By Toyin Falola

We are blessed that the students and teachers have regained their freedom. The emotional agonies that many of us suffered, especially following the wicked slaughter of a schoolteacher is unimaginable.

Many are careless over the need to understand trauma and its scars.

What is now urgent is an immediate therapy.

Kidnapped students and teachers of the Oriire community must receive long-term psychosocial support immediately following their release. Survival does not end physical captivity but begins mental captivity. After trauma, survivors may feel afraid, anxious, depressed, ashamed, jumpy, have bad dreams, feel unable to trust others, shut down emotionally, or have trouble concentrating. They may experience repeated memories of the violence and threats they endured. Children can act out inappropriately by being unusually quiet, aggressive, clingy, fearful of school, or unable to sleep at night. Teachers may feel guilty for being unable to protect their students or themselves and may feel helpless and experience severe post-traumatic stress. If teachers do not receive care from a professional, trauma wounds can fester and impair students’ ability to learn as well as their family life, social integration, and future wellbeing.

It is a welcome relief that the kidnapped students and teachers of the Oriire community have finally been released. However, their freedom should not be taken to mean that life has returned to normal for them. Many who have been freed by kidnappers become slaves of psychological trauma from their experiences of fear, humiliation, violence, uncertainty and helplessness during their ordeal. They must be given emergency, ongoing and professionally coordinated psychotherapy when they get back home.

Surviving kidnapping is traumatic. Victims can experience nightmares, panic attacks, depression and anxiety. They can feel emotionally numb, constantly fearful and suspicious. They also can have insomnia, poor appetite, trouble concentrating and flashbacks of the traumatic event. Some relate their experiences repeatedly. Others go out of their way to avoid people, places, conversations, or activities that remind them of the kidnapping. If the freed students and teachers experience some of these symptoms, they could have post-traumatic stress disorder and should not be dismissed as weak or suddenly overwhelmed. Religious support and family love can help but should not substitute for proper mental health treatment.

Special attention should be paid to the students. Children and teens may not have the vocabulary to express what they are feeling. They may suffer in silence or may become aggressive violent. Others may start wetting the bed or become overly dependent. Poor grades and an unexplained fear of strangers are common. Some may refuse to return to school. Behaviour can also change drastically. Dump them into the classroom without any psychological evaluation and their trauma will be exacerbated. Their return to normalcy must be gradual and come from trained professionals, including psychologists, counsellors, social workers, and doctors.

Released teachers deserve special attention as well. They may experience guilt for failing to keep students safe; anxiety about returning to work; fear of another attack; or uncertainty about their careers. As parents and figures of authority, they may also struggle to ask for help or show emotions if they feel they need to be strong for others. Confidential counselling services and peer-support initiatives would help them work through their ordeal without stigma or guilt.

Trauma-informed health practitioners should conduct urgent examinations to check for injuries, infections, malnutrition, dehydration, and any other ailments. Survivors will also need one-on-one counselling, group counselling, family counselling, and long-term mental-health support. Parents and families should be counselled as well, and taught how to support survivors without pressuring them to talk about what happened, blaming them for their ordeal, subjecting them to media attention, or infantilising them.

Ideally, the government should collaborate with school administrators, community leaders, religious groups, public health agencies, and civil-society groups to create a coherent rehabilitation programme. Survivors’ privacy and dignity should be respected. Their names, photographs, and testimonies shouldn’t be traded for political points or clickbait headlines. Recovery will take time, safety, confidentiality, and trust.

Oriire might need communal therapy, too. Kidnapping traumatises victims, but it also harms the families, friends, classmates, colleagues, and neighbours whose lives are upended by fear and uncertainty. Community meetings, memorial services or thanksgiving celebrations, mental health education on security issues, and creating spaces for communal reflection can foster resilience.

Until the psychological needs of students and teachers are addressed, their freedom will be diminished. Therapy should not be seen as a privilege or as a sign of weakness. It is an integral component of rescue, relief, and justice. The government and security forces’ job will not be done until survivors are physically healthy, emotionally informed, securely reintegrated into their communities, and able to return to their daily lives without being haunted by what happened.

Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, is the Bobapitan of Ibadanland. 

By Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua

A fresh controversy emerged last week over an alleged government agency known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). The issue came to light after the Chief of Staff to the President publicly denied that such an agency exists.

Before this denial, the agency was reportedly operating under Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew, who claimed to be its Director-General since October 2025.

However, matters took a different turn when Prince Adeyemi insisted that the agency is real and not a ghost organisation as alleged.

He further alleged that he paid ₦400millions out of ₦600 million through a proxy linked to Gbajabiamila to secure his appointment.

These claims have added a new layer of concern to the unfolding drama. Reacting to the development, the President’s Director of Media and Strategy, issued a statement distancing the Presidency from the agency. He described Prince Adeyemi as a fraudster and warned the public to disregard his claims.

In a swift response, Gbajabiamila has taken legal steps against Prince Adeyemi. Through his lawyers, he is demanding ₦10 billion in damages and an immediate apology for linking him to the alleged scandal. The controversy over the alleged “ghost agency” has continued to generate mixed reactions among Nigerians. Since the issue came to the public domain, several important questions have remained unanswered.

Many Nigerians are asking: How did Prince Adeyemi get his appointment letter? How did the agency secure an office in the Federal Secretariat? How did it recruit about 300 staff and open an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)? How did it get budget line of 1.3 billions in 2026 budget? Even more surprising, how did it hold meetings with foreign partners? It was also reported that Prince Adeyemi was seen at the office of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The chairman of economic and financial commission (EFCC), Mr Olanipekun Olukoyede posted a picture presenting an award to Adeyemi.

The controversy surrounding the creation of a “phantom agency” has exposed the rot in our public service and the lack of accountability. This situation will erode public confidence, deepen corruption and damage the country’s global reputation.

However, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has directed the Independent Corrupt practices Commission (ICPC) to carry out a thorough investigation and identify those involved in the scandal within 30 days. Despite this directive, many pessimists doubt that anything meaningful will come out of the investigation. The reason is not far-fetched.

Investigations in Nigeria that involve top government officials rarely lead to punishment. In the next 30 days, the ICPC will focus on the Office of the Chief of Staff to find out who issued the appointment letter to Prince Adeyemi.

It will also investigate the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) over how office space was allocated. The CBN Governor will be questioned on how the agency opened its account, and the National Assembly will be asked to explain the ₦1.3 billion budget allocation.

While many Nigerians expected president Bola Ahmed Tinubu to constitute a judicial commission of inquiry to unravel this scandal, the (ICPC) must rise to the occasion and carry out a thorough, independent and transparent investigation.

There must be no sacred cows. In the course of this probe, all those involved in this disgraceful act must be exposed and publicly named. Anything short of this will only deepen public distrust and reinforce the culture of impunity that has long plagued the system.

The President must go beyond mere directives and ensure that the findings of the investigation are fully implemented. This is a defining moment for accountability. The outcome must not be buried or manipulated for political convenience. Unless those who aided and abetted this monumental fraud are decisively brought to justice and punished in accordance with the laws of land, the dangerous precedent will persist and more phantom agencies will continue to infiltrate and undermine the integrity of the public service.

Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, Kaduna State. 08169056963.

By Kayode Adebiyi

There is a growing trend among state governments to initiate ambitious airport infrastructure projects, regardless of their economic viability.

From cargo airports to international terminals, governors across the country have presented these projects as symbols of development, economic expansion, and modernisation.

However, critics increasingly argue that many of these airports are turning into “white elephant” projects, because they are expensive infrastructure that delivers little practical value while consuming enormous public funds.

Recently, Gov. Hope Uzodimma of Imo said at a gathering of representatives of friendly nations and international institutions that the state government collected a net allocation of between N700 billion and N800 billion monthly.

His revelation aligns with figures from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FACC), which show that allocations to subnational governments have risen significantly.

For instance, compared to February 2025, they saw about a 23 per cent increase in their revenues from FAAC in February 2026.

On average, FAAC revenues have almost tripled since the subsidy was removed on May 29, 2023.

However, the debate about the impact of these revenues has intensified as the country faces rising poverty, unemployment, inflation, inadequate healthcare, struggling education system, and poor infrastructure.

An analysis of media content shows that many citizens are questioning whether the billions of naira spent on airports could have been better invested in sectors that directly improve their welfare.

Some of the airport projects already commissioned operate significantly below capacity, while others under construction remain abandoned.

A case in hand is the Ebonyi International Airport initiated during the administration of former governor David Umahi.

Reports indicate that, after spending N63 billion and five years (2019–2024), the airport generated no revenue, while additional billions were spent fixing defective runways and leaking terminal roofs.

Similarly, the Lafia Cargo Airport in Nasarawa State has attracted criticism after reports revealed that the facility remained largely abandoned years after its commissioning, having gulped a whooping N15 billion.

There are many other such projects dormant, abandoned, under construction or proposed, in Abia, Kogi, Osun, Benue, Taraba and Cross Rivers, among others.

A civil servant based in Abuja, who simply identified himself as Dele, referred to airport projects by states as misplaced priorities.

“There is an airport in Akure which is already underutilised. Akure to Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, is under 45 minutes’ drive. Please, what does the government need an airport for?

“Also, Osogbo (Osun capital) is just under 90 minutes’ drive to Ibadan, where there is an airport, also already underutilised. Oyo is bigger and more strategic than Osun, yet its airport is not used to full capacity.

“What then is the guarantee that an airport in Osun will be more viable than the one in Ibadan?” he queried.

Like Dele, some stakeholders warned that multiple airports in neighbouring locations could struggle to attract enough passenger traffic to remain viable.

Sen. Smart Adeyemi, former Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation, once warned that many state governments were embarking on wasteful airport projects while neglecting citizens’ welfare.

According to him, many states will benefit more from smaller and cheaper airstrips rather than full-scale airports costing tens of billions of naira.

He said that most of the airports owned by states were waste of public funds as they lack adequate technical capacity and passenger flow.

“Most of the airports built by the states lack the required facilities and passenger flow to be called airports.

“Aside from Lagos, which has 65 per cent of passengers’ traffic, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and most of the other airports lack the required 500,000 to one million passenger traffic on a yearly basis.

 “In fact, many of them cannot even record 100,000 passengers annually not to talk of the minimum of 500,000 by international standards.”

Experts within the aviation industry also expressed a similar concern.

Former Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Capt. Rabiu Yadudu, said those airports majorly lacked in commercial viability.

“An airport that needs N300 million a month and they have just 1,000 passengers a month there is no magic that can make them sustainable,” he said.

Also, former General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Air Transport Employees, Olayinka Abioye, described the rush by governors to build airports as an “aberration and fraudulent”.

He argued that many states ignored more pressing developmental challenges while pursuing legacy projects that provide limited economic value.

According to aviation analysts, many governors justify airport projects by claiming they will attract investors, stimulate tourism, create jobs, and improve agricultural exports through cargo operations.

While these goals appear attractive on paper, the reality often differs because most states lack the industrial capacity, commercial activity, and passenger demand necessary to sustain airport operations.

A recent media report revealed that several states collectively spent more than N251 billion on airports considered largely non-viable.

The report noted that poor healthcare, bad roads, inadequate housing, and failing public services did not stop state governments from investing heavily in airport projects, often for political prestige rather than economic necessity.

For ordinary Nigerians, the implications of these projects are significant.

Critics say every billion naira invested in underutilised airports represents money unavailable for schools, hospitals, water supply, agriculture, electricity, and road construction.

“In many rural communities, people still struggle with inadequate healthcare facilities, overcrowded classrooms, and poor transportation networks.

“Government should therefore prioritise human development over legacy infrastructure.

“In states where civil servants cannot earn living wages and unemployment remains widespread, spending billions on airports can appear insensitive to citizens’ daily struggles, especially during these hard times.

“The maintenance costs of airports also create long-term financial pressure,” Dele said.

Indeed, airports require expensive runway maintenance, security systems, aviation equipment, staff salaries, and electricity supply.

Therefore, when passenger traffic is low, governments must continuously subsidise operations using taxpayers’ money.

Analysts say this creates recurring expenditure that may not generate corresponding economic benefits, as witnessed in the case of the Ebonyi airport and others.

Also, some airport projects have displaced local communities and farmlands without delivering promised economic opportunities.

Nonetheless, supporters of airport development argue that such infrastructure can stimulate long-term economic growth if properly planned.

They point to examples such as the Victor Attah International Airport in Akwa Ibom, which operates alongside the state-owned Ibom Air airline.

Although the airport still relies heavily on state support, it has achieved relative operational success compared to many other state-owned airports.

They also claim that airports can improve connectivity, encourage investment, and reduce travel stress for residents who previously depended on distant airports in neighboring states.

However, many analysts insist that airport construction should be based on detailed feasibility studies rather than political ambition, and that infrastructure should reflect actual economic demand, population size, industrial activity, and long-term sustainability.

Given that barely five per cent of the population flies, observers say the surge in state-owned airports suggests a preference for prestige projects over practical, people-focused development. (NAN)