate that grey hair is all about wisdom?

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OPINION: Tinubu And His Northern Teachers

Published

2 hours ago

August 5, 2025

Editor

By Suyi Ayodele

When last week, Professor Ango Abdullahi threatened that “the North is watching”, what did he mean? You must love the professor of agronomy for his unambiguity. He is not the type that leaves his audience wondering. He concluded his lamentation with a call for action.

The North, he reasoned, must demand accountability and be united against the ‘injustice’ meted out to the region. Hear him: “We must be proactive. We will be asking questions. And this time, we expect answers. If we do not speak up and insist on fairness, the marginalisation will continue, and our children will inherit a more broken and divided nation.”

The government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is just 26 months old. But the North lays all the problems bedevilling the region at the helmsman’s feet. Leaders of that region said that Tinubu and his government should be blamed for the entire woes that have been the lot of the North. They said so with a sickening entitlement mentality and the finality of a Presiding Bishop. That is a big shame!

They were also magisterial in a manner that depicts a no-nonsense-cane-wielding class teacher. The North, their leaders submitted, would, through its mouthpiece, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), write to President Tinubu to demand explanations on “some developments” in his government.

The region’s elders were not joking. Tinubu, must, for instance, explain: “Why the sudden relocation of CBN departments (from Abuja to Lagos)? Why the mass retirements (where and when)? And why were 15 new directors recently employed -with only four from Northern Nigeria?”

Those were the words of Professor Ango Abdullahi, NEF Chairman. He spoke last Tuesday at the Government-Citizens Engagement Forum put together by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF). And President Tinubu had better assemble convincing explanations for “these developments.” Why? The former Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, warned: “These are not coincidences. They are decisions with CONSEQUENCES, and the North is watching!”

I do hope Tinubu knows the implication of being watched by Big Brother. If I were Mr. President, I would simply pad my buttocks like we used to do in our primary school days, when we stuffed exercise books into our pants to cushion the effects of the strokes of cane from our teachers. Of course, like Big Brother in George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, those eagle-eyed teachers always found out our naughty games, removed the exercise books and flogged us like the last cow to the herder! Is the President ready for the flogging of his northern masters?

When will the North be asking President Tinubu those ‘pertinent’ questions? When will the region be demanding for “answers?” While we are hazarding a guess, let me summarise the North’s position as enunciated in Kaduna last Tuesday: it is obvious, and very obvious, too, that Nigeria is never one and can never be one! This is the Nigeria of our time. Those who midwifed the contraption called Nigeria must be turning in their graves reading what the northern elite are saying concerning the backwardness of the region.

I am not Steve Cavanagh, the author of The Devil’s Advocate. I equally don’t want to play the devil’s advocate here. Tinubu has enough men and women, his night soil men, to carry his can of smelly chamber pots for him. My mission here is to ask us to examine the North and its claim of ‘marginalisation’, ‘injustice’; ‘unfairness’; ‘insecurity’ and ‘education backwardness’ in relation to out-of-school children and determine who is to be blamed.

There is a Yoruba saying that has a deep meaning. One cannot put the coral beads on the waist of another child whereas one’s child has a rotund waist, the saying goes. It is a Yoruba call for solidarity. The surface implicature is that one should rally round one of his own.

In the deeper sense, it means no matter how bad one’s child is, his conduct must be accommodated in the true sense of solidarity. It is saying that such a badly-behaved child should be preferred to another child from outside the family. In essence, ethnic solidarity should take the front burner above common good. Do I subscribe to that philosophy?

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I answer by saying that our tendency to condone everything the political class offers us in the name of tiwa n’ti wa (our own is our own) is the bane of our development as a nation. Our inability to call out our relations eating bad insects is the reason why we have not been able to sleep peacefully because of the intermittent whooping cough from the relations.

What is bad is always bad. A President should not be ‘supported’ based on where he comes from. Our solidarity, our fidelity and devotion methinks, should be to sterling performances and not to the ethnicity of the driver of our collective destiny. We should be more concerned about abundant life for the people rather than the ethnic background of the President.

A North that kept quiet when Muhammadu Buhari drove the vehicle of this nation to the bottomless pit has no right to complain if Tinubu decides to put the vehicle back on the reverse gear with his Stone Age economic policies. Likewise, Tinubu’s brothers and sisters will be eternally wrong to clap and cheer when the man who promised hope is delivering hopelessness!

No nation moves forward that way. No meaningful development can take place in a nation populated by the máa jó lo mo ńwo èyìn e (keep dancing, I am watching your back) orchestra even when the percussion churns out discordant tunes! Nigeria can only become a success the day we individually and collectively agree that once one’s child comes with a twisted waist, the coral beads should be tied round the waist of a child with a well-formed waist irrespective of who sired her!

This is why I love the balance in the Yoruba worldview. The elders of the land who say one cannot put the coral beads on the waist of another child whereas one’s child has a rotund waist, also caution that it is only when one’s masquerade dances very well at the arena that the one holding the cincture will be proud and happy (bí eégún eni bá jóo’re, orí á yá atókùn). Only a child that is doing very well deserves the support of the clan.

The average Nigerians are not necessarily tribal jingoists. No! The elite, for their selfish reasons, are the ones fanning the embers of disunity. It pays them to see the masses divided alongside ethnic interests. An average Nigerian, the common man on the street, craves for results, successes and any good policy that can put food on his table. Nothing more.

Give the presidency to Ibrahim Momoh, the vice presidency to Musa Adamu; the senate presidency to Jalingo Tundunwada and the speakership of the House of Representatives to Chiroma Abdumalik. Then make life more abundant. Guarantee security, build roads and supply uninterrupted power for 24 straight hours every day of the week, common Nigerians on the streets will go about their normal businesses and celebrate the good things of life they have in abundance. The problem of ethnicity, marginalisation’, ‘imbalance’ and what have you are creations of the rapacious elite!

It happened recently when our Super Falcons won the 10th WAFCON trophy for us. Check the team, check the composition. Nobody complained about any imbalance or marginalisation. Nobody talked about Federal Character, our euphemism for sacrificing merit for mediocrity. Nigerians were all united, cheering the girls to victory.

We hugged one another, we backslapped one another, and we celebrated when the girls won. When they were two goals down at half time, we all prayed for their victory. When eventually they won, we forgot that Imo state alone had six of its girls playing for us! That is what success is all about; that is what achievements bring. Our unity as a nation is more defined in the beautiful performances of our leaders.

If a loaf of bread goes back to N250 today; if a litre of petrol sells for N120; If Nigerians can travel from Lagos to Maiduguri on the highways without any fear of kidnappers or bandits; if farmers can plant and harvest their produce in peace, I take a bet, Adamu Abubakar in Maiduguri will celebrate Tinubu; Okechukwu Okafor in Ikeduru will forget about the nsogbu-nsogbu drumbeat of war in the South-East and Jumoke Abodunde in Emure Ekiti will tie her wrapper and dance to celebrate the president’s achievements. The masses of the North, and the peasants of the South are united by one denominator: abject poverty. And they also have one common enemy: the elite, the political power holders who have become the proverbial locusts eating the vegetation of the nation.

So, whether the elite gather in Kaduna, congregate in Ibadan, assemble in the Coal City of Enugu, or foregather in the swamps of the Niger Delta to lament our present parlous state, they are not doing so for any altruistic reason. The masses should know that the communiques issued on regional marginalisation, infrastructural decays and the alarming numbers of out-of-school children in those gatherings are not because the elite love the masses.

The recent cries of marginalisation and what have you is because another set of locusts are in power today. It is all about self-serving interests and nothing more. Those who milked the nation dry during the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo never complained. They became the champions of the masses only when Musa Yar’Adua started changing the political landscape to their disfavour. And as soon as Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took over and started patronising them, they simply dissolved into the government choir group.

When Buhari came and made the North his only constituency and another part of the country a mere “dot” on the nation’s map, the today’s agitators, talking about marginalisation, were deaf and dumb. They only got their voices because Tinubu has decided to be the third generation of greed, who, our elders say, must be a burglar, by not just making his South-West his catchment area but positioning his Bourdillon boys in choice places. It is a vicious cycle that will take a long time to break!

When Professor Ango Abdullahi said that 80 percent of Nigeria’s out-of-school children are from the North, did he not know when the rain started to beat the North education-wise? The elder statesman schooled in Ibadan from 1961 to 1964. Did he not see the wonders that Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free and compulsory primary education of 1955 did then? When in 1979, the same Awolowo upped the ante and extended the free education policy to secondary school level and adopted that as one of the four-cardinal policies of his Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), what was Ango’s counsel to the North-dominated National Party of Nigeria (NPN)?

How do you strike a balance between a region which started free education in 1955 and the one which in 2025, would have its daughters married off in their cradles while the leaders who are expected to champion the development of the region hide under the cloak of religion to approve such perfidy? Why would the North not have the largest number of out-of-school, and in most cases, never-in-school children when its elite see children roaming the streets begging for alms, as “normal and our way of life?”

What were Professor Abdullahi and his twin brother, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), saying when they complained of the North being marginalised? How do you marginalise a region that has occupied the nation’s number one seat for a period of 47 years out of our 65 years of independence, leaving Tinubu’s South with a miserable 18 years? Or they think we all should buy their waggish, ill-conceived and duplicitous calculation of the Nigerian nationhood from 1999?

Did Nigeria start today? How could the professor and his main ACF man have forgotten that Nigerians started voting for their leaders since 1957 at the centre when the late Tafawa Balewa became the Prime Minister? Who will teach Professor Ango Abdullahi and Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu basic political history of Nigeria outside their non-adding-up narratives?

We can blame President Tinubu for the poor performance of his government in the last two years. But it would amount to a sin against heaven and earth to blame him for the backwardness of the North. No! It is callous, pure bitterness and completely insane, to lay the blame of the insecurity, the growing number of out-of-school or never-in-school children of the North and the poor infrastructure of the region on the man who came to power just 26 months ago.

The rain beating the North now did not start in the last two decades. And as long as the Ango and Dalhatu of the North think that emotional blackmail is their weapon to whip up sentiments in the North, it will not just continue to rain over there, it will pour, torrentially! Enough of this entitlement mentality, enough of this boast of “the North is watching”. The South is not blind too. If we can’t watch down South, we can use binoculars!

If 2027 is the reason why the NEF thinks that it can issue streetwise JAMB questions to Tinubu, I can only pity the President who has failed to live up to the expectations of the people who voted him to power. Let Ango Abdullahi and Bashir Dalhatu take a bus ride from Kaduna to Ekiti, let them travel from Lagos to Ibadan, from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa and from Akwa to Enugu, they will discover that no road exists anywhere.

If they are bothered that Tinubu is not doing anything about the banditry and the insurgency of the region, sad occurrences created by the same North, they should know that down South here, our wives are raped in the presence of their husbands and that our daughters are defiled while their parents remain helpless!

The North should know that we are being kidnapped at the rate of three for two and half kobo (méta tóró)! And guess what? The ones tormenting us, I mean more than 80 percent of the perpetrators of these heinous crimes down South, are the same untrained children of the North unleashed on us by the failed leadership of the region!

Agreed that in 26 months, the Tinubu administration has not demonstrated enough aptitude for the job he spent his entire adult life pursuing. It is also a fact that President Tinubu has not been able to show that he understands the basic nuances of governance at the federal level. That, however, is not an avenue to blame the President and his administration, directionless as it is, for problems that have been with the North right from the very foundation of the region. That is pure injustice to the lethargic outings of the administration!

When a memorial event is organised, it is to dwell on the achievements of the person being honoured. Sir Ahmadu Bello, no doubt, did his best for the North. One cannot query him for projecting the wellbeing of his people the way he did. It is therefore a huge disservice to his memory if those he bequeathed such lofty ideas and ideals, turned out to be prodigals in power and wasters of enviable legacies, who today turn around to look for excuses and sacrificial lamb! That is exactly what the last Tuesday Kaduna gathering did to the colourful memories of Ahmadu Bello!

Rather than look for scapegoats for its self-inflicted problems, the North, I think, particularly, its elite class, should do a retrospection, and take the wisdom of the saying of our elders who posit that what is destroying Ado lies in the hands of the princes of Ewi (Omo Ewi), the king of Ado Ekiti (Ohun tó ba Adó jé wà l’ówó Omo Èwí). If the North must develop, its leaders must first release the region from the shackles of poverty with which they have held their people bound to violence!

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UNICEF Advocates Six Months Maternity Leave From Working Mothers In Bauchi

Published

15 hours ago

August 4, 2025

Editor

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on the Bauchi state government to initiate a six months paid maternity leave to working mothers in the state.

Dr Nuzhat Rafique, UNICEF’s Bauchi Chief of Field Office, stated this in a news conference in Bauchi on Tuesday to market the 2025 breastfeeding week.

According to her, the six months maternity leave would help the mothers to initiate the six months exclusive breastfeeding for their children and help in improving their health status in general.

“We really need the state government, the health system to play their roles to support the mothers.

“If the state government has a policy for six months paid maternity leave, that would play a huge role in the better nutritional status of children and initiation of exclusive six months breastfeeding for the mothers.

“Staying with the child automatically ensures better care and hygiene of the child, making them free from diarrhea which is one of the major causes of malnutrition,” she said.

Rafique added that unless women were fully supported, it would be difficult for them to do the right things like initiate breastfeeding on time, continue exclusive breastfeeding for six months, and initiate complementary breastfeeding till 24 months.

She, however, called on the state government to also come up with breastfeeding corners for working mothers to feed their children after resumption from the six months maternity leave.

Rafique said that if mothers didn’t have a good private place to feed their children, it would be difficult for them to continue feeding by working, performing and contributing towards the state’s progress and the country at large.

“These are the foundation for having a healthy, intelligent, productive next generation.

“There is a formula we need to promote which is one, six and 24.

“One means that the first hour of the baby must be initiated with breastfeeding, six means that a child must be exclusively breastfed for a good six months and then the initiation of complementary feeding along with the continuation of breastfeeding till 24 months,” she explained.

Earlier speaking, Mrs Philomena Irene, UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist in Bauchi, revealed that over 15 states have extended paid maternity leave to working mothers across the country like Kebbi, Borno, Kaduna, Plateau among others.

“We want the media to help us amplify the benefits of breast milk, the benefits of breastfeeding both to the mother, the child and even the society at large,” she said.

On his part, Mr Abubakar Sale, the Bauchi state Nutrition Officer, appreciated UNICEF for supporting the state in terms of improving the healthy living of pregnant women and children, not only on nutrition but other aspects of health.

“The government is trying its best to see to the improvement in especially exclusive breastfeeding and other nutrition indicators in the state.

“We are doing our part together with other partners and media practitioners are very important to amplify or inform the members of the society the importance of exclusive breastfeeding so that in our next survey, we will be able to improve,” he said.

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Tinubu Gives D’Tigress $100,000 Each, Flats, National Honour

Published

17 hours ago

August 4, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has honoured Nigeria’s national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, with a reward package that includes $100,000 for each player, $50,000 for every member of the 11-man coaching and technical crew.

Tinubu also rewarded all team members and staff with a three-bedroom flat at the Renewed Hope Estate.

In addition, the President conferred on the players and their technical crew the prestigious national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger.

This was announced by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the presidential reception in their honour at the State House Banquet hall, Abuja.

The triumphant D’Tigress alongside their officials, were warmly welcomed by First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, supported by the wife of the Vice President, Nana Shettima, at the New Banquet Hall in the Presidential Villa at 5:05 pm.

On behalf of President Bola Tinubu, Shettima received the team in recognition of their outstanding achievement.

Also in attendance at the reception were Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila; Chairman of the Senate Committee on Youths and Sports Development, Garba Maidoki; and Chairman of the House Committee on Sports, Kabiru Amadou.

The D’Tigress arrived after clinching their historic fifth consecutive AfroBasket title, outplaying Mali 78–64 in the final held at the Palais des Sports de Treichville in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

This win marks their seventh overall championship, reinforcing their supremacy in African women’s basketball.

The ceremony at the Presidential Villa mirrors a similar reception President Tinubu hosted a week earlier for the national female football team, the Super Falcons, who recently secured their tenth WAFCON title in Rabat, Morocco.

Tinubu’s remarks, delivered by Shettima at the reception noted, “Beyond being ambassadors of our nation and symbols of excellence, you have reminded us all of the power of sports to unite a diverse nation. Your victory is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together. You have brought home not just a trophy, but valuable lessons for all Nigerians.

“It is a great honour, on behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, to welcome our formidable D’Tigress to the State House. Once again, you are continental champions and now the top African team to qualify for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup pre-qualifying tournament. You conquered Africa with a score of 78 to 64—showcasing not just tactical skill, but remarkable determination and resilience. The entire nation stands behind you with pride and support.

“My dear daughters, you faced challenges bravely, especially in the final quarter, responding not with panic but with poise. When you wore the green and white, it was more than just a uniform—you wore it with purpose, and now you wear the crown of African basketball for the fifth consecutive time.”

The President hailed Rena Wakama’s strength and inspiring young girls in the country.

“Coach Rena Wakama, you embody the evolution of leadership in Nigerian sports. Your quiet strength and remarkable achievements have shattered ceilings and inspired countless young girls across Nigeria. You truly deserve your accolades as the best coach in Africa and beyond.

“To Amy Okonkwo, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and Ezinne Kalu, the top scorer in the final, your brilliance lifted the whole team, but most importantly, you played for Nigeria and made us all proud.

“Let us reflect on one profound truth: Nigerian women have never failed the nation in sports. From the Super Falcons on the world stage, to record-breakers on the track, and now a basketball dynasty, our women have consistently been a source of pride and have proven that where preparation meets opportunity, Nigerian excellence prevails.”

Tinubu said the administration is prioritizing sports as a crucial driver of national development and economic growth, viewing it as more than entertainment but also infrastructure, education, diplomacy, and a tool for youth employment and transformation.

He also recognised the National Sports Commission, led by Mallam Alabi, for its efforts in athlete welfare, institutional reform, grassroots support, and performance-driven development, with visible positive results.

“Special appreciation goes to the National Sports Commission, under Mallam Alabi, for renewed focus on athlete welfare, institutional reform, grassroots support, and performance-based development. The results are evident, and we are proud of you. The Nigerian Basketball Federation, led by Malam Ahmadu Musa Kida, also deserves recognition for consistent team development and dedication to Nigeria’s sporting glory.

“Our government will ensure that D’Tigress, their technical team, and sports leadership in Nigeria are appropriately recognized and rewarded. You have made us proud, and we will stand by you as you prepare for the global stage.

“To all Nigerian youth, let the story of D’Tigress inspire you. Greatness stems from hard work, discipline, and belief. Nigeria belongs to those who dare to dream and are willing to give their all to realize those dreams.

“D’Tigress: you are champions, role models, pathfinders, and true daughters of this land. It is my honor and privilege, on behalf of President Tinubu, to announce national honors for the team, coach, and technical staff; $100,000 for each player; $50,000 for the coach and technical team; and more rewards to come.

“This is true leadership—recognizing and rewarding those who have excelled for our nation. May God bless you all, may God bless Nigerian sports, and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he concluded.