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OPINION: Our President’s Love Affair With The IMF

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By Lasisi Olagunju

A colleague yesterday shared a 1992 campaign video of Chief M.K.O. Abiola promising to demystify governance in Nigeria and stop “people’s heads” from being “shaved in their absence.” A professor friend (political scientist) commented that “that’s partly why he never became president.”

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Becoming president or king comes with a price. When ‘The Price of Kings’, a political documentary on Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, was released in 2011, the Financial Times titled its review of the film: ‘All about the art of compromise’. The reviewer describes the film as a portrait of leadership; he talks about “years of gritty compromise and the abandonment of previously held principles.” He goes on to ask: “What sacrifices would you make for what you believe in? What, in other words, is the collateral damage, personal and political, of statesmanship?”

In January 2012, today’s President Bola Tinubu as opposition leader rallied his economists and got them to tell him the implication of fuel subsidy removal. They wrote it for him. He read it and liked it; he signed it and put his name on it. Conscious of the verdict of history, of posterity, and for emphasis, he got it published – one and a half pages – in his newspaper, The Nation of January 11, 2012. Check the newspaper’s pages 43 and 44. The grim summary of Tinubu’s economists’ damning opinion was that if petrol subsidy was withdrawn in Nigeria, the poor would stop breathing and the rich would suffer. The prophets’ exact words are that “there will be less food, less medicine, and less school across the land. More children will cry in hunger and more parents will cry at their children’s despair…. Poor and middle class consumers will spend the same amount to buy much less. The volume of economic activity will drop like a stone tossed from a high building.”

Eleven years after what has turned out to be an accurate reading of the future, the man who signed the prophecy became president and proceeded to feed to the nation what he had pronounced as poison. A minute after swearing an oath to work for the welfare of the people, Tinubu became a victim of his own prophecy. What happened? You think he did not know the implication of ignoring his seers? He did. Was it sheer self-destructive wickedness? Again, I say no. So, why? The truth is election alone does not make a president here. Our presidency is by election and affirmation. Our votes are subject to affirmation by the kingmakers in London and Washington. The principal does not appoint an agent so that the agent would be master of himself. As opposition leader, Tinubu could independently hire economic advisers who told him the truth. As president, he cannot and dare not choose advisers whose views are at variance with the kingmakers’. The president is endorsed to act strictly the script as given to him by the film director. The script writers are the choice makers. They are the double ‘monsters’ headquartered on Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street, Washington DC.

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FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Tinubu, Matter Don Pass Be Careful

Mr. Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, last week asked President Tinubu to stop obeying the IMF. He asked the president to reject IMF’s latest advice asking him to further increase the prices of fuel and electricity in Nigeria. Falana will not get a response from the president; the presidency will ignore him. The Senior Advocate ought to know better. The Nigerian government cannot glare down behemoths who hold the knob of life. No poor president has ditched the IMF and the World Bank and slept well since the two were born in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944. If you know you won’t sleep with them, do not take their money – and power. If you can’t run errands, never apply and accept to work for them. The presidency of Nigeria is not a detached power house; it is some people’s gate house.

Falana in his intervention wondered why the IMF kept quiet when the British government, last year, paid almost 40 billion pounds ($50 billion) in energy subsidies. He asked why the United States’ doubled its subsidies for renewable energy from $7.4 billion in 2016 to $15.6 billion in 2022. He wondered why the IMF did not ask these countries to stop what they were doing with subsidies. Falana noted that the French government had announced that it would continue to subsidise electricity bills into 2025. Falana said: “The IMF has not called on France to stop subsidising electricity and increase electricity tariffs. So, the IMF’s anti-subsidy campaign in Nigeria should be flatly rejected.”

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Tinubu cannot obey Falana and disobey the IMF and its brother, the World Bank. If he tells them no, he will pay. Whatever the earthworm tells the ground is what the ground does. The president is the ground, the Bretton Woods are the earthworm. There is an old video of President Olusegun Obasanjo saying his Central Bank governor, Charles Soludo, “was not really a fan of the World Bank” and was always showing it in words and deeds. The president said he, one day, warned Soludo: “never you say no to the World Bank; otherwise, they will rub your face on the ground – but never you do their bidding.” That is how tough it is – say yes without doing yes. Either way, you will pay.

Shaving people’s heads in their absence is the simple meaning of international politics and global finance. Two of the barbers – the ‘head cutters’ – are the IMF and the World Bank. They are the ones we are asking this president to disobey. The man knows why he is putting his feet where he is directed to put them. If he does not, to which god will he run when trouble comes? But he is wrong. Why has he not read what became of those who did what he is doing? He should read BBC’s Budget Blunders, UK’s ‘Dash for Growth’ budget of 1972/73, the 1976 Pound Sterling crisis, the tragedy of Keynesian measures and IMF’s involvement.

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: Ibadan Blast, Makinde And Federalism

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Before this Tinubu, there was a Tinubu in Lagos who made and unmade kings in that city. Lagos of the mid-19th century belonged to big boys from the colonial office, rich returning slaves and a few homegrown wealthy merchants. Madam Efunroye Tinubu not only belonged to the latter group; she literally had the balls of everyone in her firm grip. She was the female, local version of the 16th Earl of Warwick, the overbearing power and property baron “who carved out a position for himself by the strength of his sword.” This Earl had neither the authority nor the right to raise or depose kings” but he did both with cruel equanimity. He did, and P. C. Dharma gives him a generous mention in her 1947 article on ‘Kingmakers of India.’ Madam Tinubu was exactly the Earl in Lagos of the mid-1880s, an arbiter of royal and economic powers. Bold, courageous, no-nonsense, ruthless, her history in Lagos and, later in Abeokuta, is about making kings and using kings. The ones who demurred, who raised objections or showed reluctance, suffered loss of crown and scepter.

Falana asked why the two finance institutions are not giving first world countries the same drugs they are prescribing for us. I think I can answer that question. Small gods do not teach Sango how to inflict maximum damage. Besides, chief priests of the sacred grove are beyond the canes of masquerades. The masqueraders who tried that in the past lost their costumes. I use Madam Tinubu again here to illustrate this. The lady without means transited from poverty in Abeokuta to power and wealth in Lagos. Tinubu was made very rich by the colonial economic system. She was very useful to the government and the business community. She traded in men and goods for her profit and for the good of the powers-that-be. She made very good money. She loved and coveted the white man’s trade and riches but later detested the meddlesomeness of the alien in Lagos affairs. She started plotting the downfall of the masters. The first was in January 1855; it failed. The second was in March 1855. The grand plan was to expel or neutralize all the European merchants in Lagos. The plot was called off, last minute, because two British warships showed up fortuitously in Lagos waters. A deadly disturbance two months later got the British to expel Madam Tinubu from Lagos, never to come back.

No one on the mountain top desires such a fall. ‘Expulsion from Lagos’ is the title of the chapter that tells this part of Madam Tinubu’s epic story in her biography ‘Madam Tinubu: Merchant and Kingmaker’ by Oladipo Yemitan. I read it (starting from page 54) and thought the woman who later rose again and became the first Iyalode of Egba got what he gave her victims. Her boat met every furious tide with fury. The intrigues, the shifting and shifty loyalties on those pages present good lessons in compromise and consequences.

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We will be asking our president to hate himself if we insist he must spurn the orders of those that give life to his government. If we would ask anyone to say no to the IMF, it would not be this president. His bones are weak; we should leave him alone. Why can’t we make the rejection by ourselves? The Yoruba say a man uses his own mouth to reject a meal. They also say no one begs another into slavery. Everywhere the Bretton Woods have been successfully glared down and shown to be dumb, it has been the people themselves who did so. But we are not normal people. We always look for king-size heads to help us break our coconuts. If we can’t find one, we simply withdraw into our prayer houses and intensify supplications for ‘divine intervention.’

FROM THE AUTHOR: OPINION: For Nigerian Soldiers And Judges

Normal babies cry at the sight of injections. There is a trending WhatsApp video that shows an unbelievably calm baby while being inoculated. With that video is a caption mocking how we suffer pain here without crying. The baby betrayed neither pain nor anxiety. That baby is Nigeria and its long-suffering people. We take and endure knocks and, like Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist in the workhouse, we ask for more. American abolitionist and fiery anti-slavery orator, Frederick Douglass, in August 1857 warned that the extent tyrants go is set “by the endurance of those they oppress.” Douglass added that victims of power would be hunted in the north and flogged in the south “so long as they…make no resistance, either moral or physical.”

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For millions of my countrymen, life is literally nasty, brutish and short. Every home sobs. Rice was N70,000 per bag last week. This week opened with rice becoming N80,000. Cement sold for N10,000 per 50kg bag on Friday. Naira slid to N1,700/dollar at the weekend. Our minimum wage of N30,000 equals $17. How did we get here after the experience of previous disasters? The IMF gave us some prescriptions some forty years ago. The calcifying effects are still in our blood system. In 2023/2024, that same Doctor Death came back into our embrace. Ola Rotimi wrote ‘Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again’. Why should people’s head go bad more than once? Madness and insanity are synonyms. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Frank Wilczek, theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States and 2004 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, examined that quote and called it the “Einstein Insanity”— because the quote is attributed to Albert Einstein. Einstein was that thinker who held that if we are not insane, we should be able to predict the consequences of our actions. He was the physicist who believed that human stupidity is one of the two infinite things in the world. He refused to accept that the world is inherently unpredictable. He strengthened his argument with a sound bite from the celestial: “God does not play dice with the universe.” But, here, we are being ruled by dice players – poor players; people who roll the dice, and roll it again – and again, because the results they expect are not what they get. What they do with Nigeria is what my childhood called tokíní tokéjì. They use the people to play Baba Ijebu; they bet with people’s destiny.

Amid all these came from the north last week a regional threat to the president by traditional and religious leaders. They said their people were hungry and restive and that they could no longer control them. Every sentence they uttered sounded like a threat of Armageddon. Their concern would have carried weight if the shouters had done so when their Muhammadu Buhari was in power and was messing up everyone, everything, everywhere. But they maintained complicit quietude and passivity when their evil reigned. Because of their past of unholy silence, their present angst could not resonate with the street in the south. I saw and heard people mocking these northern leaders and their groans. They lost it. Ironically, the Yoruba content of the south is working hard to follow that same road of vicarious infamy. There is an insidious, invidious campaign for indifference going on. I was called “a perennially sulky bad boy” last week by a gentleman who claims to be a ‘Yoruba leader.’ That was because I had the audacity to speak about hunger and pain in the land. The ‘Yoruba leader’ thought Yoruba brotherhood with the president should have stitched my mouth. I thought if he was truly Yoruba, he would be familiar with the causal relationship between criminal, idiotic silence and a bad head.

The rain has not stopped; nobody should say that it is not as heavy as yesterday’s downpour. Things may still get worse. Today, staying at home is hot as hell and there is no safety on the road. It is the perfect Yoruba situation of Ilé ò gbàá, ònà ò gbàá (the home rejects him, the road won’t accept him). Uproars daily follow naira’s death by installment. We sob as if we do not know that the illness that won’t heal will kill. Unfortunately, you feel pain only if you wear the shoes. Those assembled by Tinubu to halt the drift do not have their wealth in weakness. Every fall of the naira swells their bùgá. But they may be wrong. My political economics teacher told me that the way these things are going, every soul in this ship is in danger. He said life vests won’t help and escape boats may be useless.

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NCAA Seeks K1 De Ultimate’s Arrest, Petitions AGF, IG

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The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has formally petitioned the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Inspector-General of Police, asking them to investigate and prosecute veteran Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as K1 De Ultimate, over an incident that occurred aboard a domestic ValueJet flight.

The incident, which happened on Tuesday, reportedly disrupted standard operational procedures and has raised serious concerns about passenger behaviour and compliance with aviation safety protocols.

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According to preliminary reports, K1 De Ultimate was allegedly involved in conduct during ValueJet flight VK201 that contravenes the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations.

According to a statement signed by the agency on Thursday, it noted that in the petition, the NCAA urged the Attorney-General and the IGP to “launch a thorough investigation into the incident” and commence “appropriate prosecution in accordance with the provisions of the Nigeria Civil Aviation regulations 2023 supra and all other applicable laws.”

READ ALSO:[VIDEO] Kwam 1’s Airport Drama: FAAN Accuses Fuji Star Of Alcohol Violation

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In a further move to reinforce compliance and accountability, the Director General of Civil Aviation, Capt. Chris Najomo has issued an advisory to the Airline Operators of Nigeria recommending that K1 De Ultimate be placed on a No-Fly List for all commercial flights pending the conclusion of the investigation.

The advisory, according to the NCAA, is in line with international aviation best practices designed to ensure the safety of passengers, crew, and aircraft operations.

The statement read, “In a letter addressed to both the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police, the NCAA called for a comprehensive criminal investigation and the initiation of appropriate prosecution in accordance with the provisions of the Nigeria Civil Aviation regulations 2023 supra and all other applicable laws.

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READ ALSO:NCAA Stops Fuji Star K1 De Ultimate From Flying For Six Months

Furthermore, and in light of the growing concern, the Director General of Civil Aviation, Capt. Chris Najomo, has also issued an advisory to the Airline Operators of Nigeria, urging the immediate consideration and institution of a No-Fly List for K1 De Ultimate (on any commercial flight), pending the outcome of official investigations.

“This advisory is in line with global aviation standards that prioritise the safety of passengers, crew, and airline operations.

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“The NCAA reiterates its commitment to ensuring that no individual, regardless of their status or public image, undermines the integrity of our aviation industry as passengers are held to the same standards of behavior and compliance within Nigeria’s airspace.”

The Authority emphasised that aviation safety and discipline remain non-negotiable and that the industry cannot afford to tolerate acts that could endanger lives or compromise the integrity of flight operations.

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FG Unveils Four Water Projects In Ogoni, Commits To Implementing UNEP Report

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The Federal Government has commissioned four new water projects in Ogoniland, with renewed commitment to addressing public health concerns and full implementation of the report of the United Nations Environment Programme.

The water projects located in Bodo community (Gokana LGA), Eteo (in Eleme LGA), Uegwere-Boue, and Taabaa communities (both in Khana LGA) now brings the number of Ogoni communities with reticulated potable water to 40, the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, has said.

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Also unveiled was a new HYPREP Area Office in Kpor, headquarters of Gokana LGA, which aims to improve engagement with host communities.

Speaking at the ceremony in Bodo community on Thursday, Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas, described the development as a major step in the federal government’s resolve to restore the dignity of the Ogoni people after decades of environmental degradation from oil pollution.

READ ALSO:Ogoni Women Threaten Nude Protest Over Oil Exploration

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Abbas stated, “The biggest victim of pollution is water. Water is what gets polluted first, and so the whole essence of HYPREP is to restore water, land, and a better environment. Access to clean and safe water is not just a basic necessity, it is a fundamental human right.”

While noting that the projects are not just infrastructure, but “symbols of hope, equity, and justice” for communities that had long suffered the impacts of oil-related pollution.

He urged residents to take ownership of the facilities and protect them from vandalism.

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Today, as we commission these projects, we are not only laying a physical foundation but also upholding human rights. These commitments underscore our shared dedication to the health, dignity, and well-being of our people,” he stated.

READ ALSO:Tinubu Signs Bill To Establish Federal University In Ogoni

The minister reaffirmed the commitment of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to full delivery of UNEP’s report and sustainable development of the Niger Delta region.

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On behalf of the federal government, I affirm our unwavering commitment to the full implementation of the UNEP report. The Ogonis have suffered for too long. It is our duty to address their worries,” Abbas said.

In his address, Project Coordinator of HYPREP, Prof. Nenibarini Zabbey, said progress is also being recorded across other UNEP-aligned thematic areas, including soil remediation, mangrove restoration, health infrastructure, and youth empowerment.

Zabbey stated, “We have completed remediation of 50 simple-risk sites, while work on medium-risk, complex sites is 38% done. Our mangrove restoration project is already 93% complete.”

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READ ALSO:Panic As Nine Children Disappear In Ogoni Communities

He stated that over 5,000 Ogoni youths and women have been trained in 20 skill sets, while 7,000 direct jobs have been created through the programme, which he described as a major boost to local livelihoods and stability.

He said, “Work on the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Restoration and Ogoni Power Project is 90% and 40% complete respectively, while the Buan Cottage Hospital and Ogoni Specialist Hospital are nearing completion at 98% and 86%.

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“With the Ogoni Health Study now underway, HYPREP has reached the point of simultaneous implementation of key UNEP actions, remediation, water, health and livelihood, working together to transform Ogoni holistically.”

Managing Director of Renaissance Africa Energy Company, Engr. Tony Attah, represented by the General Manager of Relations and Sustainable Development, Igo Weli, praised the federal government and HYPREP for achieving a key milestone.

This marks a significant moment in our journey to improve public health and the quality of life of Ogoni people. We also commend the resilience and commitment of the communities. Your support reflects a shared desire for progress,” Attah said.

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FG Warns Of Flooding In Lagos, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, 26 Others

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The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency on Thursday warned of potential flooding in 198 local government areas across 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The alert, obtained by our correspondent, covers August 7 to August 21, 2025, a span of 15 days during which vulnerable communities are advised to take precautionary measures.

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The alert categorised flood risk levels as very high, high and moderate, depending on local topography and rainfall intensity projections.

The affected states are Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, the Federal Capital Territory, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.

According to NiHSA, very high-risk states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kebbi, Kogi, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Rivers, Yobe, and Zamfara.

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READ ALSO:Floods: Ondo, Osun, Ekiti Map Risk Zones, Clear Waterways

While states categorised as facing high to moderate risk include Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Cross-River, Ebonyi, Edo, FCT, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau, Sokoto, and Taraba.

The agency also noted that 832 communities are at risk of varying degrees of flooding.

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The alert also warned of the potential disruption of over 100 major transportation routes, particularly in flood-prone areas.

High likelihood of displacement, especially in low-lying and flood-prone areas. NiHSA urges residents in affected regions to remain vigilant, adhere to early warning directives, and cooperate with emergency response agencies,” it stated.

To mitigate the potential impacts of flooding, NiHSA recommended that all emergency management stakeholders should get prepared for response protocols to ensure timely intervention.

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READ ALSO:Flood Sweeps 12-year-old Pupil In Edo

It added, “Communities at risk should put evacuation plans in place.

“Follow up on NIHSA’s state-level weekly forecast for community-specific forecast, and monitor updates from NIHSA.”

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The Director General of NiHSA, Umar Mohammed, said, “This alert is issued in line with our commitment to safeguarding lives and property. We call on state governments, local authorities, and the public to take proactive measures to mitigate risk and ensure community safety.”

He emphasised that they will continue to monitor the hydrological situation and provide timely updates as necessary.

On Tuesday, the National Emergency Management Agency revealed that in 2025, no fewer than 191 lives have been lost to the floods that have ravaged parts of the country, while 94 people remain missing.

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READ ALSO:NiMet Forecasts Rain, Flash Floods Nationwide

The report by NEMA showed that Niger State recorded the highest number of fatalities, with 163 deaths, followed by Adamawa State, where 26 people lost their lives. One death each was reported in Borno and Gombe states.

The data further indicated that, so far this year, the floods have affected 134,435 people across 20 states and 47 local government areas.

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Additionally, 48,056 people have been displaced, while 239 injuries have been reported. The floods have also damaged 9,499 houses and affected 9,450 farmlands.

NEMA’s dashboard also revealed that among those affected are 27,121 men, 41,539 women, 60,071 children, 5,704 elderly persons, and 1,874 persons with disabilities.

In 2024, the floods affected 5,264,097 individuals, displacing 1,243,638 people across 35 states and 401 local government areas. The disaster resulted in 1,237 deaths and left 16,469 individuals injured.

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Also, 116,172 houses were destroyed, and 1,439,296 hectares of farmland were affected, further worsening the economic and humanitarian impact of the flooding across the country.

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