In what could be described as a half-tenure editorial tribute or assessment of the government of Nigeria's President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Financial Times of London Newspaper gave the following verdict, titled: Nigeria's Shock Therapy:

( A Nigerian NewsLeader Editorial)

Nigerians and indeed the media community in Nigeria woke on Saturday morning, March 16, 2024, to learn of the abduction of one of its citizens and the Editor of First News Newspaper, Mr Segun Olatunji.

Now, in Nigeria, "Justice is for the rich and powerful, not the nameless".

"And keep in mind that this is in a year in which we had not simply a set of elections that were manipulated in full view of observers from around the world, but also one in which the man who emerged as Nigerian leader was internationally-exposed in the most filthy terms. We have a leader who cannot lead, cannot persuade, cannot inspire"

"There is seething discontent, and the famously docile population could explode in rebellion".

Therefore:

"Tinubu should attach utmost priority and give his full attention to four areas namely; the economy, security, corruption, and restructuring, the last being the most crucial for Nigeria’s survival."

AS year 2024 gets underway, not even the staunchest optimists and the predatory political class can pretend any longer that all is well with the world’s largest agglomeration of Black people. In all sectors of national life–governance, the economy, security, infrastructure, social services, and national cohesion–confusion, decay and misery are prevalent amid unmistakable symptoms of state fragility. Nigeria barely survived 2023 and its severe stresses, this year offers a new opportunity for the leadership and people to arrest the spiral and reset the country to a sustainable path.

It is the collective responsibility of Nigeria’s 226.43 million persons (UN), but on President Bola Tinubu falls the major historic role of providing the visionary leadership to steer the country back to the trajectory of growth and ensure its survival as a going concern.

All aspects of the nation are headed south, some already in the mire and needing urgent salvage. Most of the existential challenges facing the country are foundational or longstanding, the result of poor leadership, poor choices, and corruption. There are both quick fixes, and medium to long term measures needed to save the union from implosion. Tinubu, everyone in leadership positions at all levels and every stakeholder should start the rejuvenation today.

The PUNCH strongly recommends that while not neglecting others, Tinubu should attach utmost priority and give his full attention to four areas namely; the economy, security, corruption, and restructuring, the last being the most crucial for Nigeria’s survival.

Never in Nigeria’s chequered history have so many people been afflicted by poverty, joblessness, hunger, insecurity, and hopelessness. There is also mass anger, which the politicians that created the mess are ignoring at their own peril. On the streets, in the villages and markets, and among the swelling ranks of the Nigerian Diaspora, resentment of the Fourth Republic politicians is mounting.

The Christmas massacre of 200 villagers across four local government areas by Fulani marauders in Plateau State is symptomatic of the bloodletting in the land. More killings have followed by criminals capitalising on state weakness and compromise. In the eight years to June 2023, figures from diverse sources indicate that 63,111 persons were killed by non-state actors.

The killers range from Islamist terrorists like Boko Haram and its spin-offs, Fulani herders/militants, bandits, ethnic and sectarian fanatics, armed robbers, separatist gunmen/terrorists, criminal gangs, cultists, and rogue security personnel. All these groups also engage in kidnapping for ransom. Everywhere is unsafe, including the Federal Capital Territory, military and police garrisons, schools, the farms, communities, and the highways.

The Nigeria Security Tracker reported that 1,228 persons were killed, and 844 others kidnapped in the first four months of 2023. For context, Britain suffered just 457 personnel killed in 20 years of deployment in Afghanistan. Official figures reveal that during the 30-year-long insurrection in Northern Ireland (1968-1998), 3,500 deaths were recorded, with 52 per cent being civilians, 32 per cent British security personnel and 16 per cent by the opposing paramilitary groups.

The economy is spinning. The naira exchanged officially at a record low last week at N1,043 to $1, and over N1,300 at the parallel market, with Bloomberg forecasting even sharper declines this year.

Inflation spiked to 28.20 per cent in November and food inflation to 32.84 per cent on the back of the collapsing naira, and prohibitive energy prices; petrol/diesel, electricity, and gas. The World Bank reckons that over 7.1 million more persons slid into poverty last year, while the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation said 25 million faced acute hunger.

Factories are shutting down faster, unemployment at 33.3 per cent and 53.4 per cent in the youth segment is rising, while foreign direct investment went negative to $-187 million in 2022, according to UNCTAD.

The latest approval by the NASS to securitise over N7.3 trillion of ‘Ways and Means’ borrowing underscore the precarious state of public finances where debt already stood at N87.91 trillion by September and servicing takes over 90 per cent of all revenue, while leakages, including the daily theft of 400,000 barrels of oil, widen.

Meanwhile, entrenched corruption subverts institutions, drains public resources, and weakens the ability of the state to combat existential challenges. Reports by diverse agencies reveal a deepening of corruption despite avowals by the government to stop it. Variously ranked “fantastically corrupt,” and “a vast crime scene,” corruption degrades democracy, and the economy, and undermines the very existence of the precarious union of over 250 ethnic nationalities.

Tinubu, the state governors, and the entire political class should stop living in denial; Nigeria is failing, ranked the world’s 15th most “fragile” country by the Fund for Peace. A study published in the London School of Economics Blogs series concluded that it failed to meet virtually all the basic conditions for development and was stuck “in the vortex of perpetual poverty.”

There is seething discontent, and the famously docile population could explode in rebellion.

Leaders should adopt radical policies to tame insecurity by immediately devolving policing, stop politicising criminality and inflict punishment against criminals.

Continuing with the single police structure and deploying over two-thirds of police officers to VIPs are dangerous. Tinubu should fulfil his promise to deploy the police to protect all Nigerians.

He needs new thinking to manage the economy. The PUNCH remains steadfast in its advocacy for a private sector-led economy triggered by reaching for the “low-hanging fruits,” of liberalising all sectors, corruption-free privatisation and concession of all state-owned commercial assets, and restriction of the government to regulation and policy.

Tinubu should immediately send a bill to the NASS repealing the Railway Act 1955, privatise the Ajaokuta Steel Company, concession the ports and airports and drastically improve the ease of doing business. Africa’s biggest economy must quickly erase the lead as reported by UNCTAD of Egypt ($11 billion), South Africa ($9 billion), and Ethiopia ($3.7 billion) in FDI inflows in 2022.

Tinubu should devise an emergency plan on power and radically improve the macroeconomic environment. He has to genuinely crush corruption.

But the game-changer will be a sensible reset into true federalism. Nigeria cannot realise its full potential – harnessing its human and natural resources – until it restructures its governance. All efforts, no matter how robust, can deliver only limited positives; the centrifugal forces inherent in a natural federation will ultimately act as a break.

From today, Tinubu and the entire political class should truly hit the ground running; delay is dangerous. Today’s security challenges urgently require devolution of policing as is practised by all the other 25 federations. This cannot wait; while other moves are initiated to replace the centralising 1999 Constitution, the “doctrine of necessity” should be immediately invoked to facilitate state policing.

Until like the defunct regions, the states become self-sustaining, productive units each with autonomous economic plans with sector-specific, job-creating targets and robust taxation and investment policies, poverty, unemployment, hunger, and insecurity will linger.

They must be unshackled to participate fully in mining, power, railways, and ports; the template of only one government (the centre) with implementable comprehensive economic plans negates the federalism principle. It is the aggregate of the production of the central and sub-national governments that drive the economies of the United States, India, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia, and other federal countries.

We repeat; Nigeria is fragile and insecure, privation and despair are palpable and beneath the seeming calm, is seething, and potentially explosive mass discontent. This year, Tinubu and other leaders should act responsibly and arrest the drift into state failure.

(A PUNCH Newspaper Editorial On Monday, January 1, 2024). NNL

Oil Money: HONEY OR POISON?

(A New Nigerian Newspaper Editorial Written 45 Years Ago, Precisely On June 29, 1974)

“It is commonplace to say that Nigeria is at the moment very lucky because of oil revenues. In a very real sense we have much more money than our system can absorb. Unofficial estimates put the figure added to our reserve this year at N2,000m. In many essential respects this bounty has been a blessing. It has enabled us to repay some of our outstanding foreign loans, liberalised commercial and industrial policies and has enabled increased revenue to be diverted to building of modern infrastructure commensurate with our executive capacity.

(A LEADERSHIP Newspaper Editorial)

Today, Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the International Women’s Day. It is a day set aside by the international community to serve as a focal point in the movement for women’s right.

It is a common knowledge that Nigeria is grappling with the problem of high unemployment rate due largely to a number of factors, ranging from lack of a clear cut economic blue print by several Nigerian military and civilian administrations that have piloted the affairs of the country since independence in October 1, 1960.

By Ajai Singh and Shakuntala Singh

What are the qualities that distinguish a good editorial? Are there certain essential attributes? What should a good editorial do to a reader, and what not?

These are some crucial questions that every editor, editorial board member, journal and its policy makers should decide for themselves and their respective publications. To that extent it is individual, and some may consider it the internal matter of the publication. However, a broad consensus on certain essential parameters maybe desirable, even essential, if the individual has also to be a significant part of the wider knowledge corpus which all editorials pooled together represent.

We wonder if ever an exercise to publish all editorials of a certain publication has been undertaken, say over a five or ten year period. Or for that matter, say hundred editorials from hundred different editors. It may make for fascinating reading. We hope some smart publisher is reading this. It is possible editorials of one editor may have been compiled and published in book form. That itself is not uninteresting. But the flavour of different edits by different authors is, well, in a class by itself. Wonder if it has been attempted ever?

Of course we know why it may not have been done. Editors, by and large, are reticent people, with a magnified sense of their own importance. Well, this may hurt some, but before they jump at our throats, let us clarify that we belong there as well (The group of editors, reticent, and pompous.). Hence, they may be willing to publish a book of their own edits, but maybe averse to a book with multiple editors as co-authors. Maybe some smart publisher should manage it. He will make his bucks, for sure. And the readers, including fellow editors, will hugely enjoy the fare offered, as they savour the stuff that goes into edit writing. And a second important service will be to help deflate some editorial egos, much in need of puncturing, as so many readers would vouch for.

Enough of that for the present, for we must concentrate on the questions raised at the beginning of this essay. And we hope fellow editors can take some ego puncturing sportingly. Are they not doing it to their writers all the time? It helps to get to the other side of the fence on occasions. Never mind, for those who feel sour faced, there is solace. Their position in the periodical will ensure their ego builds up with some speed once again.

Opinion Maker, Reconciliatory, Balanced and Crusading

The very first criterion is that a good editorial is an opinion maker. If it is based on evidence, so much the better. But it analyses evidence rather than produces it. Of course what it analyses can be the basis of the production of new evidence. But it is more like the ‘Results and Discussion’ that follow ‘Materials and Method’ in a research paper in so far as it is an objective analysis. However, it goes beyond an analysis. It must necessarily also express an opinion. It must attempt to critically analyse and sift from the various opinions, analyses and evidences floating around. It must present a refreshing perspective on an issue so as to retain balance when writings get opinionated; and/or stir up the crotchety and crusty when scientific/creative stupor sets in. Moreover, a good editorial is contemporary without being populist. It tackles recent events and issues, and attempts to formulate viewpoints based on an objective analysis of happenings and conflicting/contrary opinions.

An editorial is predominantly about balance. But that does not prevent it from occasionally stirring things up, when such is the need. Hence a hard-hitting editorial is as legitimate as a balanced equipoise that reconciles apparently conflicting positions and controversial posturings, whether amongst politicians (in news papers), or amongst researchers (in academic journals).

All said and done, the element of balance can never be lost. For that, it certainly helps if an editor is a balanced individual by temperament as well. However, let it not mean that balance in temperament excludes crusading zeal. Most editors of some merit have the latter in reasonable quantity, although they may play it down, or publicly make a mockery of it, since it is the in thing to do (the mockery, not the crusading). Moreover, denial can be a strong defense mechanism, as much in editors as in the rest of humanity.

Make no mistake about it. Forget the loud protestation to the contrary. Scratch the surface of any good editor who enjoys his job, and a crusader will shine through.

To sum up, a good editorial is either one or more of the following: it is an opinion maker, it is reconciliatory between contrary viewpoints or standpoints, it is balanced in its analysis of evidence and events, and it is, manifest or otherwise, crusading in its thrust.

The Language

An editorial is traditionally written in a literary style. While it is difficult to define what a literary style is, let us say it is one in which thought is well clothed in language. So well that an editorial may make for a literary piece in literature, aside and apart from its factual or scientific content. However, having said that, it must be noted that an editorial is not only a literary piece. It must also express a firm and balanced opinion on something, an opinion that clarifies the muddle into which committed writers and researchers may lead the reader. At no stage must the language overshadow the thought, however. That is a subtle distinction to maintain. The thought may be embellished by language, not drowned in it. It is very much like a beautiful lady in an equally beautiful dress. Her beauty must be accentuated by the dress. She should not get drowned, or over shadowed, by it, for then the whole exercise is counterproductive. Like when a model becomes just a peg to drape a dress on. That is a distinct danger a good editorial writer must beware of. But, even if it be so, we may note that an editor with a literary flair can make even a humdrum issue vibrate with his unique touch.

In sum, then, language is an important accessory, but never the main thing.

The After Taste

Like the dessert after a good meal leaves an, in fact decides the, after taste, a good editorial must also be careful to leave a good after taste. This is one in which the reader is held to the piece and retains his interest right till the end. So the piece has to be sufficiently brief to hold his attention, and equally entertaining to hold his attention so that the wholesome is imbibed. It must be such that the reader feels enlightened, or empowered, or helped in forming his own opinion on an issue. While a good editorial expresses an opinion, it does not force it down the throat of the reader. It is subtle enough to appeal to the good sense of the knowledgeable reader without forcing him to toe its line. This is its real test.

The feeling after a good editorial is done with is one of profundity. It is of being in the presence of an enlightened being. It is of feeling ennobled and charged to do something worthwhile, or feel reconciled from a knotty or vexing thought process. It must, moreover, want you to give it a second read. Like wanting a second helping of a good dessert. And want to read further editorials by the same author. Like wanting ones favourite dessert after a meal.

Summing Up

A good editorial should express an opinion without being opinionated. It should teach without being pedagogic. It should transform without being evangelical. It should engulf without drowning. It should motivate to action without making you dictatorial. It should enlighten without getting you dogmatic, prejudiced and egotistical.

The last, and probably most important, a good editorial should be brief.

An article about a good editorial should also, if possible, be brief.

We hope this was. NNL.

By C. Don Adinuba

This has been the toughest birthday tribute I have attempted to scribble. A lot of wonderful things have been penned about Bart Nnaji whose birthday both Nigerians from all walks of life and foreigners we are celebrating this weekend in Enugu, and they are true. He is absolutely a wonderful person, near superhuman. World-class achievers are like that, except that many are not as caring and humane and generous and egalitarian as he is.

By NNL Correspondent

South Africa has been crowned the world's most generous nation for everyday kindness, empathy, and emotional support. But a fierce debate is raging across social media: is the spirit of Ubuntu—the profound African philosophy of shared humanity—still alive, or is it "on pause"?

​By Max AMUCHIE | The Sunday Stew

​The Three-Month Sprint was initially conceived as a two-part series.

​In the first part, I journeyed back to the formative moments that shaped my intellectual vocation, from a chance discovery of Sigmund Freud in the University of Calabar Library to the enduring influence of Edward Said and Antonio Gramsci. The essay explored how a journalist's persistent quest to understand why Nigeria persistently bleeds eventually produced three original frameworks that have now entered global scholarly discourse.