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Wanteregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo, OFR – A Leader for All Seasons Takes a Final Bow

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A Reminiscence by Iyorwuese Hagher OON.

Wanteregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo, Nigeria’s Stormy Petrel, is no more. For more than sixty years, Unongo dominated the Nigerian political stage. He was a groundbreaking catalyst for social progress, a public intellectual, a revolutionary idealogue, a ferocious fighter for social justice, a cultural icon, a peace-builder, and a perpetual source of political enchantment.

Above all, he was the Lion of Tiv and a foremost Nigerian nationalist.

As a young man growing up in Tivland in the Benue Valley, Paul Unongo was nothing special or significant except his good looks. Like other young Tiv children, he was born on fresh green leaves inside his parents’ thatched hut.

He suffered deprivation and the horrendous collective despair of Tiv society.

The Tiv lacked everything that made life meaningful. There was no electricity until the 70s; there was a chronic lack of potable water, and there still is. The Tiv were Nigeria’s designated hewers of wood and drawers of water. They sacrificed sweat and much blood-fighting world wars, building the colonial railways across the country and the two major national bridges on the Benue and Niger rivers uniting the country. And they mined the Tin (Kuza) on the Jos Plateau. They died in droves to make the British empire rich.

The colonists appropriated Tiv agriculture and subverted from food production to cash-crop production of export commodities, mainly soybeans and sesame (renamed Benue seed—Benniseed). Tiv farmed and cheaply sold these crops to the British monopolist John Holt, who determined commodity prices. Meanwhile, the colonial government assessed horrendous taxes payable to the colonial government. They labored extensively and got little to nothing for themselves.

Paul Unongo’s academic brilliance saw him through the Nigerian school system. He tasted the feel of fresh, crisp bank notes working in the Barclays Bank and even rose to be a sub-manager. But Unongo had his sights on being much more than a prisoner of bank vaults. He wanted to pursue education to the farthest, and that he did. He came to Canada to study Psychology at the University of Alberta and Edmonton. But he learned much more than mere psychology.

He became radicalized. The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States profoundly impacted the young Paul Unongo. He enlisted in campus and mainstream Canadian politics that elected Pierre Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, in 1968.                                                              

While in Canada, Unongo compared his situation to the appalling conditions of Tiv land, where he came from, and his emerging country, Nigeria, pathetically embroiled in a needlessly shameful civil war. He wanted to return home and make a difference. In his mind, he was both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Soon enough, opportunity dramatically presented itself.

Biafra was gaining world sympathy from the perception that the Nigerian Civil War was a genocide being waged by Northern Muslims against the Christian Easterners. Unongo’s relative and mentor, the Federal Minister of Transport, Hon. J.S. Tarka, enlisted Unongo’s charisma and loquaciousness alongside Rev. Father Akor in the Nigerian diplomatic response to Biafran propaganda. The duo traveled through Canada and the United States, dispelling the propaganda of Northern Muslims warring with Eastern Christians; they were credible voices. They succeeded in their mission.

Both Paul Unongo and the Rev. Father Akor were Northern Christians. Unongo’s effectiveness as a diplomat endeared him to the Yakubu Gowon administration, and he created yet another opportunity to serve by returning home to start and head the Department of Psychology at the University of Lagos. This became the return, the homecoming, and the rebirth of Paul Unongo to Nigeria’s historical and political significance.

Unongo’s decision to return home to Nigeria and join the politics of agitation did not go well with the Tiv political leadership. Hon. J.S. Tarka was particularly miffed that his hitherto brilliant assistant, Paul Unongo, now back from abroad, had grown wings and had a different vision for Tivland. He had enlisted the new military administration in Jos to erode Tarka’s legitimacy, influence, and grip on Tiv politics.

Unongo’s iconic booklet “Where Do We Go from Here”  laid out a coherent manifesto for the nation and Tiv land. He then cheekily announced his arrival on the Nigerian political stage.

“I confess most proudly that I am a Tiv Tribesman but a most dedicated Nigerian nationalist.”

Throughout the sixty years of Unongo’s political reign in Tivland and his activism on the Nigerian political stage, Unongo maintained dual loyalty and allegiance to the country, Nigeria, and his beloved Tiv nation. Paul Unongo’s political mobilization of Tiv cultural dances and performances, finance, the youth, and the elite left little room for Hon. Tarka. Even when J.S. Tarka tried to make a come-back during the Constitutional Conference of 1978, Unongo’s smart moves had Tarka disqualified for not filing taxes on time.  Barrister J.T. Vembe, a young lawyer from Mbakor, his immediate constituency, took his place. Unongo led his team of intellectuals to the 1978 Constitutional Conference to craft the 1979 Constitution, while Tarka retreated ruefully into exile to his Home in Highgate, London. He watched the grave of the great Karl Marx from his bedroom window daily. He resolved to return to Nigeria and avenge his humiliation at the merciless hands of his former political mentee, Paul Iyorpuu Unongo.

As the ban on party politics was lifted, Tarka resuscitated his structures of the UMBC and plotted his revenge even as his body was now wracked with cancer. He rallied his traditional base and even recruited young elements from among Unongo’s elite. He formed the National Club that became the NPN, and Paul Unongo likewise formed an alliance with DR. Nnamdi Azikiwe and became Secretary of the Nigerian People’s Party.

Unongo aggressively entered Tiv and Benue politics, carving a vast political niche and creating a mass of passionate followers. He refused to compromise, dialogue, or seek accommodation with the older generation, which equally fawned over their leader, J.S. Tarka, whom the Tiv loved with a blind passion. Unongo referred to Tarka and his political base as “Those Tiv who belonged to that unique group of false apostle politicians of the First Republic.”

The elite versus masses dichotomy was born and has continued to dictate the political pulse of Benue politics. The 1979 elections were the test case of whether Paul Unongo’s NPP would win the election in Benue State or the NPN headed by J.S. Tarka. The NPP lost, and the NPN won with a landslide. But Paul Unongo took advantage of it. He authored the NPN/NPP alliance that ushered in the Second Republic, to the chagrin of J.S. Tarka, who led the NPN to victory. Indeed, but for Shagari’s strong sense of justice and political sagacity, Unongo’s ministerial position would have been a mere pipe dream. Unongo’s adversarial strategy now gave Benue State more than its share of Ministers.

Tiv Land had both Minister of Steel Development in Unongo, while Hon. Isaac Shaahu became Minister of Commerce. Paul Unongo was a profoundly polarizing personality, and the NPP Party never accepted defeat at the polls. Even after the death of J.S. Tarka in 1980, Unongo’s political fortunes dived. Allegations of corruption from irrefutable whistle-blowers confronted him. He resigned from his ministerial post, as J.S. Tarka had done earlier.

Tarka became a Senator, and his son, Simeon Tarka, became a Member of the House of Representatives. He decisively descended on Paul Unongo, whom he described as “Braggadocio.” Throughout the rest of his life, Paul Unongo suffered electoral defeat after defeat. He was hexed and jinxed to run and never win. He serially lost the race to the Governorship of Benue State and the Senate. He lost the nomination for Presidential flag bearer in the SDP under option A4.

His candidates also lost to the traditional base of Tarka. Unongo continued to lose until he withdrew from all political contests to be a celebrated elder and statesman. In this new role, Unongo profoundly influenced Nigeria’s Military and Civilian presidents, who found his charisma and intellectual appeal on public policy irresistible.

Paul Unongo’s Legacy to Benue

1. Paul Unongo’s generosity was legendary. He gave scholarships to Tiv youth to study in America and Russia and made critical appointments to Tiv sons like Tachia Jooji and Moses Saror at Ajaokuta Steel Company. Before his Ministerial appointment, Unongo had accumulated a sizeable financial chest, and he built Secondary Schools and a Specialist Hospital in Katsina-Ala, the headquarters of one of the newly created Local Governments.

2. Unongo’s alliance and friendship with the Benue-Plateau Governor, J.D. Gomwalk, split the large Tiv Division into three Local government administrations.

3. Unongo pioneered and cultivated the interest of the Tiv youth in academic careers and pursuits.  Unongo claimed, “Concern for Tiv deplorable and unacceptable social condition has forced me to descend from my comfortable ivory tower in Lagos and speak frankly with and to the Tiv people demanding that they face the harsh reality of their miserable backwardness and do something about it.” (Source): “Where Do We Go From Here?”

4. Unongo introduced the Tiv and Benue youth to modernization. He introduced the youth to nightclub life and pop music. Several youths crossed the threshold of morality and became victims of crime and anti-social life. The effect of Unongo on the youth was electrifying and riveting. Although Unongo never drank alcoholic beverages nor smoked, Jos, Gboko, and Makurdi youth danced, drank, and smoked.

They also kept late hours at Juladaco nightclubs. They cultivated long hair, wore the peace pendant, and sang the anthem of the Black Power Movement, “Say it loud, I am black and proud.” He spread the music of peace, love, and harmony. Many of my contemporaries abandoned the quest for higher education to follow the cult-like social movement of Paul Unongo.

5. Paul Unongo has significantly impacted Tivland culture. He has changed mores and morals, even dress codes, and awakened interest in Tivland’s traditional religion and rituals. He has imported costly festivals into Tivland and the un-Tiv practice of keeping corpses for a long time without burying them. To cap it all off, Wantaregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo declared himself the spiritual and political leader of Tivland. These claims have not been contested!

6. Unongo gave his wealth and possessions to the people. No Tiv politician has displayed more incredible generosity than Wantaregh. Apart from scholarships, he gave out loans to farmers without seeking repayment. He made the modern life of education, capital accumulation, and social inclusion appealing. Unongo’s entire existence was a labor of love for the Tiv people and Nigeria. He strove to be a change agent to improve the Tiv people’s deplorable plight and sought social inclusion and justice for all.

Unongo’s Legacy to Nigeria

1. Unongo’s contribution to Nigeria’s civil war effort was genuine and patriotic. He said that he undertook it “on the official behalf of the Federal Military Government. I challenged the wisdom of foreign friends, foreign meddlers, foreign apostles of doom and racial hate, and foreign corrupt organized Churches.”

Unongo’s dual loyalty to the Tiv tribe and Nigeria made many Nigerians proud of their culture, as Unongo was fiercely a Tiv cultural icon. Unongo believed in the power of Nigeria’s diversity and the resolute dignity and rights of the ordinary people who had been robbed of their citizenship by a retrogressive traditional cabal that still treated Nigerian citizens as their conquered subjects despite Nigeria being a republic.

He promoted Tiv republicanism and scoffed at offers to be conferred with a traditional chieftaincy. Brazenly, he gave himself a somewhat whimsical and mystical title, “Wanteregh,” son of the land (Son of man?), which he clung to with magisterial fierceness. He was the iconic Tiv leader and sought to teach Tiv values of integrity, courage, boldness, and justice. Unongo was the bright knight with shiny armor who warred against all injustices. He was a total enigma who took life by its horns, making his rules and creating his political, social, and cultural spaces. He lived and died by his terms.

2. Unongo’s greatest gift to Nigeria was his blunt refusal to cooperate with the enemies of Nigeria who tried to enshrine the Sharia law into the 1979 constitution. Unongo led a team of young intellectuals like Mvendaga Jibo, Solomon Daushep Lar, Abubakar Rimi, Omo Omoruyi, Femi Okunnu, and others determined to have a circular constitution.

The supporters of the inclusion of the Sharia law into the Nigerian Constitution made this the most crucial aspect of the Constitution of particular significance. Ultimately, Mr. Unongo’s team prevailed, and the Sharia was left out of the 1999 Constitution. Unongo had won his first major political battle, determined to have a secular nation where religion is private and the Constitution is secular.

3. Unongo was Chair of State Creation at the Constitutional Conference in 1994-95. I was an elected member, and he was a government nominee. I nominated him as Chairman, and we worked hard to create the Apah and Katsina-ala States. But we failed even as Unongo, like Odili, was removed from the all-powerful Chairmanship position that created new states. We successfully recommended the creation of six zones for the country and the establishment of the Federal Character Commission.

Unongo as my Leader

I was in my final year of secondary school in 1968 when Unongo colonized Gboko town. He drove into Gboko with a long convoy of costly cars. He had a security outfit of hundreds of veterans. These security men mounted a guard of honor for Unongo every morning and marched through the town. Unongo’s veteran guards were rumored to have firearms. Unongo was handsome, articulate, elegant, and debonair. He was rarely seen, yet he had a ubiquitous presence, and many youths deserted dormitories to hang around and glimpse the legend. I adored him. I coveted such opulence and his clever ways and overflowing intelligence and confidence.

But I equally feared and hated his moral ecology of excessive permissiveness in breaking barriers and taboos. I was too timid to try these. I also resented him because J.S. Tarka was my first idol. I was born into the Tiv resistance movement against the NPC and its doctrines.  To my youthful sensibilities, Unongo stood for all that was despicable, evil, and reprehensible.

My father, a school headmaster and UMBC activist, a Tarka fanatic, laughed at Unongo’s antics. He believed Unongo’s source of wealth was purely satanic. Tarka had nicknamed Unongo “Braggadocio,” and his followers laughed at Unongo’s antics as merely comical. The Tiv had never seen such concentration of wealth, education, and good looks. I was a young pioneer- (Yan Panya) of the UMBC. My best friends, Peter Dzoho, Yima Sen, and Mfa Ikpa, left their jobs, and Peter abandoned the University to work for the Unongo organization. I held back with great restraint.

Later in life, I drew nearer to Wantaregh, or more correctly, we drew nearer to ourselves. We were in the same Senatorial zone, and when I ran for Senate in 1983, Unongo’s NPP candidate, Chief Atongo, stood down and supported me in the NPN to victory. Despite this, we drew nearer, and his wife, the ever-adoring Vickie Avarave Unongo, my maternal Aunt, made being friends with Unongo so much easier.

When I was nominated Minister in 1995, my leader, Unongo, summoned me to his house in Jos. He convinced his core supporters of why he withdrew his interest in the ministerial position and demanded that they cooperate with me. In 2001, when the Tiv race was on fire, and Tiv people were being killed in neighboring states, Unongo, alongside me, Iyorchia Ayu, Joseph Waku, and General Atom Kpera, worked for peace under the umbrella of the Mzough U Tiv.

Unongo assiduously worked for Northern Unity in his senior age and tried to bring peace to the North. We were both members of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). When, during the Buhari administration, the herders and bandits started assaults and killing of Tiv in Benue State, we continued to dialogue with other Northern leaders. Unongo used his position as the acting Convener of the Northern Elders Forum to condemn wanton ethnic racism, banditry, and genocide against the Tiv.

Unongo’s Last Public Outing

 A week before his final hospitalization and death, Unongo attended a meeting of the Northern Elders in Minna with IBB and in Abuja. On Tuesday, 20 April 2022, Unongo made his last public outing. He asked me to meet him at the Peniel Apartment and escort him to meet the Governor of Benue State, Dr. Samuel Ortom, his political protégé.

When we arrived at Ortom’s home at Games Village at 11:am, I held his left arm, and his beloved son Tyolumun Unongo held him on the right side. Slowly and gingerly, we climbed to the top steps and were ushered into Governor Ortom’s living room. The Governor joined us quickly when he was informed. In total embarrassment, Ortom tried to blame me for troubling his leader, Unongo, from coming when he was the one who traditionally went to visit.

But Paul Unongo absorbed the blame and most tearfully recounted how, in the past, Wantaregh had invested heavily in his goodwill to allow the young Ortom to enter politics as Chairman of Guma Local government. He begged Ortom to “bury” him by giving Tyolulum Unongo the ticket to contest the election for the House of Representatives. There was no way the Governor could refuse this request. He accepted all of Unongo’s appeals for his son. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I witnessed this ordeal. It was a political deja vu moment. History was repeating itself.

I remembered how in 1979 Hon. J.S. Tarka had similarly requested that we, the NPN Caucus in Benue State, give his son, Simeon Tarka, nomination to the House of Representatives. Simon Shango, a motley band of young party men, and I vehemently opposed this as undemocratic and demagogic. We were foolish and shallow. Tarka sniffled, and tears rolled down his face. With Tarka crying, the meeting had to end abruptly.

The following day, the party elders approved Tarka’s request when Tarka confided in his health situation that the doctors had given him only a few more months to live. Hon. Simeon Tarka was elected to the House of Representatives the day his father was elected Senator. Tarka returned to the hospital in London soon after he won the 1979 elections, and a few months later, he died a happy man.

The meeting between Ortom and Unongo, both of the Ichongo lineage, and me, from the Ipusu lineage, was chilling and ominous. That same day, 20 April 2022, Unongo left for Jos and was hospitalized. It was his last public outing.

Tyolumun Unongo was not nominated on 5 June 2022 as agreed. Political difficulties and overwhelming forces tied His Excellency Governor Ortom’s hands. If Unongo had succeeded in his appeal to elect Tyolumun, he would have finally earned a political victory. After a series of political setbacks, Unongo had an uncanny belief that his name, Iyorpuu, was a bad omen. Since Tiv’s names were prophetic, Iyorpuu means people disapprove, but Tyolumun means the people approve. Tyolumun was not meant to lose an election. Wantaregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo never left his hospital bed till he gave up his ghost five months later.

Wantaregh has left us when there is still so much to be done. Our country, Nigeria, still oozes from the social tumor of virulent poverty and deprivation. The Nigerian political class still generates economic spoils for itself by manipulating ethnic cleavages. Nigeria is still the World’s third-largest Christian and fourth-largest Muslim country. Now that Wantaregh is no longer there, who will have the fearless grace to tell Nigerians to show the World the power of tolerance and love?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Who, like Unongo, will stand with the oppressed whose lives are perilously fragile and raise a voice for their defense?

End of an Era

With the passing of Wantaregh, all of us who have inherited the Leadership Mantle of Tarka or that of  Wantaregh are now political orphans. It is time to declare the end of an era. It is time to break down the walls that have held us prisoners and prevented us from creating history together. It is time to hold hands and remember our common political ancestry. It is time to say no to guile, greed, and disrespect.

May the soul of our hero, our leader of all seasons, Wantaregh Paul Iyorpuu Unongo, rest in peace! 

Prof. Hagher OON, is once represented Nigeria in Canada.

OPINION

The Impact of Incessant Attacks in Farming Communities

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By Efe Omoghene

Rural communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt and the North, which were once the major cities’ food pipeline, are now struggling to feed themselves. Thriving farmlands now bear the weight of fear and insecurity. With each disrupted planting season, the country edges closer to a more profound food security crisis, exacerbating what began as a regional instability into a nationwide emergency.

Incessant attacks have led to deaths and the displacement of farming communities in states that contribute significantly to Nigeria’s agricultural output.
In June alone, attacks in Benue State, the “Food Basket of the Nation”, claimed dozens of lives and uprooted entire communities.
While these incidents are heartbreaking, they are not new; we are only witnessing frequent recurrence. This troubling pattern of insecurity continues to force farmers off their land, disrupt food production, and weaken the nation’s ability to feed itself.Statistics from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre show that an estimated 295,000 internal displacements related to conflicts and violence were reported in Nigeria in 2024 alone. This includes the states of Benue, Borno, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara. This is not just a crisis of safety; it’s a crisis of sustenance.For years, states such as Benue, Kaduna, Niger, Plateau, and Zamfara have been key food-producing regions, responsible for much of Nigeria’s grains, roots, fruits, and livestock. However, these areas are increasingly becoming places where violence has made farming a risky endeavour. Clashes between herders and farmers, banditry, terrorism, and communal violence have transformed fertile lands into contested zones. When farmers fear for their safety, they often cease farming or abandon their land altogether.The impact is already being felt. Markets are seeing rising prices on staple foods like yams, rice, and tomatoes. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the cost of beans in the country in October 2024 was 282 per cent higher compared to the same period in 2023.The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s trend analysis for the north-eastern states indicates persistently high or increasing levels of food insecurity since 2018. The number of people needing urgent aid has increased by at least four million annually during the lean seasons since June 2020. Additionally, the north-west and parts of the north-central regions now exhibit critical levels of severe food insecurity and malnutrition, identifying them as major hunger hotspots requiring urgent attention from policymakers.A study revealed that 52.44 per cent of respondents in Niger State experienced food insecurity due to various insecurity activities such as blocking local routes, killings, kidnapping, and disruption of market functions. Insurgencies in the North Central states have also contributed to rising poverty levels among livestock farming households, with 83.84 per cent of livestock farmers participating in a study reporting significant declines in livestock production due to insurgency.If this pattern continues unchecked, the consequences could be long-term. More families will face hunger, and young people will leave rural areas for safety and work, draining the agricultural workforce in rural communities. Dependence on humanitarian aid will rise, and the burden on government resources will increase.This year, Nigeria is already projected to face a significant hunger gap, with up to 33 million people at risk of acute food insecurity in the lean season (between June and August), according to the FAO. This represents a seven million-person increase from the same period in 2023.Food security is not solely the government’s responsibility. It is a basic human right and our collective responsibility. Relying solely on farmers in distressed areas is not a very practical approach. Thankfully, the country is not in a hopeless situation.Across Nigeria, there are numerous examples of humanitarian and community-led peacebuilding efforts in action, and Sahel Consulting is proud to be part of this momentum. We are actively collaborating with local and international partners to develop practical solutions in the food value chain, empowering farmers and strengthening agribusinesses across Nigeria.Through our programs in dairy, seed, tuber, and policy systems, we are facilitating the increase in productivity, improving market access, and building capacity at the grassroots level. Whether it’s training dairy farmers in Adamawa, scaling clean seed yam innovations in Benue, advancing true potato seed systems in Plateau, or improving livestock nutrition through feed and fodder initiatives, our work is rooted in collaboration, innovation, and long-term impact.Similar efforts are taking shape through the work of the Gates Foundation. Gates Ag One, in partnership with the Institute for Agricultural Research at the Ahmadu Bello University, Kaduna State, is providing farmers with access to improved seed varieties for crops like beans and maize, engineered to resist pests and withstand drought. The foundation also funds projects to enhance livestock productivity and strengthen dairy value chains.State governments have also started implementing policies to support ranching to address farmer-herder conflicts and enhance agricultural productivity. Eleven states, including Anambra, Bauchi, Delta, Jigawa, Kano, Lagos, Niger, Nasarawa, Ondo, Plateau, and Zamfara, are either allocating land for ranches, developing policies, or committing to do so in the future. This initiative is part of a broader shift from open grazing to more modern, sustainable ranching practices. Farmer-herder dialogues, early warning systems, and conflict mediation groups have all demonstrated promise.Private organisations are also collaborating with ministries, agencies, and local partners to support resilient food systems through training, innovation, and market access.This is by no means the end of the story. While these efforts are commendable, their impact is not particularly noticeable vis-à-vis the insecurity, as they are implemented in isolation and on a relatively small scale. The real challenge, and opportunity, lies in collaboratively scaling initiatives that are working. For lasting change, we need to invest more in proven interventions. Government policies must be supported by robust implementation strategies, and private and development actors must be empowered to apply these models in more communities across the country.It is not enough to initiate these projects; we must establish frameworks that ensure they are sustainable, community-led, and responsive to the realities of the local communities. Clear safeguards and inclusive principles must be in place, especially in areas where displacement and land rights are already sensitive issues. Any solution must consider the voices of host communities and guarantee mutual benefit.Let’s focus on what’s already showing promise, such as improved seed distribution, inclusive value chain optimisations, and community-based peacebuilding. But let’s also be honest: we need to do much more, and we must do it together.The key is to make human security a foundation, not an afterthought, for agricultural development. Farmers need more than seeds and tools. They need to know that if they invest in their land, neither their lives nor their farms will be lost to violence; if they plant, they will live to harvest.Food security starts with human security. When fields are safe, they flourish. And when rural communities thrive, the whole country benefits—from Lagos to Maiduguri, Port Harcourt to Makurdi.Efe Omoghene is the strategic communications officer with Sahel Consulting

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OPINION

The Task Before North Central Development Commission

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By Bridget Tikyaa

The creation of the North Central Development Commission by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rekindled hope and set the tone for a new lease of development in the entire states of Benue, Nasarawa, Kwara, Kogi, Niger and Plateau, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

These are states that have suffered long years of economic hardship, insecurity, displacement, disruption of basic services including schools and health infrastructure, and much more.
With the inauguration of the board of the commission, whose headquarters is in Lafia, Nasarawa State, all is now set for the commission to articulate its programmes and swing into action. Already, the Federal Government has made provisions in the 2025 budget for the funds with which the commission will execute its programmes and projects.
One of the key tasks the commission must plan for and address is the endemic rural poverty and economic hardship in the North central region. Over 75% of rural Nigerians live below the poverty line, with widespread economic stagnation, inflation, and insecurity contributing to severe economic hardship. The region’s dependence on oil and limited diversification have exacerbated poverty, with 30.9% of Nigerians living below the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day. This, no doubt, deserves frontal, timely and decisive action to contain.Another troubling aspect in the region is the level of insecurity and conflict being witnessed from Benue to Niger, Kwara and Kogi, Nasarawa and Plateau. The region is plagued by conflicts between farmers and herders, banditry, local militias particularly in Benue and Plateau states, resulting in loss of lives, displacement of communities, and decline in agricultural productivity. Insecurity has also limited access to cropland and restricted access to agricultural inputs. It is therefore imperative for the commission to interact with key stakeholders and devise a regional approach to the security challenges, including the establishment of a regional security, including support to existing security agencies to ensure a decisive and prompt response to the challenges. The safer the region, the more it takes the right steps to address other challenges.The North Central Development Commission should also have a blueprint to respond to the climate change and environmental issues in the region, from rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, flooding, and drought, to erosion and deforestation. Presently, these challenges have intensified existing vulnerabilities, disrupting education, health services, and community protection mechanisms. Climate change has also contributed to resource-based conflicts over land, water, and minerals as in Benue, Niger and Plateau states.One fundamental issue the commission must develop a Marshal plan for is the scourge of displacement and humanitarian crisis due to conflicts that had made over 300,000 homeless in just four states, including Benue and Nasarawa. This has resulted in increased vulnerability to gender-based violence, exploitation, and abuse, particularly among women and girls. This vulnerable population needs protection, security, emotional and economic support, and mental health evaluation, among others. The commission, therefore, has a huge task ahead of it, working in sync with the government of the six states, development partners and other stakeholders, to justify its creation by making a huge presence in the lives of the people of the region.The six states in the North Central also face limited access to basic services, including healthcare, education, and protection mechanisms. There are a number of areas where health facilities and schools have been destroyed or disrupted, thereby exacerbating the existing vulnerabilities. There are also the governance and leadership challenges due to weak governance structures, corruption, and poor management of the region’s natural resources. Over the years, the lack of effective leadership and accountability has hindered efforts to address poverty, insecurity, and climate change in the region and other parts of the country.These interconnected challenges, no doubt, require a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach to address, and the North Central Development Commission can greatly contribute to the solutions by vigorously promoting the region’s development, sustainable growth and stability.By Bridget Tikyaa is a Media Expert and writes form Makurdi

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OPINION

Olukoyede and the New EFCC

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By Reuben Abati

Last Friday, 18 July, the incumbent Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede was in Lagos to hold a sensitisation programme on Naira Abuse, at the Colonades Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos. What was reported in most newspapers and other platforms, was the EFCC czar’s disclosure that 18 currently serving Governors are under investigation by the EFCC, and that as soon as these Governors are out of office, the EFCC will pounce on them.

He hid the juicy part of the story by not disclosing names. Nigerians would have loved to know who these suspected thieving Governors are, at a time the people are groaning under the effect of petrol subsidy removal, high cost of living and the state governors are getting more money than they ever did.
The EFCC has the powers to investigate sitting Governors, Deputy Governors, the President and the Vice President, but they are covered by Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution which grants them immunity from prosecution while in office.The intendment of Section 308, is to prevent this category of public officials from being distracted by a plethora of petitions that they may need to respond to. This is however not the case in every part of the world. In countries like South Africa, Israel, the United States, Brazil and France, not even the President is protected from prosecution.In March 2021, for example, former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to a year in prison for corruption and influence peddling. In 1974, US President Gerald Ford lost his position because of clear, irrefutable evidence of wrong-doing in the Watergate scandal. In South Korea, sitting and former Presidents have been sent to jail, the latest being President Yoon Suk-Yeol, and before him, President Lee Myung-bak (MB).In Brazil, the inimitable President Luiz Lula da Silva spent time behind bars (2017-2019). The principle is that nobody is above the law, and that misdeeds at any level must not go unpunished. Nigerians would want a review/amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to hold public office holders, all of them, regardless of position, accountable. It is most unfortunate that this is not a major issue in the ongoing discussions about constitutional amendment. It is unthinkable that any President, former or incumbent would be convicted in Nigeria. The immunity at that level is for life.Olukoyede had disclosed that the typical pattern for serving Governors is to run away before the expiration of their right to immunity. We are all witnesses to the fact that it is standard practice indeed for Governors to “japa” and not even wait to hand over to their successors. By simply serving notice, it is not impossible that the guilty among the Governors would be afraid and try to cover their tracks.The media won’t choose what will sell the news, and perhaps it is juicier to focus on the fact that 18 serving governors are being watched closely. The main substance of Olukoyede’s sensitisation programme however, was Naira Abuse, an event organised in “close concert with the Central Bank of Nigeria.” Before then, Olukoyede’s EFCC had set up a Task Force on Dollarisation and Naira Abuse to address “some of the practices that threaten the value of the currency”.Within the purview of Section 21 of the CBN Act, 2007, all acts that constitute Naira abuse are punishable for a term of not less than six months or a fine of not less than N50, 000 or both. These include the spraying of the Naira, dancing on it, marching and stepping on it, mutilation or defacement, and the selling or trading of Naira notes.This latter is a very common practice in Nigeria – the banks never give out new notes but every weekend at parties, naira merchants sell crisp national currency for profit, making us wonder whether there is a parallel Mint in the country where the Naira is printed.Ola Olukoyede, has made the protection of then naira, a major point of campaign. It is on record that with him as EFCC Chairman, many celebrities have been called to question for abusing the naira. There is the case of Idris Okuneye, aka Bobrisky, who purportedly spent six months at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre for spraying the Naira at a public gathering. Bobrisky pleaded guilty.Pascal Okechukwu, popularly known as Cubana Chief Priest was also arraigned in April 2024, but he pleaded not guilty. His own lawyers even went as far as questioning the jurisdiction of the court and the prosecutorial powers of the EFCC.Bobrisky was convicted, Cubana Chief Priest escaped with a fine of N10 million. Both men have not abused the Naira since then. Bobrisky is in fact so beaten and sober that he/she in fact took the safe option of lying low, disappearing from the social scene.Who would have thought that the famed “Mummy of Lagos” having gone to the college of imprisonment would calm down? As recently as May 2025, one Okoli Frank Emeka was sentenced to six months imprisonment for marching on the naira at Al Moruf Garden, Isheri Olofin, Lagos. The same month, one Kelly Okungbowa, aka Ebo Stone was arraigned before a Federal High Court sitting in Benin on a two-count charge of Naira abuse.In Kaduna, a TikToker and content creator, Muhammad Kabir Sa’ad was arrested and charged to court for mutilating the Naira. Kabir dared the EFCC in a video online to come and arrest him. They did. But the arrests were not limited to the average, struggling Nigeria.Earlier in January 2025, two sons of billionaire businessman, Razaq Okoya – Wahab and Raheem Okoya were invited for questioning for spraying bundles of N1, 000 Naira notes in a promotional clip for Raheem’s new song, “Credit Alert”.In May 2025, the EFCC also summoned the celebrated actress, Iyabo Ojo, self-styled Queen Mother, for the abuse of the Naira during her daughter, Priscilla’s wedding to the Tanzanian artiste, Juma Jux in Lagos. Iyabo Ojo was lucky, and she has not been seen anywhere spraying Naira notes again. Another actress, Oluwadarasimi Omoseyin was not so lucky.She was sentenced to six months imprisonment for spraying and tampering with the Naira at an event at Monarch Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos on January 28, 2023. In May 2025, the popular comedian and actor, Ayo Makun was also invited for questioning. He was so happy that the EFCC pardoned him, he issued a statement in which he said he had learnt his lessons.Despite all these cases, Nigerians continue to abuse the Naira contrary to Section 21(1) of the CBN Act, 2007. What the EFCC seems to have achieved is a drastic reduction in the obscene spraying and mutilation of the Naira that was the norm, and the effrontery of the partying crowd.The abuse started with the fun-loving people of the South West, the Yoruba who enjoy spraying the naira lavishly as a show of class and wealth but the behaviour soon spread to other parts of the country, particularly the East where the Igbo nouveaux riche have added spectacular colour to the spraying of the Naira and other currencies with the aid of a hand-held spraying gun, and accustomed sass. I once deplored this practice in a controversial article titled “Obi Cubana and the Oba Funeral”, (ThisDay, July 20, 2021).But neither this nor any other intervention has encouraged Nigerians to obey the law. Their standard excuse as articulated by Deyemi Okanlawon, an actor, is that the EFCC should focus more on other issues rather than the spraying of the Naira which is “a cultural problem”. It is perhaps for cultural reasons that many Nigerians have continued to spray the Naira, but they have found a way of taming the law.It is common these days to find celebrants carrying cartons or boxes into which money is deposited. Quite a number of thick-headed persons still spray and abuse the Naira at parties though, stubbornly insisting that they have the right to do what they wish with their money.Ola Olukoyede responded to this cultural argument as follows: “there is nothing cultural about spraying and stamping on the Naira or throwing wads of the currency in the air at social events. Nowhere in the world is such despicable practice tolerated.Nobody who works hard to earn money will go to social events and stamp on the currency. As a salary earner myself, it is unimaginable for me to go out and start throwing my hard-earned salary in the air!” The EFCC chair added that the Naira is a symbol “of our sovereignty and economic might” whose integrity must be protected.Its abuse is a punishable offence. He further cited the example of a former Governor, who after his tenure in office, celebrated his birthday in a hotel in London.The said Governor sprayed 50 and 10 bills in pounds sterling. The hotel manager having never seen such a thing in his life, called 911 and summoned the Metropolitan Police. The former Nigerian Governor was arrested and the police wanted to put him in an ambulance. According to the EFCC Chair: “The people – his friends, colleagues, and two governors – who went to London to celebrate with him had to intervene.They said the ex-Governor was not a mad man because the hotel manager thought he was mad.” It should be considered quite interesting that what is considered normal in Nigeria is interpreted as pure madness in other countries.Olukoyede has brought an evangelical fervour to the fight against economic and financial crimes. He is, by the way, a Pastor in a Pentecostal church. What he has achieved is to remind his audience and the larger Nigerian community that ignorance of the law is not an excuse, and that no one is above the law. He also drew attention to what the law says.He is a lawyer. In attendance at the Colonades Hotel event were musicians, actors, event organizers, influencers, content creators, hospitality stakeholders, financial sector representatives and the general public. Some of the celebrities in attendance included King Alabi Pasuma, the Fuji artiste, MI, Ill Bliss Goretti, Osas Ighodaro, Pretty Mike, Terry Apala, Mercy Aigbe, Kazim Adeoti, Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, Anto Lecky and others.Musicians and event organizers depend on the spraying of Naira for extra patronage and encouragement. What is new is the EFCC’s attempt to invest heavily in public sensitization. The agency also has an anti-corruption radio station, EFCC 97.3 FM in Abuja, whose broadcast is live streamed through the EFCC website, www.efcc.gov.ng. Ola Olukoyede rose through the ranks within the EFCC to get to the apex position, but other Chairmen before him did not bother as much about public sensitisation.Section 6(p) of the EFCC Establishment Act, 2004 as amended, states among the functions of the agency: “carrying out and sustaining rigorous public and enlightenment campaign against economic and financial crimes within and outside Nigeria.” Olukoyede is giving effect to this to a higher degree like no one else before him.Past Chairmen have been accused of allowing the EFCC to be used as a tool of political intimidation, and witch-hunt as has been robustly evidenced in two books by Muhammed Bello Adoke viz: Burden of Service: Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney General (2019) and OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 bn Nigerian Oil Block (2025).This is not the case with Ola Olukoyede. But he has also had his own share of criticisms as in for example, Steve Osuji’s “EFCC’s alarming impunity” (July 10, 2025) which has attracted a rejoinder in a piece titled “Campaign of calumny against EFCC” (Punch, July 21, 2025) by Dele Oyewale, the EFCC spokesperson.Last Friday, the EFCC Chair painted a picture of the achievements of the EFCC under his watch, denying any charge of impunity. To be fair, there has been relatively less hysteria in his campaign against corruption. He regards the battle as a collective responsibility. He wants an all-of society-approach. It will be recalled that he was the first EFCC Chairman to admit publicly that there is corruption even within the EFCC.In 2024, Olukoyede sacked 27 of his own men for misconduct and fraudulent activities. He also ordered a probe into an alleged fraud of $400, 000 linked to a sectional Head of the EFCC. But perhaps what is more remarkable about the EFCC these days, is that there have been no serious allegations that the agency is being used for political vendetta.The credit for this belongs to Olukoyede, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has given him the free hand to do his job, the best way he understands it. But will he win the battle against Naira abuse? The best that he can hope for is limited success. The madness of Naira plunking seems to be a genetic affliction among Nigerians. He would be better off finding a cure for it. He is doing well.Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.

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