By Zayd Ibn Isah

When Olubunmi Familoni won the $100,000 Nigerian Prize for Literature last year with his children’s book The Road Does Not End, I was deeply disappointed that he didn’t even trend on social media.Had he been a Big Brother Naija winner, he would have dominated headlines, trended across platforms, and brands would be falling over themselves to offer him endorsements.

He might even have been given an appointment by his state governor as SSA on Entertainment, because our leaders understand us very well. They know what we value and where our priorities lie.In the midst of that disappointment, I wrote an article titled “Nigerians and Our Priorities”, which was published by Daily Trust and other outlets. Nearly a year later, I feel compelled to revisit the topic, because nothing has changed. We still hold the entertainment industry in higher esteem than other sectors.That’s why when many of us criticised Mr. President for hosting the Super Falcons and their coaching staff at the Presidential Villa, where he showered them with cash gifts, houses, and national honours for, of course, bringing glory to Nigeria by winning the African Women’s Cup of Nations in Morocco for a record tenth time, I was surprised by the backlash. Is it not the same footballers most of us are praying our children become, so they can make generational wealth?We Nigerians are fascinating as a people. This is because we are often quick to hold our leaders accountable while ignoring our own shortcomings.Today, unless you are in the entertainment industry, your chances of being recognised and celebrated at home as a creative writer or scientific inventor are slim. Most of the writers and inventors we know and celebrate today are only recognised because they are globally acclaimed. Take, for instance, the Nigerian Prize for Science and the Nigerian Prize for Literature, two of the continent’s most prestigious awards, each worth $100,000.Despite the enormous cash rewards attached to these academic and literary prizes, the awards as a whole hardly generate a fraction of the buzz that surrounds a single season of BBNaija among Nigerians, especially the youths.In particular, the Nigerian Prize for Literature is an annual award sponsored by NLNG, established in 2004. It operates on a four-year cycle, rotating through four genres: prose fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature. Prose fiction usually generates more interest than the other three genres, so there’s a lot of buzz in literary circles surrounding this year’s longlist.The shortlist for this year features acclaimed writers like Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Chigozie Obioma, Yewande Omotoso, Uwem Akpan, Michael Afenfia, and Chika Unigwe. These are all authors whose works have received global praise, although not as much as the likes of Prof. Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.Still, it is disappointing how as a society we have failed to fully celebrate their importance. It is also amusing how such formidable writers would have to double their hustles if they were to want a seat at the table with Big Brother Naija housemates and other entertainment figures.I can never fully wrap my mind around the fact that these remarkable writers have contributed far more to Nigeria’s creative history than BBNaija housemates—all to barely known outside literary circles. It is even more annoying when you consider how some BBNaija housemates immediately become folk legends after entering Biggie’s house to dance, eat, parade in near nudity, and even indulge in sexual acts under the full view of cameras.As we often say in pidgin, “This life no just balanced at all.”If you’ve been following the trends on X (Twitter), you would have noticed that since this year’s BBNaija housemates entered the house, their names have been trending nonstop. And volunteers are already campaigning for votes for their favourites to win.At this point, we must ask: Why do we, as a people, invest such disproportionate attention in fleeting entertainment spectacles like BBNaija, where religious immorality and social irresponsibility are the order of the day, while ignoring initiatives that actually contribute to our intellectual, cultural, and national development? Isn’t this, too, a form of misplaced priority?In “Nigerians and Their Priorities”, I made a similar argument. Permit me to paraphrase here:“Our society places more emphasis on celebrity culture, political drama, and viral content than on intellectual achievement. Familoni’s brilliant portrayal of Nigerian life and culture deserved to be a national conversation. Yet, how many Nigerians have even heard of his book, let alone read it?”We live in a time when the sensational is preferred over the substantial, the trending over the timeless. From politics to pop culture, we elevate the fleeting while ignoring the foundational.Why is it that as a country, we seem to prioritise fleeting trends over lasting influence, and the sensational over the substantial? Why do political scandals, social media trends, and celebrity culture often dominate our conversations, while achievements in literature, science, sports and other fields often fly low under our collective radar?It is even more tragic when you realize that many Nigerians do not read, and rarely even see the act of reading as a leisurely activity. Even in universities, undergraduates only read to pass exams and make grades.Outside of that academic context, there’s little interest in literature. And if one doesn’t care for books at all, he or she would care less about the people who write them in the first place. Little wonder we end up producing educated illiterates as thousands of graduates emerge from our universities.So again, I ask: What are our national priorities? And are they aligned with the future we claim to desire? For decades our literary output as a nation has been the one thing which has consistently placed Nigeria in a good light. Now, we cannot afford to neglect this great literary heritage and nurture shallow things instead.It is noble to hold our leaders accountable, but we must extend that accountability inward. We are not merely the governed. We are the future governors. And the values we nurture today will determine the kind of nation we lead tomorrow.Zayd Ibn Isah can be reached at lawcadet1@gmail.com

By Festus Adedayo

There was territorial tension in Nigeria last week. Like in the famous fable where animals gathered in the forest to delineate their individual boundaries, last Tuesday, Northern Nigeria regrouped in Kaduna in aid of its territory. Western Nigeria Awurebe music lord, Late Ibadan, Oyo State-born Dauda Epo Akara, has the patent of a folklore that captures this fictional animal gathering.

Epo sang about a quartet of animals comprising Lion, Fox, Cobra and Tortoise which can be extrapolated into a human gathering. It was a power show and territorial delineation. The animals did not only gather to flex muscles but to have a mutual understanding of the power in their pouches.In a July 17, 1995 article published in the Nigerian Tribune, authored by Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, ex-governor of Oyo State, the famous mathematician and politician looked at that same fable from a power calculus prism. Ace columnist, Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, in an Olunloyo memorial symposium recently, uprooted the folklore from the archive and situated its essence.Each of the animals was embittered by past territorial usurpation. As they complained, they also criminalized any further attempt to take one another for granted. This they curated in form of taboos, the irreducible minimum of their tempers’ elasticity, a violation of which would bring the beast out of them.For Cobra, he could tolerate his head or even the back being stepped upon in elementary power duel. However, anyone who trod on his tail in power contestation should be ready to meet Asarailu, Muslims’ angel of death.Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Board Chairman, Bashir Dalhatu, would seem to represent the Cobra in folklore. Like a reptile ready to sting with its deadly venom, Dalhatu spat out the north’s grouse. President Bola Tinubu, he said, had underdeveloped the north.Rising insecurity, poor infrastructure, declining agricultural support, neglect of education and healthcare of the children of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, were the president’s 26-month infractions.In territorial politics, the north has always been an example of the two old Nigerian regions. Highly savvy and purposeful in its romance of power, the north acts like the proverbial hollow-eyed whose tears stream out in a long course.The north’s entitlement, said Dalhatu, was its demographic contribution to Tinubu’s emergence. What gave Tinubu the temerity to trifle with Ahmadu Bello’s progeny who gave him 64 per cent of the total votes that crowned him?Convened at the instance of Uba Sani, Kaduna state governor and one of Tinubu’s political sidekicks, the undisguised raison d’être of the gathering was to dissolve mounting perceived undercurrents of the north’s dissatisfaction with the Tinubu government.In the last 26 months, the children of the Sardauna of Sokoto have bickered in groups. The North, they claimed, has been severely marginalized in federal allocations, project execution, and key appointments.Of greater foundation, they complain, is the ravaging pestilence of insurgency. Don’t our fathers say, before the Sòbìyà, a guinea worm parasitic infectious disease, becomes a painful wound, is the appropriate time to call for its doctor, the Olúgànbe?Fox, Lion and Tortoise were also at The Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF)-organized event which drew participants from across the 19 Northern states and the FCT. For these three animals, their anger and prognosis for stopping further territorial hurt was without equivocation.Fox spoke next. It was abominable for his deadly face to be looked at by anyone, he said. It was then the turn of the Lion to speak. If anyone impugned this animal’s dignity, reputed for scarifying his victims without a scalpel (akom’o ní’là láì l’abe), the recompense was bloodbath for the transgressor, he spelled the word audibly.Tortoise told the conferees that he was aware of his own bitchy ugliness, especially the amoebic shape of his splintered carapace, but it was not the remit of anyone to mock him. Epo Akara put it more succinctly. Anyone else could haggle the price of the dye in the hands of a traditional dry-cleaner but not a bed-wetter, he sang. Anyone who engaged in such body-shaming would have to endure a “very lethal punishment” from him.Chairman of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), Prof. Ango Abdullahi, for that moment, became one of the animals. He was angry about the recent relocation of key Central Bank departments from Abuja to Lagos, a move he condemned as “suspicious and divisive”.He equaled the so-called marginalization of Northern Nigeria as a threat to Nigeria’s unity and development. Abdullahi told the president that there was a growing number of out-of-school children in the north, a figure he put at 80 per cent of Nigeria’s estimated 20 million out-of-school children.“If just half of the N15 trillion national budget were allocated to education, we would have no child out of school. That money would provide schools, teachers, and equipment,” he said, with a further criticism of the state of infrastructure in the North. “You can’t talk about national development when a whole region remains disconnected,” he said. Like the animals proposing conditions for armistice, Abdullahi proposed the allocation of N7.5 trillion each to education and roads in the North.Amity reigned in the animal kingdom after this “Memorandum of Association”. It was the same peace that reigned after, I reckon, this same northern bloc met Tinubu before the 2023 election. What must have given the Abdullahis and Dalhatus of the north the weapon to show this kind of entitlement? My guess is that there must have been a breakdown of agreement between them and Tinubu.Not long after the animals signed their own Memorandum, a rupture soon came. One fateful day, Tortoise, with his wobbly weight and unsightly limbs, walked into the gathering of his colleagues. His gait immediately provoked laughter among them.Miffed by this rank rupture of a gentlemanly agreement, Tortoise, notorious for his trickster traits, reached for his pouch of trickery. He immediately hid himself behind a twig of trees not too far from the animals. From there, he dug his limb into the soil and spattered loose soil on the fur coat of Fox.Angered, Fox spat on the Lion whom he wrongly believed was responsible for this. Lion roared, his mane fluffing in indescribable fury as the whole forest shook in a seismic burst. He then charged Fox who he assumed was responsible for breaking this taboo.In the pandemonium that ensued, Lion and Fox mistakenly stomped on the tail of the Cobra, breaking his spinal cord. As a last minute revenge, Cobra spat his venom which immediately temporarily blinded the two. The fight was so intense that both Fox and Lion inflicted fatal wounds on each other’s jugular. In no time, the bodies of the three giants of the forest lay in a heap, in a mutually assured destruction.In the folklore told by the trio of Epo Akara, Olunloyo and Olagunju, the eventual tragedy of the quartet was similar. Olagunju explains the tragedy thus: “As to cause of death, Lion died from a fatal snake bite, Fox from being torn to pieces by His Royal Majesty, the Lion, whilst Cobra had his vital backbone crushed in the scuffle. The battered tortoise hobbled away quite amused but not before having his back shell broken when the lion squashed it, in a mad rush after receiving a snake bite.”Since the 1914 amalgamation of the Southern and Northern protectorates by Lord Lugard, the two regions have worn their fatal flaws on their lapels. While the south, first port of call of white colonialists, took its Westernism to the extreme, the north prides itself in how it weaponizes its magisterial understanding of the calculus of power.Why did Dalhatu, Abdullahi and other sons of Ahmadu Bello who railed at Tinubu last Tuesday feel they were entitled to their bile? The north always feels it holds the ace in Nigeria’s murky and voodoo demographic politics. Since 1866 when the first population census exercise took place in Nigeria in the Lagos colony, the 1914 census became the first census after the amalgamation of that year and the first to cover the whole of what is now Nigeria.The demographics were however done on account of estimates and tax records. The 1931 and 1941 censuses were stalled largely by a force majeure. While the 1931 count was disrupted by a twin manifestation of unrest in eastern Nigeria and the ravaging locust swarms in the north, the 1941 exercise could not be held due to World War 11.Others that have taken place include the 1962 and 1991 exercises. The May 1962 census was highly contested with both western and eastern Nigeria claiming that the figures were doctored. They claimed the result was based on negotiation and not enumeration.In the words of J. P. Mackintosh in his The Struggle for Power in Nigeria (1965), “the Northern figures (showed) a rise of 300% (17.5 million to 22.5 million) while the East and West claimed rises of about 70%. The Minister in charge, a Northerner, decided to carry out a ‘verification’ which pushed the North up by 80%. When some of these facts became known, there was a political outcry and the Eastern members walked out of the House of Representatives.Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa took the census into his office and asked the Regional Officers to make a completely fresh count. When this was done (at the end of 1963) almost the same results emerged, with the North’s rise keeping pace with the figures claimed by the South.”The crisis from the 1962 census was part of what eventually led to the military putsch of January 1966. The census that took place in 1973 was not published due to same allegations of falsification. The 2006 exercise happened to be the most recent.The territorial politics that happened in Kaduna last week is the type the north has always used to transform ethnicity into an identity. It does this for the sake of aiming to gain political power. The weapon of actualizing this is demographics.This was hoisted a few weeks ago when the rump of CPC in the APC hoisted a nebulous 12 million votes with which it hoped to whip Tinubu into line. Since the British began attempts at a nationwide population census, it had always faced the accusation that it planned to favour its northern quisling ahead of the south.The south claims that the whole population exercises in the north is a sham, buoyed by the amorphous Purdah system where enumerators are forbidden from entering delineated harem homes wherein is written “Baa siga, gidan aore ne” – entrance barred because it is inhabited by married women.Accusation of sudden inflow into Nigeria of nationals of Niger, Chad and contiguous countries surrounding the north is also rife in enumeration time. The aim of doing this is to bloat population numbers for the sake of securing more government funding and political representation. It led Azuka Nwachukwu to conclude, in his ‘Politics and Census in Nigeria: Challenges and the Way Forward’ that, “falsification of population census result, religion rivalry, ethnicity stimulation and fluctuation of period of conducting census serve as a controlling force against accuracy of population census figures.”Since 1999 when the 4th Republic commenced, as each election cycle is afoot, the north takes Nigeria into inter-ethnic tensions while hoisting the primacy of its ethnicity. This politicized ethnicity made Goodluck Jonathan run from pillar to post to satisfy the region in 2015.It was all to no avail. Jonathan flew to Sokoto to establish the nomadic school. I doubt if that school ever functioned till today. His fatal nudge was to think education was the problem of the north. He was wrong. Continuation of a feudal hold on the Talakawas is it. Jonathan brought on board his government elites of the Ahmadu Bello’s progeny. It failed to rouse the region in his support. The north was rather obsessed with bringing its most vacant-minded son to administer Nigeria.From 2015 to 2023 of Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, he kept on nourishing that same barren path of prejudicing northern elite ahead of rescuing northern children from ignorance of Almajiri. The result is the metastasis we have today of insurgency. The roam-abouts of yesterday have come of age, equipped with burning fury against their elite captors.I agree absolutely with Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, that it will be unfair for the north to blame its backwardness on Tinubu. From July 28, 1966 when it took over power, except for the accident of history that produced Olusegun Obasanjo in 1976, northern leaders have consistently and woefully failed to provide a future for the north.It was the lack of the will to combat the vermin of roam-about, born-trowey children – apologies to Mrs. Patience Jonathan – that birthed and energized the incubus of Boko Haram and allied insurgent activities in the north. How can Tinubu be victimized for this? On this violence affliction which the north brought upon Nigeria, this country has spent trillions of Naira of annual budgetary allocations, as well as martyred thousands of its soldier children, in service of decades of this elite fatal flaw.I am interested in knowing how northern son, Buhari, fared in taming insecurity in his eight years rule, as compared to Tinubu’s two years, to warrant Dalhatu’s blame. Dalhatu’s allegation is that, under this government, “the North remains under siege, with insurgent groups multiplying and attacks becoming increasingly deadly.”How much of Dalhatu’s “widespread violence — including massacres, bombings, kidnappings and cattle rustling” which he said “has crippled economic and social progress across the region” did Buhari tackle? What was the percentage of Buhari government’s funding of agriculture, education, infrastructure and healthcare, and implementation of policies that promote equitable development across the country? When Buhari sat in Aso Rock for eight years picking his teeth, how much of this territorial politics did the north play? Only statistics can trump the mashed potato of rhetoric and impassioned arguments of the north.Like the intense fight of Fox, Lion, Cobra and Tortoise and its attendant mutual infliction of fatal wounds, the north’s card of politicized ethnicity has a potential of a mutually assured destruction. As the bodies of the three giants of the forest lay in a heap, the moment Tinubu finds a way round the north’s territorial politics, he will, like Tortoise, though bruised, walk away from its self-inflicted wounds.When some of Ahmadu Bello progeny’s brown-noses argue that since 1999, the north has spent less years in the Villa than the south, as rationalization for the region to again be in office in 2027, they make one want to puke. It is a self-serving argument. The question to ask is, is the period from 1966 to 1999 no longer part of Nigeria’s history? In other words, did Nigeria start in 1999?

By Juliet Alika

Industries around the world are facing a paradox: talent shortages in key sectors and rising unemployment in others. Developed nations struggle with ageing populations, while emerging markets grapple with youth unemployment. Artificial Intelligence is seen as a potential solution, improving productivity and job matching, but concerns remain about if it can be sustainable and inclusive.

Across industries, employers are having trouble finding the necessary talent at the right time, while millions remain underemployed or excluded. AI also risks displacing jobs, reinforcing bias, and widening inequality, benefiting developed nations and large firms over small businesses and developing economies. The challenge is ensuring AI addresses labour gaps ethically, inclusively, and in ways that strengthen the global workforce.ManpowerGroup’s 2025 Talent Shortage report reveals that for the first time in 10 years, businesses are reporting a decrease in skills shortages, with 76 per cent of employers reporting difficulty in filling roles due to a lack of skilled talent. The challenge is structural, affecting healthcare, logistics, engineering, and fast-growing digital fields. The global talent crunch is driven by converging forces: skills mismatches as qualifications are becoming irrelevant in evolving market demands, demographic shifts such as ageing populations in developed nations and youth unemployment in emerging economies, changing worker expectations: the desire for flexibility, purpose, and personal growth and the rapid technological disruption transforming job requirements.As companies scramble to keep pace with rapid change, the demand for future-ready talent is quickly outstripping the capacity of traditional education and workforce development models. What’s needed is investing in lifelong, modular learning that evolves with market needs; leveraging AI to enable dynamic skills mapping and personalised upskilling; strengthening partnerships between industry, education, and government; and expanding access to non-traditional and underrepresented talent pools. Ultimately, solving the talent crunch requires reshaping workforce systems for the jobs of tomorrow.AI is emerging as a transformative solution to global workforce challenges, offering tools to match, upskill, and mobilise talent. Beyond automating routine tasks, AI enables intelligent talent matching by analysing vast data on candidates, job descriptions, labour trends, and hiring outcomes. It considers hard skills, transferable capabilities, learning agility, and values alignment to deliver more inclusive and efficient hiring. However, this potential requires transparent implementation, bias audits, and integration into human-centred strategies to enhance, not replace, human judgment.AI also revolutionises personalised upskilling. Traditional one-size-fits-all training no longer meets evolving industry demands. AI-powered learning platforms assess current competencies, identify skill gaps, and deliver adaptive, modular content aligned with individual goals and shifting job requirements. This approach benefits employers by developing internal talent pipelines, reducing reliance on external recruitment, and increasing workforce agility. For employees, especially underrepresented groups, it democratises lifelong learning by making reskilling affordable, flexible, and accessible beyond traditional education barriers. At scale, personalised upskilling fosters resilience, adaptability, and career confidence amid disruption.Workforce planning and predictive insights represent another critical application. AI leverages predictive analytics to model workforce trends, aligning talent supply with future demand, mitigating economic shocks, and strengthening labour market resilience. By analysing technology adoption, demographic shifts, and economic indicators, AI anticipates emerging skill needs, guiding long-term talent strategies. Policymakers and educators can also use these insights to redesign curricula, improve vocational training, and target upskilling programmes for vulnerable populations.Healthcare exemplifies how predictive AI can avert crises by forecasting regional shortages of medical professionals, enabling proactive interventions like expanding training capacity or adjusting immigration policies. Similarly, sectors like manufacturing, logistics, energy, and public services can prepare for automation, sustainability transitions, or large-scale retirements through targeted retraining and recruitment strategies.Economically, AI-driven workforce planning reduces unemployment and job vacancies while supporting sustainable growth. Socially, it creates more equitable opportunities by helping workers prepare for future changes. However, ethical deployment is essential, with safeguards for transparency, fairness, data privacy, and bias mitigation. Ultimately, AI-powered talent matching, personalised upskilling, and predictive workforce planning shift decision-making from reactive to proactive. By combining technology with inclusive strategies, AI can build a more adaptable, equitable, and future-ready global workforceArtificial Intelligence holds great potential but is not a universal solution, and overreliance poses serious risks. Bias in training data can replicate or worsen inequalities, leading to discriminatory hiring and further marginalising disadvantaged workers. Automation threatens routine and lower-skilled roles, often without generating enough alternative employment. Additionally, digital divides exclude those lacking access, connectivity, or necessary digital skills.While AI can help address labour gaps, it may also deepen social and economic inequality unless equity, transparency, and fairness are intentionally built into its design, deployment, and workforce integration strategies.A sustainable AI talent strategy must prioritise people over technology, using AI to enhance human creativity, problem-solving, and decision-making rather than simply replacing jobs. Organisations should invest in tools that foster employee growth, engagement, and continuous learning. Equally vital is building inclusive AI ecosystems through collaboration between developers, HR leaders, and policymakers.This means ensuring AI systems are transparent, explainable, and fair by auditing algorithms for bias, protecting worker data, and making tools accessible across different languages, abilities, and education levels. Addressing the digital divide is crucial, requiring joint efforts from governments and organisations to expand access to infrastructure, education, and upskilling, particularly in underserved communities.AI can also support flexible work models: remote, hybrid, or gig-based, broadening access to talent and accommodating diverse needs. However, such flexibility must come with fair pay, safe conditions, and career growth for all workers. Ultimately, a sustainable AI workforce strategy balances technology, equity, and human potential.AI is a powerful tool, but cannot solve global workforce challenges alone, as talent shortages stem from human challenges of education, inclusion, access and opportunity. A sustainable solution requires integrating AI into a broader strategy for human capital development that prioritises equity, adaptability, and dignity at work. When used responsibly, AI can shift us from scarcity, unfilled roles and disengaged workers to alignment, where everyone has the skills, tools, and support to contribute meaningfully to the economy.Alika is an experienced human resources and business strategy professional