Author: gqSbgCfmna

As part of efforts to increase Nigeria’s tax-to-Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) ratio, the Office of the Tax Ombud and the Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) have agreed to explore inter-agency collaboration aimed at attracting more Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country’s oil and gas free zones, by addressing tax and fee-related grievances through effective and efficient mediation services provided by the country’s foremost tax dispute-resolution institution.

The resolution was reached when the Tax Ombud Chief Executive, Dr. John C. Nwabueze visited OGFZA on Wednesday.

Nwabueze told the OGFZA Managing Director, Alhaji Usman Bamanga Jada, that the proposed collaboration was a panacea for promoting fair, transparent, predictable and investor-friendly tax administration within Nigeria’s oil and gas free zones.

‘I am very much aware that OGFZA regulates and coordinates activities in the zones, grants permits and licences, administers incentives and resolves disputes among stakeholders.

The Office of the Tax Ombud complements these functions by providing an independent channel for reviewing and resolving complaints relating to taxes, levies, regulatory fees, customs duties and excise matters.’

He said the two government agencies could collaborate in areas, including taxpayer complaint resolution, clarification of tax incentives, review of systemic complaints, and the promotion of transparency and accountability. These efforts, he said, would contribute to increased voluntary tax compliance and engender a higher tax-to-GDP ratio, which is critical to national development and consistent with the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

Responding, Jada said that investors in Nigeria’s oil and gas free zones have benefited from incentives, tax exemptions and customs duty concessions, deliberately introduced by the Federal Government to encourage sustainable FDI inflows into the country, as well as private-sector-driven infrastructure development and employment generation.

He said that collaboration with the Office of the Tax Ombud will advance OGFZA’s mandate, adding that the visit was timely, as it would help build investor confidence and promote business activities, particularly within the special economic zones that the Authority is championing across the country.

As part of efforts to translate the proposed collaboration into concrete action, both government agencies have appointed liaison officers to coordinate the relationship and facilitate the achievement of the desired objectives within the shortest possible time.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has commended Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara for completing the 33.5km Elele-Egbeda-Omoku dual carriageway.

Tinubu said the project would boost economic activities and development along the corridor.

The President, represented by Vice-President Kashim Shettima, made this known during the inauguration of the road which connects three council areas in the state yesterday.

Shettima said: ‘In that spirit, I bring greetings of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to the government and the good people of Rivers State. Mr President shares your satisfaction with the completion of the Elele-Egbeda-Omoku dual carriageway and the possibilities it opens along this corridor.

‘On behalf of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I commend His Excellency, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, for committing public resources to this project and bringing it to completion.’

He said that the project aligns with the Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly its commitment to improving the security, welfare and economic opportunities available to Nigerians.

The Vice-President said the newly completed road would enable farmers to move their produce faster, give traders access to larger markets, reduce logistics costs for businesses and save travellers valuable time.

He said that the transformation of the road into a modern dual carriageway demonstrated the importance of continuity in governance.

The Vice-President described the roads as ‘the most democratic instruments of development,’ noting that their impact cuts across virtually every sector of society.

Shettima said: ‘They serve the farmer carrying produce to the market; the trader seeking customers; the worker travelling to work; the student going to school; and the patient seeking medical care. When the road works, society works.

‘This achievement reminds us that governance is a continuum. One administration lays the foundation and another strengthens it, and the people remain the final beneficiaries.’

He congratulated the communities along the corridor and urged residents to protect the road from vandalism, reckless use and other activities that could shorten its lifespan.

In his remarks, Fubara described the dual carriageway as a major infrastructure intervention that would improve security, stimulate economic activities and reconnect communities across three local government areas of the state.

The governor said the road would transform a corridor previously associated with insecurity.

According to him, the road, which includes a river-crossing bridge and street lighting along its entire length, would make movement easier while creating an environment where security agencies could operate more effectively.

‘It is not just a project; it is a statement that we have made to show our people in the three local government areas, the benefiting communities close to this project, that we care for you and your concerns are our concern,’ Fubara said.

The governor said the completion of the project was evidence of his administration’s commitment to delivering projects that directly impacted the lives of Rivers people, despite prevailing challenges.

Fubara described the completion of the project as the fulfilment of a promise to the people, saying: ‘A promise made is a promise fulfilled.’

As we count down to the 2027 general elections, the presidential campaigns have begun, in line with the elections timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Accordingly, I wish to reiterate my view on the hypocrisy of the elites, and how they have largely conbtributed to the current political, economic and social chanllenges of our country, and how the elites of this country should view and participate in governance in 2027 and beyond.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been taking some bold decisions and reforms in the past three years since the beginning of his administration. Those decisions have in many cases, further worsened the hitherto excruciating and brutal microeconomics and social situations of majority of Nigerians. For instance, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, as at two months ago, the number of multidimensionally poor Nigerians have increased to over 140million from the 133million as at the time President Tinubu became the President in May, 2023. Indeed the reforms have yielded some macroeconomic outcomes like the stabilization of foreign exchange. However, at the microeconomic level; the brutal and exacerbating national insecurity, increasing cost of living, rising employment, etc are yet to demonstrably and significantly reduce to bearable levels. This situation, have triggered regional, and national concerns, debates, and/ or controversies, as the government tries to defend, rationalize, justify, deny, and even somtimed push back (rightly, or wrongly).

Consequently, some of those decisions, or reforms have exposed the hypocrisy of the elites of this Country with regard to where they stand on germane issues that affect the masses or generality of the citizenry of Nigeria. In most cases, the hue and cries are louder or sustained, only if those decisions or reforms affect the elites, their families and friends. They are not really concerned or do not demonstrate the same level of emotions and sensitivities with regard to issues that only impact the masses of this country.

By ‘elites’, I mean, the middle-class citizens, who are mostly educated, gainfully employed, and part of the governance and leadership structure of Nigeria; in the civil service, public service, and private sector. We are mostly employees or employers of labor as professionals, traditional leaders, religious leaders, businessmen/women, entrepreneurs, academics, craftsmen, etc.

Except for a few, we, the elites have been serially failing the masses of this Country, by not really taking tangible actions that add value to our national collective good. Most of us remain aloof to our current national, and sub national realities. While some of us engage in ‘armchair ‘criticisms or cynicism’. The key questions are; What contributions and sacrifices are the Nigerian elites really making to better the political, economic, and social situation of our Country? What solutions are we offering, and/ or how are we part of the solutions? Curiously, when things affect our relatively comfortable lives, we try to gaslight the situations and behave as if ‘we are all in it together’ with the poor citizens.

Furthermore, during elections, about 80% of the people who go to vote, are the masses, i.e the poor people and the needy. Majority of the elites do not even turn up to vote during elections. We are not really part of actual political process, except if our selfish and parochial interests will be served, and yet we expect Nigeria to be better. Those are some of the things that I call the ‘hypocrisy of our expectations’.

When reforms or policies affect the masses, most of Nigerian elites do not really care, while some of them only engage in political statements, or play to the gallery. The elites are not persistent, and assertive on things that largely affect the masses. This behavior of the majority of Nigerian elites (which is similar to elitist behaviors in other societies and countries) has been the bane of our growth and development as a nation since independence – over 65 years ago. Sadly, majority of the elites that have been the architects and part of the problems that Nigeria and Nigerians are facing today; from our collusion in wanton corruption, to our deliberate or inadvertent contribution to the political, social, and economic retrogression of Nigeria – either by our actions or inaction.

An instance of some government decisions that further exposed the hypocrisy of the elites of this country was the allegations of ‘forced retrenchment’ of some staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which happened between 2024 and last year (2025) under the current its leadership. There were claims of attempts to force some staff of CBN that are from some sections of Nigeria, out of the CBN. The CBN insisted that the exercise was based on an initiative to downsize an over-bloated CBN. The CBN claimed that part of the initiative, was the offer of exit packages to ‘willing staff’ that will accept to voluntarily resign. There were also allegations that the CBN leadership was planning to the Headquarters of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from Abuja (Northern Nigeria) to Lagos.

There was a major push back by some elites against the actions of CBN, and the questions I was asking were; How many of the CBN staff are actually children of the 65% multi-dimensional Nationally poor Nigerians – whether they are from northern or southern Nigeria? How many of them are children of the masses? I even heard that in some cases the elites don’t want their children to be transferred out of the CBN Headquarters in Abuja. How many children of the masses are working in those ‘elitist’ federal government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies? Therefore, it is only in the aforementioned cases that you hear Nigerian elites shouting or crying out.

If the elites of the Nigeria, put the level of fervor, gusto, and determination that we use to pursue our individual and collective interests, to pursue good governance, fairness, equity, justice, unity, and demand for accountability; Nigeria would have been far ahead of its current situation, which is far behind its peers across the world, i.e Malaysia, Brazil, etc.

Moreover, Nigerian elites should apply the same sentiments, commitment, and gusto to ensure the performance of political leaders not just at federal level but also at sub-national levels- Nigeria. How are the elites are advocating for, or pushing the agenda for government at federal and subnational levels to deliver good governance, catalyse economic recovery, growth and development, etc? And yet we still expect that by some magic, Nigeria will suddenly recover from the current multidimensional challenges, and zoom to economic prosperity, and social justice! That is why I will continue to talk about the hypocrisy of our expectations.

The elites and conspiracy of

corruption:

Most Nigerian elites have been serially failing the people of this country, even worse than the politicians. And why am I saying so? Because, we constitute the powerhouse of governance in Nigeria; as Presidents, Governors, Federal ministers, Chairmen of Boards, or Managing Directors. Chief Executive Officers, Board members (in public and private sector), Permanent Secretaries, Commissioners, Directors, Businessmen, Businesswomen, Entrepreneurs, Academics, Professionals, Religious Leaders, Traditional Leaders, etc. We are all members of the ‘Elite’ strata of Nigeria, and have been privileged and so Blessed by Almighty God. It is sad, and an ultimate disservice, that most of us that have been privileged to be in those privileged positions (currently or in the past), are in cahoots with the vested interest to further plunder resources or cripple the economy of Nigeria. Most of us have become the key drivers of the corruption value chain in Nigeria. And yet we conveniently blame Presidents or governors or ‘politicians’ at our convenience. What level of shamelessness!

Interestingly, for every politician that commits graft, you will find more that 10 elites that enable, facilitate, and protect corruption. Sadly, most of those corrupt elites are so crafty, that most of the time, they escape justice. While most of the elites share money, political positions, or when some of them engage in corrupt practices; they do not have religious, tribal, ethnic, or regional sentiments. Indeed, Nigerian elites are mostly united in the conspiracy of corruption in all its ramifications.

The elites of Nigeria should stop being ‘happy passive consumers and looters of our commonwealth’. We should dutifully and conscientiously, deliver our respective responsibilities for a better Nigeria.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Kaduna State University (KASU) chapter, has commended the Kaduna State Government for addressing some longstanding challenges facing the institution. The union however issued a two-week ultimatum over outstanding issues.

ASUU-KASU Chairman, Dr Abubakar Abdullahi, said at a press briefing in Kaduna that the union’s position was not to castigate the government but to highlight areas requiring further intervention. He noted that three of about 10 issues previously raised, including salaries and allowances, had been addressed, while seven were outstanding.

He commended the government’s reversal of school fees increase the union had opposed over its potential impact on students, stressing that ASUU’s interventions were aimed at protecting the university system, not just staff welfare.

Abdullahi praised KASU’s performance compared with other institutions, describing it as capable of serving Kaduna State ‘for the next 100 or 200 years’ if properly supported, and said the university had achieved results comparable to established federal universities.

He called for sustained government support, improved staff welfare and proper funding to help the institution retain its academic workforce.

On the ultimatum, Abdullahi said dialogue remained ASUU’s preferred option, stressing that the union was not eager to embark on industrial action. ‘Even if the government calls us now, we are ready to move. Anything that will bring peace to the system, stability, that is what we want,’ he said.

He urged the state government to implement the new Federal Government-ASUU agreement and fix outstanding challenges to strengthen KASU’s legacy in the education sector.

Nigerian-American gospel artist, Evangelist John Kola-Idowu, has urged Nigerian youths to reject attempts by politicians and other interest groups to use them to perpetrate violence ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Kola-Idowu warned that involvement in electoral violence could jeopardise the future of young Nigerians and undermine the country’s democratic process.

He spoke in Osogbo, Osun State, at the launch of the Psalms 1-150 Global Concert, Global Choir and Global Indigenous Worship Project.

The clergy urged youths not to trade their future for financial inducements from politicians, calling on them to embrace values that promote peace and peaceful coexistence.

‘At a time when our world faces conflicts, insecurity, social division and economic challenges, we need initiatives that encourage love, understanding, hope and peaceful coexistence,’ he said.

Kola-Idowu described spiritual songs as a potential tool for addressing insecurity, social division, hopelessness and moral decline.

He said the messages contained in the Psalms could inspire young people to choose hope over despair, unity over division and positive engagement over destructive behaviour.

The gospel artist also called on governments at all levels and world leaders to prioritise peace-building, youth empowerment, cultural inclusion and moral development in efforts to tackle insecurity.

‘The fight against insecurity should go beyond security operations to address the social and moral conditions that contribute to violence, including hopelessness, intolerance and hatred,’ he said.

He added that the Psalms could provide spiritual encouragement and moral inspiration while promoting peace, justice, righteousness and love.

‘We must pray that the 2027 general election will not divide us, but rather strengthen our commitment to unity, justice and peaceful coexistence,’ he said.

Kola-Idowu also urged religious leaders to preach peace and discourage their followers from participating in electoral violence.

He said the Psalms 1-150 Global Concert, Global Choir and Global Indigenous Worship Project was designed not only as a musical initiative but also as a platform to preserve languages, empower young people, promote peace, celebrate diversity and foster unity through worship.

According to him, the global concert will feature established and emerging gospel singers, worship leaders and choirs from Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and other parts of the world.

He said the project would begin with online participation before expanding to physical concerts in different countries.

The initiative will feature gospel ministers including Evangelist Bola Are, Yinka Alaseyori, Woli Agba and Mike Abdul, alongside other gospel singers.

Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have called for better reporting of domestic child workers to avoid harm falling on them.

The NGOs, Freedom Fund, in collaboration with Street Project Foundation(SPF), and Cece Yara Foundation, among others, made the call yesterday during the launch of a document titled, ”Ethical Media Reporting guidelines,” in Ikeja, Lagos.

Founder, SPF, Mrs Rita Ezenwa-Okoro, lamented that images and words affect child domestic workers, adding that this is why the law disallows their being reported.

”I’m really excited that we get to do the document. It’s a step in the right direction in protecting child domestic workers from harm,” she said.

After the launch, Ezenwa-Okoro added, there would be follow ups with their media partners to see how the guidelines had been of help to them, adding that they would assess how effective they had been. ”And it will go to show, based on the kinds of reports that we get going forward, that it does protect the rights of the child.”

The book was the outcome of a year’s work involving SPF, Freedom Fund and their partners.

She thanked the Freedom Fund and their implementation partners for making the launch possible.

The Chief Operating Officer, SPF, Eduvie Olutimayin, reiterated on better reporting of cases of child domestic workers’ abuse.She said there was the need to mask the affected children.The guidelines, as the title implies, she said, would guide reporters to do their work better.

She frowned at the mentioning of names and places of victims of abuse as well as use of their photographs, saying that these could affect them in future

”We believe that when we change the narrative, we change the norm. And when we change the norm, we change the lives of these children.

”The children at the centre of this are denied school, denied rest, denied childhood, and in many cases, denied dignity and safety.Yet their stories are rarely told. And even when they are told, they are told wrongly.

”As journalists, you hold the pen, the mic, the camera. You decide what the public sees.You decide whether a story generates outrage, empathy, or indifference.That is why we cannot fight to end exploitative child domestic work without working with you, the media,” she said.

She recalled that for years in Lagos, and indeed across Nigeria, child domestic work has been normalised.We call them house helps, apprenticeships.We post media responses to them on WhatsApp groups, and in the process, we are hiding the face of exploitation behind family framing, culture, poverty, and silence.

She urged media partnership on the eradication of child domestic abuse.”We want to work with you on stories, data, and on campaigns. We want your newsrooms to be a safe space where ethical reporting thrives,”, she said.

The manual highlights privacy, dignity, non-identification child-safe language and responsible images for child domestic workers.

Head of Programmes, Cece Yara Foundation, Mr Damilola Adenusi, noted that issues of social violence are common in the society, calling for journalists’ support to expose and stop them.

Politicians have been warned by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Olatunji Disu against using youths to fight battles against their opponents.

Disu said during the National Youth Leadership and Security Dialogue in Abuja yesterday that the recruitment of youths to perpetrate violence destroys their future while politicians end up reconciling.

To the youths, he counselled them to deploy their influence positively by engaging in entrepreneurship, technology, education, creativity, public policy and community development rather than engaging in political thuggery.

The dialogue, themed ‘Different Contexts, Common Aspirations ‘ was organised by the Nigeria Police Force to commemorate International Youth Day 2026.

The campaign for the event was ‘My Future is Greater than Political and Digital Thuggery.’

Disu’s warning came against the backdrop of preparations for the 2027 electoral cycle.

The police chief, who urged youths to resist being manipulated by politicians, said that Nigeria’s diversity in ethnicity, religion, geography, culture and political affiliation should not obscure the common aspirations of young people.

His words: ‘Politicians contest elections, but you(youths) live with the consequences of those elections.

Nigeria cannot build a secure and prosperous future by destroying the generation that is expected to inherit that future.’

He pointed out that the Police recognise the constitutional rights of citizens to participate in political activities, support political parties, express their views and campaign for candidates of their choice.

The IGP assured that the police would not only protect Nigerians but also facilitate peaceful campaigns, secure candidates, campaign venues and safeguard the electoral environment.

He said apart from not tolerating the recruitment or mobilisation of youths for violence, anyone found using weapons for electoral purposes, attacking political opponents, intimidating/destroying public and private property would not be dealt with.

‘The law will take its course against anyone who crosses that line. And this message is not directed at one political party or one political interest. It is directed at everyone,’ Disu said.

He also identified social media as a new frontier of political conflict, warning that violence could now begin from smartphones before spilling into the streets.

Disu warned that misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, cyberbullying, impersonation, deepfakes, online intimidation and coordinated digital attacks have the capacity to inflame communities and undermine confidence in democratic institutions.

Disu urged Nigerians to always verify information before sharing and to consider the consequences of inflammatory online activities.

‘Think before you click. Verify before you share. Pause before you post,’ he said.

Disu said history would judge the current generation of Nigerian youths by how they responded when the country needed them, urging them to choose peace, innovation, responsible citizenship and democratic values.

‘I want history to remember this generation as the generation that refused to be used,’ he said.

He added that a Nigeria with educated, skilled, innovative and productive youths would be stronger, while a country whose young people were manipulated into violence, criminality and hatred would be the ultimate loser.

The IGP also urged Nigerian youths to protect, build and own their future, declaring that their future was greater than the challenges of today and should be used to build a safer, more peaceful and prosperous Nigeria.

· Also yesterday, Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mariya Mahmoud, urged religious leaders to use their influence to promote peace, tolerance and national unity ahead of the general election .

· Delivering a goodwill message at the Interfaith Prayers for Nigeria and President Bola Tinubu, in Abuja. Mahmoud said Christian and Muslim leaders should reject hate speech, violence, extremism and intolerance in their sermons and public engagements.

· She also called on churches, mosques and other places of worship to remain sanctuaries of peace, moral instruction, compassion and unity, stressing that religious differences must not become instruments of division.

There is the notion that Lagos State is rich. However, it still has a lot to do in terms of infrastructure. What’s your plan in this regard?

As you build infrastructure, so also is the need to maintain that infrastructure. So, for example, now, we have a new Massey Hospital, Lagos Island. We have the new Ojo General Hospital. So those hospitals will require maintenance, those hospitals will have equipment. So, to say that Lagos is rich, well, we are doing well, but it could be better. But, let us look at other cities that we should be comparing ourselves with. The city of New York is eight million people. The state of Lagos is 24 million people – that’s three times. Our budget is N4.4 trillion, it’s about $3.2 billion. But the budget of the city of New York is close to $600 billion. The New York Police Department has a budget in 2025 of about $6 billion – just the police. So, far back as 2011, when I became Commissioner for Works, the first budget that I put together in 2014 was about N260 billion. And in Lagos, when we move people, or cars, we also move water. For example, the drain in Wemco is taller than me. So I went in, people have to pull me out. And it’s because everything coming from Agege is passing through that, all the way to Odo Iya Alaro. So if it’s not that deep, it’s a challenge. So for a lot of the road, the cost of the drainage is about 40 per cent. And so it must be solid. So, when we say we must do this, we must do that, we look at high-traffic roads, we look at roads that lead to market, we look at roads that leads to schools. Our bill was about N260 billion. At the time, the budget of Lagos was about N490 billion, the whole budget. So, the governor asked how do we fund it? So, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure got N68 billion, which was interesting, because the budget of the federal government was N22 billion to do roads in Nigeria. So, Lagos got N68 billion, and it’s not enough. So when we say we are rich, well, we are rich, but we need to be richer. And the way to do that is how do we build our economy. And those are the type of infrastructure on a national scale that Mr President is doing. Imagine Badagry to Sokoto. That’s a 1,000-kilometer road. On that road, we have 64 farm settlements that is today moribund. We have about 46 dams that is totally useless, projects over the years. So building that road is not just to move cars, it’s to lift economic activities across our country. So when those happen, your resources go up. You’re able to have more money and be able to do more.

There was once a clamour for special status for Lagos, before Bola Tinubu became President. That agitation seems to have slowed down…

It has not slowed down. Let us look at it. We are the only subnational in the world, that has done rail infrastructure on her balance sheet. Look at London, look at New York, look at everywhere, Caracas in Venezuela. In fact, in Caracas, it was the Venezuelan government that funded it 100 per cent. So we are the only subnational doing such rail. The rail in the city of New York, the Federal Government put in 48 per cent a few years back. They are building a tunnel that links the city of New York to Long Island, the one that President Trump is saying he’s going to stop because he wants it named. The point is, it’s going to stop because Federal Government is funding it. Both cities are within the state of New York, but enormous amount of people know that Manhattan is the financial capital of the United States. A lot of people live in Long Island, and therefore, moving them on a daily basis is very important. And Federal Government embarked on it. Do we do that here? So, creating a special status of Lagos is an economic necessity for the development of our country. So we are pushing it. But you have to convince everybody across the country to make sure that that is possible.

What is your plan for agricultural development in a state where land availability is an issue? For example, what is happening to the Imota rice mill?

We have to look at our advantages. We have water, so fishing, that economy is something that we need to build. For Imota rice mill, we don’t have the size of land to grow rice. So we must still work with other states. And that’s why we have the N500billion agricultural project that we are doing, to say that if you produce it, we guarantee it. So we have offtakers that will go around. We wanted to buy 2,000 CNG trucks that can load from Lagos to Taraba and come back without refilling, to say that if you produce the paddy. So, we will have people going around to say, as long as you produce to this quality, these are the seeds that you must use. The moment we test it, whatever you produce, we will buy. So we are paying you. So instead of what happens today where farmers supply and it takes three months to get their money because they give it to Mr A. Mr A brings it to Ketu market. He sells, and then after some time, pay people back. This is different. The moment you offload, you get your money, and then we deal with it. That is why we are building the logistic hub that can house rice, that can house everything. It also allows us to track, to say that for example we have 3,000 herds of cattle that comes to Lagos every day. Our veterinary doctors are doing an unbelievable job. But today, if a cow or a cattle is not healthy, they take it out, kill it, and burn it off so that it doesn’t affect others. But the challenge is we are not able to say, this one is from this state, and for the next two months, we are stopping any herd coming from this state because of this issue. We go there to help them solve the problem. With that logistics hub, we will be able to track where they are coming from, track diseases better, and be able to control. And it makes it easier for people to buy. The middlemen will take a share but the ordinary consumer will buy it cheaper. We consume a lot of food but we can’t produce but at least let us manage the supply to make sure that we are able to do the right things.

How do you stem japa syndrome in the health sector?

As someone who also relocated abroad, I look at it from that perspective. What we need to do, which is part of our master plan, is to be the human capital of the world. We should be able to train more doctors, nurses. That is why we say we are building a University of Medicine and Allied Sciences. With the nature of our country, you can’t stop people from going anywhere they want to go to, as long as they are not doing anything illegal. What you can do is to train more. That is why we are talking to the medical council. Today, our Lagos College of Medicine graduates just about 300 every year, that is ridiculously small. If we have the capacity to build a 1,000, then let’s do it, let’s train more. If you recall, who are the doctors that sustained the health system in England? They are the Indians. But they went back home because, at a stage, you will realise that you have to go back home. The reality is we must train more doctors, nurses. And ultimately, after some time, a lot of them will come back. Of course, some will leave. But, how many do you train in a year? So, let us increase that. Lagos can start by saying it wants to increase its own by fivefold. If other states increase theirs, good. There must be that national coalition to increase the number of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and medical workers generally. It applies to other sectors too. Our banks are squeezing themselves because the IT guys are also leaving. So we must train more. We are a very huge country. We can serve the world. We can do a lot of outsourcing in Nigeria. We just need to change the attitude.

There is also the challenge of housing. Do you consider having the housing scheme of the state tailored to the needs of the poor?

It is important that we start thinking along the line of how we build houses for our vulnerable people. Today, we subsidise our homes by 35 per cent, but is it sustainable? You build this one, how do you build the next one? They say low-cost housing, but there’s no low-cost cement, there’s no low-cost sand, there’s no low-cost steel. The cost is still the same. So, the question is, how do you make sure that you have a revolving fund to be able to do it? We all say that, education should be 15 per cent; health should be this per cent, environment should be this percent. So, what is for housing? And that is the struggle for a state government. As a people, they say that it takes an average of 17 years for a typical African to build a house. And in trying to build a house, they mortgage the children’s education, mortgage their own health, because whatever money he sees, today, he buys block, in the process, everything suffers. This means we cannot continue to build houses the way we buy rice in the market. So, it is mortgage. We must find a way. It is the same way for health insurance. It must be mortgage. Most Europeans, most Americans, the biggest investment in their life is their house. That’s what they refinance to send their children to school. That’s what they refinance to go on vacation. So, for most of them, it’s about their houses. Therefore, we must get into that principle of how to build a sustainable model? And that’s what we started, but it is struggling because our banks must key in, Central Bank of Nigeria must key in, everybody must key in. That is why we started building Lagos State Residents Registration Agency so that I can evaluate you to say that, Mr Adeola borrowed 10 naira to buy shoes and he’s paying me back. He’s not a debtor, therefore, I can give him a mortgage. I said it initially that we need to organise. If you don’t organise, you can’t manage what you can’t measure. So, we need as a people, as a state, as a country, as West Africa to be better organised. We are not organised enough. If we are organized, a lot of things will start to be in place. But it takes all of us to change attitude. And it’s gonna be tough because we are used to disorganisation. So, it will be a challenge to organise. But, we have to do it for the future of our grandchildren.

What’s the plan to manage both the issue of modernisation of Lagos and also managing slums? Anytime you try to move people away from slums, there is a lot of outcry, for example, the recent Makoko scenario.

First, the issue of Makoko is a bit different. The issue is that people started expanding it to the high tension. And we went there three times. We all agreed with the residents that we should come and take it off by 24th December 2024. But for some reason, we didn’t go there to take it off at that time. Generally, to your question, we cannot develop on the back of the poor. A society gets better by elevating the poor, not killing them. So, the major question for me is how do we move people out of poverty? I recall in Badia, when we were trying to clean up Badia, years back, some people wrote to the United Nations Ombudsman, and all of a sudden, the governor at the time, Raji Fashola just called me to his office and said, we have this lady from United Nations, we want to go and see Badia. And we were so lucky. When we got there, we saw a heap of waste. And on top of it, somebody said, two bedroom apartment for rent. The woman could not believe it. I said, this is why you came all the way from New York. Will your people live here? Is this a livable environment? She couldn’t believe it. So, it is the responsibility of government to also save people from themselves. Whether you like it or not, if you live in a dump site, your health will suffer. And the implication for health facility is a challenge. And that’s what we are seeing. So, the essence is not to take out. The essence is, how do we elevate people? A lot of our politicians misguide us. A lot of public commentators misguide us, because how do you build a nation where the wealth is not there? So, unless we are able to elevate ourselves, we will keep talking about these problems. So it’s not about emotion. It’s about what we work for this country to stop this cycle of poverty that we put ourselves in.

The word on the street of Lagos is that you are a no-nonsense, very disciplined, and strict leader, and that there would be the need for people living in Lagos to tighten up their belts under an Hamzat government.

The truth of the matter is that we all have one aim. Every decent Nigerian wants Nigeria to be better. And nobody, that is sane, wants to be a chairman of the government or a governor, a president, to go and fail. All of us want to succeed. The challenge is, when the pressure comes, hopefully it will not consume leaders. So, for me, I think, like I said, it’s that let us even organize. So when we build roads and there is a walkway, let’s use it for a walkway. That’s all. That’s what we built it for. So when we say this is a market, let it be a market so that I know that, I want to buy this, this is the way to go. I can plan my life. So if we say this is what we want to use this for, let us use it for that purpose. That’s all. So people say discipline. We have to be disciplined as a people. Even God said it. So we have to be disciplined. So, for me, I think we have the blessing of God, we have everything to be a great country. So we must do whatever it takes to get to that. If not, God will ask all of us.

Before you emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the 2027 election, you were touted as candidate in the process leading up to the emergence of former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and current Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. If you did not emerge this time, would you have described it as a betrayal of some kind? Did you ever imagine not emerging again this time?

Well, the truth of the matter is that my spiritual belief is that it’s God that chooses leaders. We don’t know God’s plan, so you must try. If you are canvassing to be a candidate and the party says no, it shouldn’t be a fight. I tried; I gave it everything that I have. Of course, you must try. And God made it happen this time. Our leaders agreed. So, I’m grateful for that, but I must justify that confidence. And that’s all. So, if it’s not, it is not. The reality is that, at a time there can only be one governor.

Is there any agreement that you are going to spend one term?

Agreement! No, there’s no agreement.

Lagos also battles recurring incidents of collapsed buildings. How is this to be addressed?

There are two types. There are old buildings. There are very old buildings that can also collapse. I think the way to avoid that is to keep checking. But, Lagos is a big place. We have over 890,000 buildings. So, it becomes difficult.

How many are the civil servants that are checking? So, what we rely on, a lot of the time, is people within the community, and then we go and do structural tests. So, old buildings can collapse. The ones that we are trying to totally eliminate is new constructions. There is no reason in the world why we should allow new constructions to collapse. And that’s why we are doing the Certified Accreditors Programme. And then when we zone the whole of Lagos into 10 zones or 20 zones, and then we have all these registered CAPs. If you want to build, they’ll be there. So, these are the people that will do the certification. So that we know. So, if anything happens, those private companies will be held responsible because you are supposed to be an engineer. So, the challenge also is to make sure that we don’t build the way we build. Like I said earlier, just building block by block here and there, just getting one person in the corner to do your drawing. No. You must be certified so that you don’t build something that will kill you. But as government, we also know that the city is developing at a very high rate. We cannot be using civil servants to monitor everything. Let us even give out a big component to private sector, register them, and that process is almost completed.

Local Government autonomy, despite the Supreme Court judgment of about two years ago, still is yet to be fully implemented in many states, how do we empower local government administrations to be more effective?

For Lagos, the autonomy ruling does not really affect us because we have never touched their resources. We collaborate because of inherent problems that we have had before. Local government pays primary school teachers so at a time, they were owing. But our President, when he was governor, said this must stop, because when the news comes out, it is Lagos State owes primary school teachers. So, we said, let us do this as first line charge. So, the moment your money comes, we take out teachers’ salaries. We collaborate also on different areas like land use charge, ground rent, neighbourhood charge with some to be collected by state and others by local government. So, we decided that rather than an individual receiving three bills from government, we give just one bill and we divide behind the scene. There is a board to do this that includes local government chairmen. We collaborate to make it easier for our citizens. We don’t actually do anything with their money. Now that the resources are higher, we need to make sure that we work together because we are serving the same citizens. And for the state, anything we do is in one local government or the other. Part of what we will be doing is creating a new approach where we will be meeting on a monthly basis to do peer review, do assessment and giving ourselves assignment as a team. And we can see who is achieving what we agreed on or who is not, and we call ourselves to be more responsive to the needs of our people.

What factors led to the choice of your running mate?

The moment I emerged, I know that it is important that the deputy is a Christian, since I am a Muslim; and a lot of our women leaders have been saying they have tolerated us men for eight years, we must have a female. And we agreed that it made sense. And a lot of other people also said that we needed younger minds. Also, I am from the East; the current governor is from Central; so we said let it go to the West. So, all those came together. And Damilola Sonayon-James emerged. She was the Deputy Women Leader of our state. She was a supervisor in Badagry and then we looked at everything she had been doing, and she emerged.

Your party was hit by a calamity of monumental proportion in the 2023 election when President Bola Tinubu lost the presidential election in Lagos, what is your party doing to avert this in the 2027 election?

We did some sort of an autopsy to see what happened, and we saw many things. We saw that we assumed many things. We didn’t take care of a lot of things, as a party. We didn’t move a lot of the pillars that we normally move, in terms of talking to people here and there, and we have tried to correct that so that this time around, it will be better.

There are still grievances from the last primaries of the party, what is your agenda for them?

That is ongoing; if not for this interview, I will be meeting some people now on that issue. So, the Constitution of our country states that you cannot run for election unless you are nominated by a political party. So the political party is supreme because you are representing that brand, and as such, there are many factors that come in in the selection of where the party moves. In some cases, we say the number of females is not enough, let us get more females, and if you settle down on a constituency or an area, the men there will complain. There are so many factors. I was meeting with many aspirants and I said, in 2019, I took my form two days before Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu but the leaders called me and said, ‘You are a Muslim; Asiwaju was a Muslim for eight years; BRF was a Muslim; Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is not coming back; let a Christian go; and I said, fair enough.’ And I did a press conference and stepped down. And they looked at that and took me as deputy. It is because they talked to me and I listened. So, maybe if I didn’t listen then, today would not have arrived. So people must learn from that, because there would be many factors that we would have to consider. Unfortunately, when it comes to the emergence of the king of a community, even siblings have issues, but there can only be one king at that time. So, we tell ourselves that, if it doesn’t happen now, you don’t know tomorrow. So, let’s calm down. That process has started and hopefully we will be able to get everybody to understand that things will get better for all of us.

How is the party also handling the Justice Forum/Mandate Movement blocs amid fears that one group may be sidelined if you become governor?

I have met with the two groups. The truth of the matter is that the mother and the father is the Justice Forum. What happened was that it was a group set up by the leadership then to meet because politics was banned by the military. So, it predates 1999. And I have asked the question, what is the philosophical difference between the two? It is zero. So, let us calm down. Don’t let’s use what doesn’t exist to divide ourselves. People make the argument that even in advanced democracies like the United States, that there is the Black caucus, there is the Freedom caucus in the Republican. But there are philosophical differences. The Freedom caucus believes that even in case of incest and rape, a child should be born. Others say they don’t like abortion but in the case of incest, rape. So, there are philosophical differences. Here, what are the philosophical differences? Nothing. So, we cannot be a political party that runs after crumbs and fight ourselves. No. We must rise above that. And I think that everybody seems to understand that now.

If it comes down to stepping on toes, including party leaders, in the interest of moving Lagos ahead, will you do that?

The reality is, you need the collective will of the people to move a state forward. You can’t fight people and say you are just fighting everybody, you will lose. You can’t fight many battles. You can fight some battles but is it not better when you let people see what you want to do. We are all human beings and we have different opinions. Some people might genuinely believe that that goal is wrong. So, it is not a question of crushing their leg but it is to say that it is for the greatest good for the greatest number of people. As a human being, we will never be perfect but this is what my brain can take and this is the direction that we want to go, and you go. But, as much as possible, I think it is better to convince people to let people see why you want to do something. Remember, human beings are naturally selfish, that thing might not be good for that person personally and he might not see the bigger picture. So, it is the responsibility of the leaders to let people see the bigger picture for their children and grandchildren. Hopefully, you are able to convince nine out of 10 people, and then you move.

Talking about organisation, how do you deal with the issue of louts, touts across the city and clearing the blocked waterways which have structures on it without stepping on toes?

What separates us from the so-called developed nations are the rule of law and technology. Part of what you talk about is the rule of law. The organisation is this is where you should be, but you are here. And the rule of law is to say this is where you should be and that is where you would be. You must think about the common good. I recall when we were building the Okota main road. It would have been a lagoon today. But today, the place is clear. When we go there to campaign, I will tell them, it will be unGodly not to vote for our party in that place because those who know what it was and what we went through on that project. We were in court for nine months. We were building the road, we expanded it, we were building massive drains. We have the drain about 1.2 kilometres beyond the road because we can’t go further. It will be too destructive. As we were building, a house was obstructing the road construction. We promised compensation, the building owner declined. He went to court. We were to pay N60 million as agreement but the court said N12 million. Then we demolished and paid him N12 million. Even the neighbours said they told him. Today, they are driving freely in Okota, without issue of flooding. It is about the common good. That road connects many communities. So, because of one building, we must still go ahead and do what we have to do.

In a number of states, there have been cases of successor/predecessor rift. Do you rule out such crisis happening in Lagos State?

Our own is a bit different because the governor is my principal. If we didn’t fight all these years we have been working together, why would we disagree when we are handing over? If the goal is to run a state, then what is the problem? The responsibility is so huge that you can’t do it alone, that is why you have Commissioners, Special Advisers, Special Assistants. Even with that, there are still gaps. So, what is the fight about? That doesn’t mean we don’t have disagreements about issues. And it is about, we want to do this, should we do it this way? At the executive council meeting, we argue, fight, abuse each other. But at the end of the day, we conclude and move on. Governor Sanwo-Olu and I have been friends for years. When I came back, became Commissioner, Governor Sanwo-Olu was already a Commissioner. The current CBN Governor left the administration as Commissioner for Economic Planning. So Governor Sanwo-Olu was the acting Commissioner for economic planning when I joined the cabinet. For some reason, the day I was to be sworn in, it was Governor Sanwo-Olu that was taking me round and showing me the offices and MDAs in the Secretariat before I went to my own Ministry of Science and Technology. And that was the first time I would meet him, and we have been friends since then. Thankfully, we don’t have that crisis in Lagos.

Deputy Governors have this tag of being ‘spare tyres’ and only function at the mercy of their principal. Would you canvass for Constitutional roles for Deputy Governors?

You can’t legislate common sense. So, even if you say legislation gives roles, it doesn’t prevent crisis. You cannot legislate simple good behaviour. If you have people who are jointly on a ticket, it is clear that you must work together. But, thankfully in Lagos, Deputy Governors have various responsibilities in ministries. I think Senator Oluranti Adebule was in charge of Ministry of Education, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire was in charge of Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Adebisi Sosan was also in charge of Education, I am in charge of Works, and Science and Technology. So, for Works, Science and Technology, before the governor approves their memo, it must be signed by me. So, I’m certainly not a spare tyre and I will not treat my deputy as a spare tyre because she is not. She is an intelligent woman that establishes herself well. And the component that we really need to work on is our youth. How do we develop their future? We have issues of youth engagement, development, employment creation. Can a governor do all these by himself? One of the books I love reading is ‘Ego is the enemy.’ Ego is the problem. Wars were started by ego. Great companies collapse because of ego. If you are able to manage your ego in life, all the crisis will not happen. We have a job to do. It is a lot of work. So, if you have someone supporting you to do the job, what should be the problem? You must even encourage that person to help you do more.

What is your plan for the three terminals at Oshodi? At the outset, it was organised but it has now become a shadow of what former Governor Akinkunmi Ambode did.

Interestingly, as Commissioner for Works, I designed that place. I did it with Prof Olusanya of the University of Lagos. The essence is to develop similar things across different parts of Lagos. For example, in London, when you want to go to New York, you go to 34 Street. So, why is it that we have about 260 locations where you can take buses to get out of Lagos? It is disorganisation. Again, let us organise. It is for safety. If everybody queues in Oshodi, and there are manifests, Mr A is going to Osogbo, he takes this bus. If something happens, we know whom to ask. It’s being used but we need to better organise it. And it’s being used not just for buses going outside Lagos, but also intra transportation. That’s the decision we need to make. Do we totally separate intra from inter transportation? Those are the discussions that will have to happen. And we need to have, maybe nothing as big as that, in other areas of the state, like hubs. This is so that, if I am coming from Epe, I should be able to go somewhere, park my car and move and come back and meet my car, even if I have to pay.

There remains the issue of voter apathy. In the interest of democracy, what must be done to improve voter turnout in the next election?

It’s a really bad situation. In most local governments in Lagos State, the highest turnout in the last election was about 18 per cent, which I think was Ikorodu LGA. It is horrible and we need to improve on it. People have given all sorts of reasons for voter apathy, like lack of trust, people don’t see the benefit of democracy. In the United States, most people don’t pay attention to election until maybe three, four weeks. If you are in New York City, and gather 100 people who are New Yorkers and ask them who their governor is, 80 per cent don’t know their governor, because they don’t see it as their business. A lot of them are one issue voter. One is voting only because a candidate is pro-life, the other is voting a candidate because of Israel. You therefore realise that democracy, in itself, has limitations, as a wise man’s vote is the same as a not-so-wiseman’s vote. Therefore, we must get to everybody to convince them on the need to vote. A lot of people aggrieved won’t do anything that is why it is important you let people feel part of the process. But, of course, I will encourage people to vote for me and my party. If we can raise it from 18 per cent to 35 per cent, I’m sure that our votes will be very high.

Why do you think Nigerians should re-elect President Bola Tinubu?

There are a lot of reasons. But you must also look at the people he’s contesting against. Mr Peter Obi has been governor, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has been Vice President, Rabiu Kwankwaso has been governor. The question is what have these people done? What has Peter Obi done as a governor that you think he will do well as a President? The President was building his political party. Even in the last election, Tinubu fought his party, and didn’t leave. I recall during campaign in Abeokuta when Tinubu said, ‘They may choose to money, food scarce, we’ll still go for the election and win.’ Compare that to a man who will be a member of a party in the morning and another at night. He will be catastrophic as a President. If you can’t fight for something, you will fall for anything. You want to rule a nation of 200 million people and you can’t stand for something! APGA in the morning, PDP at night! Look at other nations. President Donald Trump fought in the primaries. Where will you run to, as President, when you have challenges? Will you run away or you will confront it just like the President is confronting it today? When it comes to saving the state, what are you willing to do? The President confronted the issue. He said, let’s remove subsidy. Do we remember why our refineries don’t work? Was it not because we said let’s introduce subsidy in 1992? And all our refineries were dead. It was supposed to be short term, but look at what we did to ourselves. I have been talking to young men in the private sector and what they tell me is that, because the macro has improved, their businesses are doing extremely well. One of them told me that, the company was started 15 years ago, and they were about 48, but within the last two years, they are now 400 employees. I challenged him for not speaking out and he said they are businessmen out to make profit and they are not politicians. They all promised then that subsidy will go. I recall then that former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar said subsidy will go; Mr Peter Obi said subsidy is a scam. And when implementation started, we started hearing something different. You can’t do that, as a leader. Our oil production is going up. We are said to have had the highest production in 74 months of about 1.7 million barrels a day. When President Tinubu took over, it was about 800,000 barrels. It is now almost double. There is Technical and Vocational Education and Training. If you go to London, you see plumbers, and other artisans, they don’t have shops, they just have trucks, with their phone numbers asking you to call them for their services. That is how they built their country. The President is building the fundamentals. Nobody says it will be easy. If you have malaria, most medications are bitter. If you’re injured, you go for surgery, it is painful. There must be rehabilitation. Before now, we all heard of airlines shut down, Emirates did not come to our country for two years because they couldn’t get their money. The N23 trillion Ways and Means has been cleared. So, what will these people do different? They can’t even manage a political party. How will they manage this country? For me, it is a very easy choice. I also meet him, discuss with him and I can see his vision. You may say I am biased but we can all see what he is doing. The President is embarking on an enormous amount of infrastructure, across our country: Sokoto-Badagry road; Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway. I remember in 2023, they asked me this same question and I said, how can you compare a goat to a lion? Comparing them is a no-brainer. I am sure Nigerians will vote for him. There are many distractions and political liars all over the place but when people actually see what is happening, I am confident that President Tinubu will come back again, and the country will be better for it.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed relevant federal agencies to collaborate with the Sokoto State Government to prevent a recurrence of the boat accident in Gorau Community, Goronyo Local Government Area, which claimed several lives and left others missing.

The President specifically directed the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to work closely with the state government to ensure that waterway safety standards are strictly enforced.

Tinubu gave the directive on Friday while reacting to the boat mishap, which he described as a tragedy, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

The President also commended emergency responders and local authorities for their swift intervention in rescue and recovery operations following the accident.

Expressing deep sorrow over the loss of life, Tinubu extended his condolences to the bereaved families, as well as the government and people of Sokoto State.

‘The news of this boat mishap deeply saddens me. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families during this difficult time. I pray that God grants the departed eternal rest and gives their loved ones the strength to bear this irreparable loss,’ the President said.

He also prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured in the accident and assured the people of Sokoto State of the Federal Government’s support as they grapple with the tragedy.

The latest directive underscores concerns over recurring boat accidents across the country and the need for stricter enforcement of safety measures on inland waterways.

Traditional rulers from the South-West, led by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, are set to hold a security meeting with Yoruba nation activist and founder of the Iru Ekun Security Network, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho.

The meeting is scheduled to hold in Ijero Ekiti, Ekiti State, on Friday and will be hosted by the Owa Ajero of Ijero Ekiti, Oba Joseph Adebayo Adewole.

According to a statement issued by Igboho’s media office, the meeting will focus on security in Yorubaland and measures to sustain peace and communal stability across the South-West.

The statement said monarchs from Oyo, Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Ekiti, Ogun and parts of Kwara states are expected to attend the meeting.

It said the meeting would be presided over by Ogunwusi, who is Co-Chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN) and Permanent Chairman of the Southern Nigerian Traditional Rulers Council (SNTRC).

The stakeholders are expected to discuss ways of strengthening security across the region and improving cooperation between traditional institutions and local security initiatives such as the Iru Ekun Security Network.

The statement said particular attention would be given to protecting rural communities and strengthening the role of traditional rulers in local security, given their proximity to communities and their roles in preventing and resolving conflicts.

The organisers commended the Nigerian Army, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies for their support for the Iru Ekun Security Network.

They also pledged continued cooperation with security stakeholders to sustain peace and safety across the South-West.

The statement specifically commended the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Minister of Defence, Gen Christopher Musa (retd.); Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu; Director-General of the DSS, Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi; and heads of other paramilitary agencies for their efforts in combating insecurity and criminality.