Category: Business Day

Nigeria’s fragile electricity supply is leaving households and businesses increasingly vulnerable as an intensifying El Niño threatens to expose millions of people to extreme heat, raising the cost of cooling homes, disrupting businesses and increasing health risks in a country where reliable power remains out of reach for many.

Nigeria has some of the world’s largest energy access deficits, with about 92 million people lacking access to electricity, according to data from Austria-based Sustainable Energy for All, an international organisation working in partnership with the United Nations.

This data is compounded by warnings from researchers at the University of Chicago’s Climate Impact Lab, who said Nigeria could record 31,400 additional heat-related deaths between September 2026 and February 2027, making it the country with the highest projected toll from the weather phenomenon of El Niño. The estimate is part of a wider forecast of 66,800 additional deaths across Africa’s Sahel region.

For Africa’s most populous country, the development is becoming more urgent as electricity distribution companies struggle to secure sufficient power from the national grid, forcing consumers to endure shorter supply hours and rely on generators, inverters and other costly alternatives to keep essential activities running.

Data from Nigeria’s electricity distribution system showed that 11 distribution companies had a combined allocation of 3,176 megawatts as of 1 p.m. Nigerian time on October 23.

Abuja Disco received the most at 575 MW, followed by Ikeja Disco at 467 MW and Eko Disco at 458 MW. Ibadan Disco was allocated 355 MW and Port Harcourt Disco 291 MW. Benin (240 MW), Enugu (230 MW), Kano (173 MW), Kaduna (167 MW) and Jos (146 MW) got far less. Yola Disco, serving the north-east, received just 74 MW.

The northern allocations matter because that is where the heat is most severe due to distance from the Atlantic Ocean, proximity to the Sahara Desert and low rainfall. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency recorded 41°C in Nguru, in Yobe State, in recent days. Lagos reached 34°C.

Heat of that magnitude, combined with unreliable power, leaves people with few ways to cool their homes or keep food and medicine cold.

‘Not having stable electricity during this heatwave period is very disastrous,’ said Toyosi Akinbobola, head of energy at Sofidam Capital.

Gas shortages compound the problem. The generators’ association says supply to thermal plants is below 43 percent of daily need. Pipeline vandalism destroyed 128 transmission towers in 2024.

‘Nigeria’s stranded power crisis is a transmission failure, not a generation failure,’ Joy Ogaji, chief executive of the generators’ association, said in July.

She described the toll on small businesses: ‘A small tailor earning N4,000 a day can spend N3,000 of it on generator fuel.’

Greg Odogwu, national coordinator at Centre for Renewable Energy, said Nigeria’s power shortages make it vulnerable to global heatwaves.

‘Even households connected to the grid may be unable to depend on electricity throughout the hottest hours of the day,’ Odogwu said. ‘When supply fails, consumers with sufficient resources turn to petrol or diesel generators, solar systems, batteries and inverters. Others have no practical alternative.’

BusinessDay’s findings showed the resulting costs extend beyond household comfort.

Shops may need to run generators for longer, manufacturers face additional operating expenses, and healthcare facilities must maintain power for essential equipment and medicines that require controlled temperatures.

Apart from rising costs, the weather risk is climbing at the same time.

Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), said the current El Niño could peak toward the end of 2026, with effects lasting well beyond that.

El Niño is a natural pattern, marked by warming surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. But climate change is adding to its force, raising baseline temperatures and widening the gap between what people face and what they can cope with.

Researchers behind the Climate Impact Lab analysis said the numbers reflect poverty and power shortages as much as the weather.

Michael Greenstone of the University of Chicago and Tamma Carleton of the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in an analysis published by Gavi’s VaccinesWork that ‘this makes Nigeria the country most likely in the world to have the highest heat mortality under the super El Niño.’

They added that ‘much of Africa lacks the electricity needed for air conditioning,’ and that ‘poorer, hotter countries will lack the money and reliable electricity needed to protect people.’

‘More than 60 percent of Nigerians were estimated to live below the national poverty line in 2025,’ Chicago researchers noted, and even homes with electricity connections face frequent outages.

The most exposed are people who work outdoors, such as farmers, traders, construction workers and commercial drivers. They are joined by residents of communities with little access to cooling, steady power or health care.

Hospitals and clinics that rely on diesel generators face higher fuel costs and the risk of equipment failure just as heat-related admissions rise.

In Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, residents have been enduring sweltering conditions with limited relief.

‘The heat is unbearable, and with no power, we can’t even turn on fans or air conditioners to cool down,’ lamented Adeola Okonkwo, a resident of Mushin Local Government Area in Lagos. ‘It’s like being trapped in an oven.’

For those who can afford it, the answer is self-supply. Generators and solar-battery inverters have become routine in Nigerian homes and shops, but they are expensive to buy and run.

Diesel and petrol costs eat into household budgets, and small firms that need cold storage, such as food sellers and pharmacies, face rising overheads or spoiled stock.

This development means wealthier urban households can buy their way through a heat wave while poorer families in dense neighbourhoods and rural northern states, where temperatures are highest, mostly cannot.

The Institute of Strategic Management Nigeria (Chartered) (ISMNC) in Rivers State is set to build itself into a legacy that members will proudly serve today and future generations will proudly inherit.

Patterson Ogon, the newly inaugurated chairman of the Rivers State Chapter, set the agenda for the new executive committee during a strategic meeting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The meeting served as an inaugural meeting, swearing-in ceremony and handover of administrative affairs of the institute.

ISMNC is a non-governmental, non-profit, independent professional, learning and research organisation with an extensive range of courses in Strategic Management, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Governance, and Digital Innovation that sets the pace for executive training and professional development.

Founded in 2003, and chartered in 2023, the Institute of Strategic Management of Nigeria (Chartered) has been described as Africa’s premier institute for strategy crafting.

It has a mission to advance and promote knowledge and skills in the practice of strategic management, strategic leadership, strategic entrepreneurship, and governance through research, publications, education, training, certification, induction and regulation of students and members.

Its vision is to be a world-class professional body, a pan-African best reference in strategic management, and a key player in positioning Nigeria and Africa for leadership in the global society.

Ogon, who is the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was elected as the chairman of the Rivers State Chapter on July 23, 2026 at the Annual General Meeting of the institute in Lagos.

Strategic management is about employing a strategic framework to achieve both short-term and long-term business objectives consistently and efficiently.

While it may look easy on the surface, the actual execution of strategic management can easily result in confusion, particularly when businesses become large and complex.

The Brighton School of Business and Management, says that strategic management is where the resources available to an organisation are brought together.

The resources which include operations, marketing, research and development and other organisational functions are all analysed to best determine how they can be used to reach business goals.

Through strategic management, all company staff are made to have a clear understanding of what their roles will be for the goals of the organisation to be achieved.

And, Ogon is determined to build on the foundations laid by previous administrations and strengthen the institute’s contribution to professional development and strategic leadership within his two-year tenure.

He assured that his administration would position the chapter as a platform for professional excellence, strategic thinking, ethical leadership, intellectual development, collaboration and measurable impact, stressing that membership must provide meaningful opportunities for learning, contribution, networking, mentorship and professional growth.

‘Distinguished colleagues, leadership of a professional body is not simply about occupying an office; it is about accepting responsibility for people, institutions and the future.

‘ISMNC brings together professionals from diverse disciplines, sectors and areas of expertise. This diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and we must create an environment where knowledge is shared, ideas are exchanged, professionals collaborate and expertise is translated into meaningful value,’ he stated.

Declaring that strategy must translate into practical outcomes, Ogon pledged to ensure that every programme and initiative undertaken by the chapter has clear objectives, creates demonstrable value and delivers measurable results through a culture of planning, implementation, evaluation and continuous improvement.

He identified continuous professional development as a major priority, noting that technological advancement, artificial intelligence, changing economic realities and evolving leadership expectations were reshaping the professional environment and requiring members to remain relevant and adaptable.

To address these emerging challenges, Ogon promised to promote seminars, workshops, knowledge-sharing and intellectual engagements while strengthening mentorship and intergenerational learning by combining the experience of established professionals with the fresh perspectives, technological awareness and innovative ideas of younger members.

He said: ‘The professional environment is changing rapidly. Technology, artificial intelligence, economic realities and changing leadership expectations are reshaping the workplace.

‘As a professional Institute, we must remain relevant. We will encourage continuous professional development, knowledge-sharing, seminars, workshops and intellectual engagements that equip our members to respond effectively to emerging challenges.

‘We will also strengthen mentorship and intergenerational learning. Our experienced professionals have valuable knowledge to transfer, while our younger professionals bring fresh perspectives, technology awareness and innovation.

When these strengths come together, the Institute becomes stronger.’

On collaboration and member engagement, he called for stronger relationships among members, state chapters, regional structures and the national leadership, urging members to contribute their ideas, expertise and professional opportunities to advance the Institute’s collective interests.

He also pledged to uphold transparency, accountability and professional ethics by operating within the institute’s established framework, maintaining responsible communication with national structures and ensuring that resources entrusted to the chapter were managed prudently in the interests of its members.

‘We also intend to strengthen collaboration among members, state chapters, regional structures and the National leadership.

We must move beyond simply attending meetings to actively participating in the development of the Institute.

‘If you have an idea, bring it forward. If you have expertise, share it. If you have an opportunity that can benefit the Institute, make it available. The strength of this chapter will ultimately depend on the collective commitment of its members,’ he said.

Ogon emphasised that the institute must remain greater than any individual office holder, and urged members of his executive to serve with humility, integrity and accountability while preserving existing achievements, improving areas requiring attention and creating new opportunities for institutional growth.

He pledged good governance, transparency, accountability and professional ethics as essential parts of his administration.

Ogon declared: ‘As we assume office, we recognise that good governance, transparency, accountability and professional ethics are essential.

‘We will operate within the established framework of the Institute, communicate responsibly with the relevant national structures and ensure that resources entrusted to us are managed in the best interest of the chapter and its members.

Our institution must always be greater than any individual office holder.’

Continuing, he stated: ‘Distinguished colleagues, the world around us is changing rapidly. Technology is transforming industries, artificial intelligence is reshaping professional practice, and leadership expectations are becoming increasingly demanding. In such an environment, strategic thinking is not an option; it is an imperative.

‘today marks the beginning of a new chapter for ISMNC Rivers State. As chairman, I make this commitment: We will lead with purpose. We will serve with integrity. We will promote knowledge. We will develop people. We will encourage collaboration. We will pursue measurable results. And we will place the interests of the Institute above personal interests. I invite every member to join us in this journey.

‘Let us build an ISMNC Rivers State Chapter that reflects the competence of its members, the excellence of its professionals and the strategic value of the Institute.

‘Let us build an institution that we will be proud to serve today and that future generations will be proud to inherit.’

Ogon expressed appreciation to the outgoing leadership for their service and contribution to the development of the chapter and acknowledged their achievements.

He also appreciated the National President and Chairman-in-Council, the Registrar/CEO, the Governing Board, Board of Fellows, National Executive Council, committee chairmen, state chapter chairmen, distinguished members and all our guests for honouring the occasion.

Inaugurating the Rivers State Chapter, Ndudi Alex Enebeli, National President and Chairman-in-Council of ISMNC, welcomed the leadership transition, describing the chapter as particularly significant to him and emphasizing that incoming executives must build on the achievements and foundations established by their predecessors.

Enebeli expressed concern over growing apathy among members of professional bodies in Rivers State and challenged the new executive to develop effective strategies to re-engage members and encourage greater participation in the Institute’s activities.

He urged members to embrace the Institute as a platform for continuous learning and professional development rather than participating only when individual programmes offered an immediate personal benefit, encouraging them to take advantage of its capacity-building opportunities to improve themselves and contribute more effectively to society.

Identifying communication, cooperation and collaboration as three essential elements of successful leadership and teamwork, he commended the outgoing executive for its contributions, urged its members to mentor and support the new leadership, and encouraged the chapter to harness its members’ expertise to strengthen professional development outcomes.

Enebeli also expressed satisfaction with the Rivers State Chapter’s contribution to the Institute’s national leadership, noting that it had produced the national president and had been recognised as the Institute’s best-performing chapter in successive periods.

Nathan Excellence, the immediate past chairman of the chapter, thanked his executive committee for its support during approximately two years in office, declaring that the administration was handing over a more structured institute with improved capacity to deliver while expressing confidence that the new executive would build on the foundation laid by its predecessor.

The ISO World Summit, a premier annual platform dedicated to advancing organisational

performance and raising awareness about the vital importance of ISO compliance in business operations, will soon convene key stakeholders in Nigeria.

The event is confirmed to hold on October 29, 2026, at the Sheraton Hotel, Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Ikeja, Lagos.

The summit will bring together industry leaders, policymakers, and compliance experts to advance

dialogue, foster learning, facilitate networking, and drive practical action on global ISO frameworks.

This year’s summit, themed ‘Quality Creates Trust, Trust Builds Brands’, is organised by ISO World Consult Limited, a leading consulting firm that helps businesses translate international ISO standards and Quality, Health, Safety, and Environment (QHSE) compliance into everyday workflows.

A vital objective of the 2026 summit is driving full alignment with ISO standards and compliance.

To achieve this, organisers and participating institutions are focusing on upgrading documentation, refining organizational write-ups, and embedding a deep-rooted culture of quality across all operational levels.

Discussions at the ISO World Summit 2026 will focus on inspiring organisations to view quality not merely as a compliance obligation, but as a strategic business culture capable of strengthening brands, improving performance, and creating sustainable value.

Another major highlight of the event will be the International Quality Certification Awards. This prestigious ceremony will recognise exceptional organizations and individuals making measurable

contributions to advancing ISO standards, quality management, brand trust, and operational

excellence across Nigeria.

To deliver a truly robust and immersive quality gathering, ISO World Consult Limited has proudly

partnered with AFRIBIS for this year’s edition. A key feature of this collaboration will be the presentation of authentic gold-sealed certificates and golden plaques to 51 confirmed leading organisations.

Mirroring the summit’s core commitment to global ISO standards, the entire awards process guarantees absolute credibility and transparency, with all nominations undergoing rigorous evaluation by an independent panel of certified auditors.

As the Presidential campaign rallies for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu kicked off Saturday, the Deputy Governor of the State, Olayide Adelami, has tasked stakeholders in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to work tirelessly for the victory of the President and the party in next year’s general election.

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The deputy governor made the call at the weekend while addressing party faithful during the APC ward meetings at Igboroko 1 Ward 2 and Igboroko 2 Ward 3 in his hometown of Owo.

Adelami emphasised the landmark achievements of the President and the unprecedented record of the APC in critical areas of the economy, asking the people to choose progress over retrogression.

According to him, ‘The President had taken some bold steps to make life better for our people in his first term. The student loans for our young ones have made education easier and more available to children of the poor; the money saved from the removal of the fuel subsidy is being put back into the economy, especially at the sub-national. It is in our best interest to give the President our votes so he can finish the good work he has started’.

The deputy governor charged leaders of the party to embark on a house-to-house campaign to further deepen the renewed hope message of the current administration.

He said that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has expressly directed all APC leaders and members to deliver overwhelming votes for the president and every candidate of the party in the state.

Speaking at Igboroko 1 Ward 2, a former commissioner for women affairs and social development in Ondo State, Yemi Mahmoud, thanked the governor and his deputy for appointing political leaders from Owo into the state executive council and other portfolios within the government.

She expressed the readiness of the party leaders to go all out to mobilise massively for the APC.

Similarly, Jamiu Ekungba, who spoke at Igboroko 2 Ward 3, charged the leaders to give their maximum support to the governor and his deputy to enable them to record a resounding victory for the president and the party.

JMC-Alliance Co-operative Society Limited recently raised expectations in the cooperative enterprise community as it stepped into the future of this enterprise with the launch of Digital Cooperative Enterprise and Grassroots Financial Empowerment.

The launch is a foray into a new era of cooperative enterprise and has positioned JMC-Alliance as a digital-first public cooperative, redefining how communities access shared resources, financial empowerment and collective growth.

By combining technology with grassroots engagement, the cooperative seeks to build a legacy of trust and innovation that resonates with Africa’s next generation of leaders.

At the launch, the cooperative emphasised three pillars: inclusive growth, financial inclusion and financial security. What makes JMC-Alliance unique is its dual approach.

On one hand, it is fully digital, designed to empower tech-savvy youth with micro-lending and wealth-building tools accessible through smartphones. On the other, it deliberately incorporates traditional, offline methods to ensure market traders and grassroots communities are not left behind.

Whether through mobile apps or physical registers at the market square, the cooperative promises accessibility for all.

Joseph Onwuka, JMC-Alliance chairman, explained that the model was inspired by the need to merge traditional cooperative structures with digital innovation.

‘We are adopting a more pragmatic and market-driven model. The objective is not to abandon the traditional approach but to combine it with digital innovation so we can build a more flexible, accessible and sustainable business for the future,’ he said.

Technology is central to the cooperative’s vision. Onwuka noted that digital platforms will enhance transparency, member participation and sustainability. Members will be able to monitor their accounts, access services and resolve issues remotely, ensuring continuous communication and responsiveness.

Mary Okafor, a director at the company, highlighted the cooperative’s role in connecting the diaspora to local opportunities. She said structured channels would allow Nigerians abroad to invest earnings back home, supporting market women and small business owners with responsible loans that enable sustainable growth.

‘Instead of simply giving people money, we can provide responsible loans that enable market women and other small business owners to stock their businesses, keep trading, increasing their turnover and ultimately growing their enterprises,’ she explained.

Looking ahead, Onwuka said the cooperative’s legacy would be measured by the people it empowers. ‘We are going further into the grassroots, reaching people directly and creating opportunities that can make a real difference in their lives.

‘Our vision is to become a major player in Nigeria’s financial sector. Very soon, you will see JMC -Alliance everywhere, across Nigeria,’ he assured.

The launch signals a new chapter in cooperative development, one where digital transformation meets grassroots empowerment. JMC-Alliance is positioning itself not just as a financial association but as a community vehicle designed to drive inclusive prosperity and build a trusted nationwide brand.

Its ambition is to create a cooperative that is both modern and deeply rooted in the realities of everyday Nigerians, ensuring that financial inclusion is not just a slogan but a lived experience for millions.

The Nigerian Navy has uncovered an estimated 132,000 litres of suspected stolen crude oil in Allison community, Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, in an operation aimed at disrupting illegal petroleum storage and crude oil theft in the Niger Delta.

The discovery was made on Thursday by personnel of the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bonny under Operation Delta Sentinel, following actionable intelligence, according to a statement by Abiodun Folorunsho, Director of Naval Information, on Friday.

The operation led to the discovery of 10 dugout pits containing suspected stolen crude oil, which the Navy said could have served as a storage point within the illicit petroleum supply chain.

The Navy said the site and recovered petroleum products were handled in accordance with existing regulations.

According to Navy, the operation highlights the military’s continued efforts to identify concealed petroleum stockpiles and dismantle the infrastructure supporting crude oil theft and the unauthorised movement of petroleum products across the Niger Delta.

It noted that crude oil theft and illegal refining remain major concerns for Nigeria’s petroleum industry, with illicit activities posing risks to oil production, government revenue and the security of critical petroleum infrastructure.

The Navy said it would sustain efforts to locate and dismantle illegal refining facilities while disrupting the networks responsible for crude oil theft across the region.

It also stressed the importance of intelligence-led operations in identifying hidden storage facilities and preventing stolen petroleum products from moving further through illegal supply chains.

The Navy called on community leaders, residents, traditional institutions and other stakeholders to provide security agencies with timely information on suspected crude oil theft, illegal refining, suspicious petroleum storage and the unauthorised movement of petroleum products.

According to the statement, credible information from communities could enable security agencies to respond promptly and prevent illicit activities from expanding.

The Navy further emphasised that protecting Nigeria’s critical petroleum assets requires vigilance and active cooperation between security agencies and the communities in which oil-related activities take place.

It urged residents to remain alert and support lawful efforts to safeguard national resources.

In the earlier instalments of this series, we left the comfort of capital city seminar rooms to confront the reality of fractured spaces. We established the operational safety protocols and deep immersion methodologies necessary for a researcher to step onto the tarmac and observe a territory where the formal state has receded.

But collecting raw street-level observations is only the first half of the battle. This instalment lays out the full indicator architecture of the Decoupling Sovereignty Index (DSI) – the nineteen-indicator diagnostic engine designed by the Sundiata Post Knowledge Lab to score, weight, and track the velocity of sovereign decay across three vectors: Money, Land, and Mind.

The Three-Vector Operational Matrix

The DSI does not look at states as passive recipients of macro-shocks. It maps the active, asymmetric peeling away of de facto governance across three vectors. Each vector is calculated on a scale of zero to ten based on specific, observable field indicators. A score of zero represents total formal state function. A score of ten represents complete sovereignty decoupling. The nineteen indicators are distributed across three vectors: six for Money, seven for Land, and six for Mind. Each vector contributes equally-one third-to the composite DSI score, regardless of the number of indicators it contains. This weighting ensures that no single dimension of sovereignty decoupling dominates the composite or masks developments across the other two.

Why Nineteen Indicators

The nineteen indicators are a deliberate design, not an accumulation. Shadow Order environments punish single-source measurement: respondents self-censor, official data is compromised, and any one signal can be an artefact of local circumstance. The DSI therefore builds in overlap on purpose. Adjacent indicators, such as L2 and L4 or M6 and L6, observe related phenomena from different angles, so each score can be checked against its neighbour. Where they diverge, the divergence is itself diagnostic. Because each vector carries one third of the composite, the seven Land indicators weigh slightly less individually than those of the Money and Mind vectors. This is intended: territorial decoupling has more dimensions, but it is not allowed to dominate the composite. Where full fieldwork is not feasible, a minimum scoring set of anchor indicators (M1, L2, MD2 and MD5) gives a provisional reading, to be completed to all nineteen for the formal DSI record.

Universal Indicators, Context-Specific Sub-Indicators

The nineteen indicators are universal. They measure the same dimensions of sovereignty decoupling in every zone, which keeps scores comparable across contexts. How each indicator is observed, however, depends on the setting. Each indicator therefore carries context-specific sub-indicators, selected according to the peculiarities of the zone under assessment, including its economic structure, terrain, population characteristics, livelihood systems, settlement patterns, and prevailing security and governance conditions. These factors determine how sovereignty decoupling manifests and how it can be observed in different environments, whether agrarian, pastoral, mining, riverine, or urban. Such adaptations shape how each indicator is measured without altering its underlying meaning, thereby preserving consistency across zones.

The sub-indicators used, and the reasons for choosing them, are recorded with every zone score. Their detailed specification is set out in the DSI Methodology and Indicator Manual.

The Money Vector: Fiscal Sovereignty Indicators

This vector measures the structural insulation of a local economy from the formal state apparatus and central bank – tracking the exact point where state fiscal tools lose their operational teeth. It carries six indicators.

M1 – Parallel Taxation Rate. The frequency, consistency, and monetary toll of shadow levies imposed by non-state actors on commercial activity, market stalls, artisans’ work permits, and the transport of goods. M1 is the anchor indicator of the Money vector – the most directly observable and earliest signal of fiscal sovereignty decoupling. It is scored through direct field count of shadow levy collection points and trader testimony on levy frequency, amount, and enforcement character. Levies on agricultural output at the point of production are scored under M6.

M2 – Formal Tax Compliance Deficit. The gap between the state’s projected revenue expectations and actual tax collection within the micro-environment – measured primarily through field observation rather than state-published data, which in high-decoupling zones is itself a product of the Institutional Mirage.

Observable through the proportion of businesses reporting formal tax payment in the current cycle and the operational status of revenue offices within the zone.

M3 – Shadow Currency Penetration. The degree to which unofficial mediums of exchange displace official legal tender in commercial transactions. Scored through the proportion of observed market transactions conducted in foreign currency, commodity barter, or informal tokens, and through the parallel market exchange rate premium within the zone. Scoring thresholds are anchored to IMF parallel market premium research, World Bank informal economy thresholds, and context-specific Central Bank data – weighted inversely to the zone’s overall DSI score, since the higher the decoupling the less reliable formal monetary authority data becomes.

M4 – Remittance Dependency Ratio. The extent to which household survival depends on external transfers rather than state-linked economic activity. M4 is a change-sensitive indicator – only remittance dependency that has intensified during or following decoupling onset contributes to the score. A pre-decoupling baseline is required for reliable scoring. Without it, M4 must carry a reliability flag in the composite DSI record.

M5 – Formal Banking Exclusion Rate. The deterioration of formal banking access to wealth storage and credit during or following sovereignty decoupling onset – distinct from pre-existing structural underdevelopment of financial infrastructure. M5 measures deterioration rather than absolute absence, ensuring the DSI does not conflate structural underdevelopment with active sovereignty decoupling. A pre-decoupling baseline is required.

M6 – Harvest Tax Rate. The shadow order’s direct extraction from agricultural yield at the point of production – the monetary toll imposed on farmers at the moment their labour crystallises into a tangible, countable, and transportable commodity. Distinct from farming levies which tax land access and belong to the Land vector.

The Land Vector: Territorial Sovereignty Indicators

This vector maps the physical and spatial contraction of the state’s productive geography – tracking roads, fields, courts, and checkpoints not as lines on a map but as the active arteries and organs of shadow order territorial control. It carries seven indicators – one more than the Money vector, reflecting the greater empirical complexity of territorial sovereignty decoupling across its physical, spatial, and institutional dimensions.

L1 – State Security Footprint Index

The true geographic and operational reach of formal state security forces versus the territorial perimeter dominated by a Shadow Order – capturing whether formal forces are garrisoned in isolated urban barracks or can safely and consistently patrol the interior. The critical distinction is between operational and ceremonial security presence. A formal security convoy that moves only between fixed points on a predictable schedule without engaging shadow order activity scores closer to ten than zero regardless of its physical presence within the zone.

L2 – Shadow Checkpoint Density

The frequency, location, and structural permanence of non-state territorial control points and roadblocks relative to formal military or police outposts along critical transit corridors. Scored through direct field count of shadow checkpoints per kilometre of transit corridor and transporter testimony on checkpoint consistency and enforcement character. Transport cost differentials between zones with and without confirmed shadow checkpoints provide a corroborating economic signal – shadow checkpoint taxation embeds itself in transport pricing as a structurally observable market reality.

L3 – Agricultural Displacement Rate

The percentage of fertile productive agrarian land vacated, abandoned, or forcibly occupied due to non-state violence or shadow order territorial control. L3 requires a pre-decoupling baseline to distinguish sovereignty-driven displacement from natural causes.

L4 – Transport Route Capture

The proportion of primary and secondary movement corridors controlled, monitored, or systematically taxed by shadow actors. Analytically distinct from L2 – shadow checkpoint density measures the nodes of control while transport route capture measures the arteries. A zone can have low checkpoint density but high route capture where shadow authority is enforced through mobile rather than fixed control mechanisms. Both indicators are necessary for a complete territorial sovereignty picture.

L5 – Formal Justice Absence Index

The physical retreat, closure, or total operational paralysis of state magistrate courts, police divisions, and formal legal enforcement mechanisms – and the degree to which shadow order dispute resolution has filled the resulting vacuum. L5 is directly corroborated by MD1 – Population Trust Transfer Index – in the Mind vector. Where formal justice is entirely absent and shadow dispute resolution commands community compliance, the Mind vector should independently corroborate through measurably reduced institutional trust in formal state authority.

L6 – Farming Levy

The shadow order’s territorial taxation of the right to occupy and use productive agricultural land – imposing recurring levies on farmers for continued land access, distinct from harvest tax which extracts from yield. L6 is the Land vector’s most direct empirical link to the Money vector. Its placement in the Land vector reflects its primary character as a territorial control mechanism – the shadow order asserting ownership rights over productive land rather than merely extracting commercial revenue from it. Farming levies must be distinguished from legitimate customary land use tribute systems that predate decoupling and carry community consent.

L7 – Population Displacement and Return Patterns

The degree to which civilian movement into, out of, and within the zone reflects confidence in or fear of the prevailing territorial authority. L7 is simultaneously a territorial sovereignty signal and a cognitive sovereignty signal – people vote with their feet for the authority they believe can protect them. A pre-decoupling baseline is required for reliable scoring.

The Mind Vector: Cognitive Sovereignty Indicators

This vector targets the ultimate battlefield – the invisible shift in human consciousness that determines which authority the population recognises, obeys, and protects. The Mind vector is the most methodologically challenging of the three because cognitive sovereignty is the least directly observable dimension of decoupling. Its six indicators are therefore designed around behavioural proxies – what people demonstrably do – rather than attitudinal surveys alone, which are unreliable in Shadow Order environments where respondents self-censor.

MD1 – Population Trust Transfer Index

The measurable expressed shift in trust away from formal judicial and administrative state bodies toward alternative traditional, religious, or armed arbiters. MD1 measures institutional trust – which body the population believes has legitimate authority to govern and adjudicate. Distinct from MD5 which measures immediate protection preference. Scored through civilian testimony on where disputes are taken first and observed attendance at formal versus shadow arbitration sessions. Behavioural proxies override attitudinal responses where the two diverge.

MD2 – Compliance Orientation Score

The behavioural alignment of the population – whether daily rules of engagement are oriented toward formal state law or Shadow Order mandates. MD2 is the Mind vector’s most behaviourally grounded indicator, scored through five specific observable markers: property boundary compliance, movement compliance, commercial compliance, dispute initiation, and civic duty orientation. Its five-marker architecture ensures scoring is based on observable conduct rather than stated attitudes – making it the most resistant to self-censorship bias.

MD3 – Institutional Legitimacy Deficit

The structural gap between the formal state’s rhetorical claims to sovereign authority and the population’s de facto acknowledgement of that authority as binding. Legitimacy is the deepest cognitive dimension – distinct from trust and compliance. Trust asks whether an institution will serve well. Compliance asks whether its rules are followed. Legitimacy asks whether the institution has the right to govern at all. Legitimacy loss is the hardest to reverse – it survives even after security conditions improve and requires active legitimacy reconstruction rather than merely security restoration.

MD4 – Narrative Control Index

Which actor controls the dominant explanatory framework governing how the population interprets local events, security incidents, and governance decisions. Scored through four observable proxies: crisis explanation – whose account the population repeats and acts upon; warning compliance – whose security directives the population follows; information source preference – where the population turns first for zone intelligence; and blame attribution – which actor the population holds responsible for governance failure. Behavioural responses to information override stated media preferences where the two diverge.

MD5 – Protection Source Preference

The truest vote of confidence a population can cast – who they turn to first when physical safety is threatened. MD5 measures the immediate survival decision made under conditions of acute threat rather than general institutional preference. It is the Mind vector’s most immediate and least self-censored indicator – crisis-moment behaviour bypasses the social desirability bias that distorts attitudinal surveys in Shadow Order environments. Scored through community testimony on contact sequence during the most recent security incident and response time comparison between formal state and shadow order intervention.

MD6 – Socialisation and Education Capture

The degree to which the shadow order has extended cognitive sovereignty reach into the formation of the next generation – through control of schooling, religious instruction, youth mobilisation, and community socialisation channels. MD6 is the Mind vector’s leading indicator – it measures future cognitive sovereignty trajectory rather than current alignment. A zone scoring low on MD1 through MD5 but high on MD6 is in a deceptively stable condition. The next generation is being formed entirely within shadow order cognitive parameters while current cognitive sovereignty appears partially intact. A high MD6 score is a critical forward-looking warning signal regardless of the current Mind vector composite score.

The foregoing presents the nineteen universal indicators of the DSI and the general principles governing their application. The detailed scoring rubrics, operational thresholds, context-specific sub-indicators, evidence protocols and aggregation procedures will be set out in the DSI Methodology and Indicator Manual, to be issued by the Sundiata Post Knowledge Lab (SPKL).

However, scoring the nineteen indicators is only the first step. How those scores interact across the three vectors, and what they imply for the order in which sovereignty can be restored, is the subject of the next instalment.

Man has come a long way from the days of Aesop, the ancient Greek storyteller who developed a style of travelling to the animal world to draw lessons for men and women. History has a bouquet of his jungle stories and their morals: The ant and the grasshopper (You can shape your tomorrow today); The boy who cried wolf (It’s the lie you’re used to which will be remembered, not the truth you only tell once); The fox and the grapes (One can’t accommodate what’s beyond your reach; you will despise it).

Modern novelists also write to instruct or entertain us, some from forest life, like Nigeria’s Daniel Fagunwa (Ogboju ode ninu igbo irunmole, 1936) and the Englishman George Orwell (Animal Farm, 1945), with others strictly seeking inspiration from the world of human beings as Professor Tunde Ope-Davies has done in his work, Winds Against My Sails.

Ope-Davies dispenses with creatures of the thicket to relate his account; but he also proffers great precepts not virtuously different from those we receive through the writers who commune with the woods. Either way, the readers are enriched, hugely tutored to change perceptions as they reap a harvest of predictable and unexpected twists in the tale.

We have plenty of them in the work of Ope-Davies (Opeibi), a professor in Digital Humanities, Digital Cultures, English and Discourse Studies at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, beginning with a tell-tale autobiographical title for a work of fiction. About the Author back cover section of the book conceals the dark days of the author’s own headwinds. But critics wouldn’t consider it unreasonable to look at Professor Wale Jones in the novel and apply poetic license to unveil him as the alter ego of Opeibi, himself a heavily garlanded don like his creation.

Jones, the main character, leaves rustic Jadesore to embark on what the author calls the Voyage of Life. The name of his village challenges the ambitious to venture out for breakthroughs eluding them. Yet, it doesn’t reveal that you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. Wale gets the delicacy alright; but it is at the expense of much travail, trauma and toil.

There are near-death experiences; there are fatalities; there are several heartbreaks as well as betrayals; missed opportunities that present no second chances are also recorded; we equally learn of juvenile escapades that could have shortened the life of the hero; there is a battle over the choice of a marriage partner; a time of abandonment by family, friends and loved ones is also shared; we read of days of hunger when biscuits and mint sweets miserably cater for hunger; there’s story of an absentee father; when he’s home however, he fails to model virtue as he engages in nocturnal drinking orgies with friends in the presence of impressionable children; there are assaults of ill health and threats of death at childbirth.

To be sure, some of these are occasioned by poverty. Not all, though. How about the struggles Jones encounter even after the young man has crossed the threshold, in a manner of speaking, and he begins to get local and global recognition denied peers and mentors? The winds against his sail don’t cease in the ivory tower. They are personified by Katakiti, ”who had remained at the same rank for years. To watch Wale, once his student, rise above him was a bitter pill.” There’s also a season of character perfidy when Wale Jones is accused of being ”too friendly with female students” and ”selling a colleague’s textbook to students, a practice the university had outlawed.” Wale attributes all what he’s facing to ”politics of the system.”

Rightly, the blurb concludes that Wale’s faith in God and ”an unyielding spirit of perseverance” are the steps he mounts to overcome the winds of adversity.

So, like Karl Marx, the legendary German co-founder of Scientific Socialism, whose bronze memorial he gazes at in an unnamed European city, Professor Jones becomes ”a man who faced his fires and emerged remade,” ready to change his defective system as Marx attempted to.

Now, in view of an opening poem that predicts ultimate victory for the voyager ”Because He that stillest the noise of the Seas”, is with the explorer, it may be tempting to dismiss Professor Ope-Davies’ Winds Against My Sails as a simplistic literary contraption primed from the beginning for a happy end, regardless of the protagonist’s tumultuous killer adventures. That would be an unbalanced ruling that misses the Olympian plot of Opeibi’s epic. He brings his story under a roof of sweeping flashbacks, critical commentary, history (ancestral and contemporary), objective philosophy, Biblical theology, all of which reveals the author’s catholic mind.

These are carried by a language rich in fluid prose. metaphor and semiotics.

Let’s examine, for instance, Opeibi’s capture of ‘dust’ to take the readers through their own semiotic journeys. as it were. It first appears as ”chalk dust” in Chapter One. Later, he says ”Dust rose like spirits over the playing fields…” And when Wale Jones got the new birth in Christ, we saw the dust called to action again: ”…he bent his knees on the dusty ground and gave his life to Christ.”

Thus, in the literary construct of Professor Ope-Davies’ world, there’s a sustained imagery of the lowly dust and chalk, both of which appear to have sentenced Wale to limitless and hopeless penury. Once, the lecturer is seen collapsing ”at the foot of a chalkboard.” But, to get into Divine embrace wherein is final liberation, Wale must align with ”the dusty ground” and look up to God from that lowly position. He must stoop to conquer.

Is Ope-Davies testing the waters of fiction with Winds Against My Sails after a string of acclaimed nonfiction publications, including the biographical Kumuyi: Defender of the Faith, which he wrote with co-members of the Editorial Board of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry?

This is a heuristic quest with the possibility of turning in a new-look Tunde Ope-Davies.

In the earlier instalments of this series, we left the comfort of capital city seminar rooms to confront the reality of fractured spaces. We established the operational safety protocols and deep immersion methodologies necessary for a researcher to step onto the tarmac and observe a territory where the formal state has receded.

But collecting raw street-level observations is only the first half of the battle. This instalment lays out the full indicator architecture of the Decoupling Sovereignty Index (DSI) – the nineteen-indicator diagnostic engine designed by the Sundiata Post Knowledge Lab to score, weight, and track the velocity of sovereign decay across three vectors: Money, Land, and Mind.

The Three-Vector Operational Matrix

The DSI does not look at states as passive recipients of macro-shocks. It maps the active, asymmetric peeling away of de facto governance across three vectors. Each vector is calculated on a scale of zero to ten based on specific, observable field indicators. A score of zero represents total formal state function. A score of ten represents complete sovereignty decoupling. The nineteen indicators are distributed across three vectors: six for Money, seven for Land, and six for Mind. Each vector contributes equally-one third-to the composite DSI score, regardless of the number of indicators it contains. This weighting ensures that no single dimension of sovereignty decoupling dominates the composite or masks developments across the other two.

Why Nineteen Indicators

The nineteen indicators are a deliberate design, not an accumulation. Shadow Order environments punish single-source measurement: respondents self-censor, official data is compromised, and any one signal can be an artefact of local circumstance. The DSI therefore builds in overlap on purpose. Adjacent indicators, such as L2 and L4 or M6 and L6, observe related phenomena from different angles, so each score can be checked against its neighbour. Where they diverge, the divergence is itself diagnostic. Because each vector carries one third of the composite, the seven Land indicators weigh slightly less individually than those of the Money and Mind vectors. This is intended: territorial decoupling has more dimensions, but it is not allowed to dominate the composite. Where full fieldwork is not feasible, a minimum scoring set of anchor indicators (M1, L2, MD2 and MD5) gives a provisional reading, to be completed to all nineteen for the formal DSI record.

Universal Indicators, Context-Specific Sub-Indicators

The nineteen indicators are universal. They measure the same dimensions of sovereignty decoupling in every zone, which keeps scores comparable across contexts. How each indicator is observed, however, depends on the setting. Each indicator therefore carries context-specific sub-indicators, selected according to the peculiarities of the zone under assessment, including its economic structure, terrain, population characteristics, livelihood systems, settlement patterns, and prevailing security and governance conditions. These factors determine how sovereignty decoupling manifests and how it can be observed in different environments, whether agrarian, pastoral, mining, riverine, or urban. Such adaptations shape how each indicator is measured without altering its underlying meaning, thereby preserving consistency across zones.

The sub-indicators used, and the reasons for choosing them, are recorded with every zone score. Their detailed specification is set out in the DSI Methodology and Indicator Manual.

The Money Vector: Fiscal Sovereignty Indicators

This vector measures the structural insulation of a local economy from the formal state apparatus and central bank – tracking the exact point where state fiscal tools lose their operational teeth. It carries six indicators.

M1 – Parallel Taxation Rate. The frequency, consistency, and monetary toll of shadow levies imposed by non-state actors on commercial activity, market stalls, artisans’ work permits, and the transport of goods. M1 is the anchor indicator of the Money vector – the most directly observable and earliest signal of fiscal sovereignty decoupling. It is scored through direct field count of shadow levy collection points and trader testimony on levy frequency, amount, and enforcement character. Levies on agricultural output at the point of production are scored under M6.

M2 – Formal Tax Compliance Deficit. The gap between the state’s projected revenue expectations and actual tax collection within the micro-environment – measured primarily through field observation rather than state-published data, which in high-decoupling zones is itself a product of the Institutional Mirage.

Observable through the proportion of businesses reporting formal tax payment in the current cycle and the operational status of revenue offices within the zone.

M3 – Shadow Currency Penetration. The degree to which unofficial mediums of exchange displace official legal tender in commercial transactions. Scored through the proportion of observed market transactions conducted in foreign currency, commodity barter, or informal tokens, and through the parallel market exchange rate premium within the zone. Scoring thresholds are anchored to IMF parallel market premium research, World Bank informal economy thresholds, and context-specific Central Bank data – weighted inversely to the zone’s overall DSI score, since the higher the decoupling the less reliable formal monetary authority data becomes.

M4 – Remittance Dependency Ratio. The extent to which household survival depends on external transfers rather than state-linked economic activity. M4 is a change-sensitive indicator – only remittance dependency that has intensified during or following decoupling onset contributes to the score. A pre-decoupling baseline is required for reliable scoring. Without it, M4 must carry a reliability flag in the composite DSI record.

M5 – Formal Banking Exclusion Rate. The deterioration of formal banking access to wealth storage and credit during or following sovereignty decoupling onset – distinct from pre-existing structural underdevelopment of financial infrastructure. M5 measures deterioration rather than absolute absence, ensuring the DSI does not conflate structural underdevelopment with active sovereignty decoupling. A pre-decoupling baseline is required.

M6 – Harvest Tax Rate. The shadow order’s direct extraction from agricultural yield at the point of production – the monetary toll imposed on farmers at the moment their labour crystallises into a tangible, countable, and transportable commodity. Distinct from farming levies which tax land access and belong to the Land vector.

The Land Vector: Territorial Sovereignty Indicators

This vector maps the physical and spatial contraction of the state’s productive geography – tracking roads, fields, courts, and checkpoints not as lines on a map but as the active arteries and organs of shadow order territorial control. It carries seven indicators – one more than the Money vector, reflecting the greater empirical complexity of territorial sovereignty decoupling across its physical, spatial, and institutional dimensions.

L1 – State Security Footprint Index

The true geographic and operational reach of formal state security forces versus the territorial perimeter dominated by a Shadow Order – capturing whether formal forces are garrisoned in isolated urban barracks or can safely and consistently patrol the interior. The critical distinction is between operational and ceremonial security presence. A formal security convoy that moves only between fixed points on a predictable schedule without engaging shadow order activity scores closer to ten than zero regardless of its physical presence within the zone.

L2 – Shadow Checkpoint Density

The frequency, location, and structural permanence of non-state territorial control points and roadblocks relative to formal military or police outposts along critical transit corridors. Scored through direct field count of shadow checkpoints per kilometre of transit corridor and transporter testimony on checkpoint consistency and enforcement character. Transport cost differentials between zones with and without confirmed shadow checkpoints provide a corroborating economic signal – shadow checkpoint taxation embeds itself in transport pricing as a structurally observable market reality.

L3 – Agricultural Displacement Rate

The percentage of fertile productive agrarian land vacated, abandoned, or forcibly occupied due to non-state violence or shadow order territorial control. L3 requires a pre-decoupling baseline to distinguish sovereignty-driven displacement from natural causes.

L4 – Transport Route Capture

The proportion of primary and secondary movement corridors controlled, monitored, or systematically taxed by shadow actors. Analytically distinct from L2 – shadow checkpoint density measures the nodes of control while transport route capture measures the arteries. A zone can have low checkpoint density but high route capture where shadow authority is enforced through mobile rather than fixed control mechanisms. Both indicators are necessary for a complete territorial sovereignty picture.

L5 – Formal Justice Absence Index

The physical retreat, closure, or total operational paralysis of state magistrate courts, police divisions, and formal legal enforcement mechanisms – and the degree to which shadow order dispute resolution has filled the resulting vacuum. L5 is directly corroborated by MD1 – Population Trust Transfer Index – in the Mind vector. Where formal justice is entirely absent and shadow dispute resolution commands community compliance, the Mind vector should independently corroborate through measurably reduced institutional trust in formal state authority.

L6 – Farming Levy

The shadow order’s territorial taxation of the right to occupy and use productive agricultural land – imposing recurring levies on farmers for continued land access, distinct from harvest tax which extracts from yield. L6 is the Land vector’s most direct empirical link to the Money vector. Its placement in the Land vector reflects its primary character as a territorial control mechanism – the shadow order asserting ownership rights over productive land rather than merely extracting commercial revenue from it. Farming levies must be distinguished from legitimate customary land use tribute systems that predate decoupling and carry community consent.

L7 – Population Displacement and Return Patterns

The degree to which civilian movement into, out of, and within the zone reflects confidence in or fear of the prevailing territorial authority. L7 is simultaneously a territorial sovereignty signal and a cognitive sovereignty signal – people vote with their feet for the authority they believe can protect them. A pre-decoupling baseline is required for reliable scoring.

The Mind Vector: Cognitive Sovereignty Indicators

This vector targets the ultimate battlefield – the invisible shift in human consciousness that determines which authority the population recognises, obeys, and protects. The Mind vector is the most methodologically challenging of the three because cognitive sovereignty is the least directly observable dimension of decoupling. Its six indicators are therefore designed around behavioural proxies – what people demonstrably do – rather than attitudinal surveys alone, which are unreliable in Shadow Order environments where respondents self-censor.

MD1 – Population Trust Transfer Index

The measurable expressed shift in trust away from formal judicial and administrative state bodies toward alternative traditional, religious, or armed arbiters. MD1 measures institutional trust – which body the population believes has legitimate authority to govern and adjudicate. Distinct from MD5 which measures immediate protection preference. Scored through civilian testimony on where disputes are taken first and observed attendance at formal versus shadow arbitration sessions. Behavioural proxies override attitudinal responses where the two diverge.

MD2 – Compliance Orientation Score

The behavioural alignment of the population – whether daily rules of engagement are oriented toward formal state law or Shadow Order mandates. MD2 is the Mind vector’s most behaviourally grounded indicator, scored through five specific observable markers: property boundary compliance, movement compliance, commercial compliance, dispute initiation, and civic duty orientation. Its five-marker architecture ensures scoring is based on observable conduct rather than stated attitudes – making it the most resistant to self-censorship bias.

MD3 – Institutional Legitimacy Deficit

The structural gap between the formal state’s rhetorical claims to sovereign authority and the population’s de facto acknowledgement of that authority as binding. Legitimacy is the deepest cognitive dimension – distinct from trust and compliance. Trust asks whether an institution will serve well. Compliance asks whether its rules are followed. Legitimacy asks whether the institution has the right to govern at all. Legitimacy loss is the hardest to reverse – it survives even after security conditions improve and requires active legitimacy reconstruction rather than merely security restoration.

MD4 – Narrative Control Index

Which actor controls the dominant explanatory framework governing how the population interprets local events, security incidents, and governance decisions. Scored through four observable proxies: crisis explanation – whose account the population repeats and acts upon; warning compliance – whose security directives the population follows; information source preference – where the population turns first for zone intelligence; and blame attribution – which actor the population holds responsible for governance failure. Behavioural responses to information override stated media preferences where the two diverge.

MD5 – Protection Source Preference

The truest vote of confidence a population can cast – who they turn to first when physical safety is threatened. MD5 measures the immediate survival decision made under conditions of acute threat rather than general institutional preference. It is the Mind vector’s most immediate and least self-censored indicator – crisis-moment behaviour bypasses the social desirability bias that distorts attitudinal surveys in Shadow Order environments. Scored through community testimony on contact sequence during the most recent security incident and response time comparison between formal state and shadow order intervention.

MD6 – Socialisation and Education Capture

The degree to which the shadow order has extended cognitive sovereignty reach into the formation of the next generation – through control of schooling, religious instruction, youth mobilisation, and community socialisation channels. MD6 is the Mind vector’s leading indicator – it measures future cognitive sovereignty trajectory rather than current alignment. A zone scoring low on MD1 through MD5 but high on MD6 is in a deceptively stable condition. The next generation is being formed entirely within shadow order cognitive parameters while current cognitive sovereignty appears partially intact. A high MD6 score is a critical forward-looking warning signal regardless of the current Mind vector composite score.

The foregoing presents the nineteen universal indicators of the DSI and the general principles governing their application. The detailed scoring rubrics, operational thresholds, context-specific sub-indicators, evidence protocols and aggregation procedures will be set out in the DSI Methodology and Indicator Manual, to be issued by the Sundiata Post Knowledge Lab (SPKL).

However, scoring the nineteen indicators is only the first step. How those scores interact across the three vectors, and what they imply for the order in which sovereignty can be restored, is the subject of the next instalment.

District Governor, Rotary District 9112 Olayioye Abidoye, has described sports as a vital tool for driving Rotary’s mission of service to humanity.

Abidoye stated this at a media parley in Lagos, heralding the Rotary Sports Festival (RoSFest) 2027, emphasising that sports foster unity, teamwork and healthy living, which align with the organisation’s core value of impacting society,

Rotary Sports Festival is an annual event, a six-month fitness and fellowship fiesta designed to keep Rotarians mentally and physically sound to carry out humanitarian service.

According to the Rotary District Governor, ‘When you participate in sports, you are mentally sound, you are physically sound and your health is in the right frame to do service and to function in your family. We Rotarians who have dedicated our lives to serving humanity must be fit mentally, physically and health-wise,’

While stating that District 9112 currently has over 2,700 members across 96 Rotary Clubs, which he supervises, he said that RoSFest was one way of taking care of those who take care of others.

Enumerating some of the interventions that his organisation had embarked on, he said it included: donation of learning materials to Ojuwoye Inclusive Nursery and Primary School for children with visual and hearing impairments, observance of Disaster Relief Day, and screening of public primary school pupils for sight and hearing defects under the Legacy Programme to prevent mislabelling poor performance as dullness.

On the other hand, he appealed to Rotarians to ensure effective participation at RosFest 2027, quoting WHO’s definition of health: ‘Health is wealth. When you are not healthy, that is the only thing you think about. We can only mind other people’s business when we are healthy.’

On her part, Chairman of the RoSFest 2027 Committee, who is also the past president, Chinyere Madueke-Onwo, described RoSFest 2027 as a platform for strengthening the relationship between Rotarians and Rotaractors, adding, ‘We recognise the energy, creativity and enthusiasm that Rotaractors bring to the Rotary family, and we look forward to meaningful collaboration that will promote unity, leadership, development and active participation”

She further explained that the RoSFest 2027 edition would feature12 sporting activities, six indoor games which include Ayyolopon, draughts, Scrabble, chess, table tennis and snooker.

While the six outdoor games, she said include: 100m dash for both male and women, relay race, tug of war, football, volley ball and golf.

The objective, Chairman of RoSFest 2027 Committee said was to create opportunities for participation, healthy competition fellowship while encouraging Rotarians and other participants to embrace physical fitness and an active lifestyle.

‘We intend to make this edition more inclusive, engaging and competitive, with every participating Club having the opportunity to demonstrate its sporting strength and team spirit. Medals and points shall also be awarded to Clubs according to merits.

‘RoSFest 2027 presents a valuable opportunity for corporate organisations, institutions, individuals and Clubs to associate with an initiative that promotes health, youth development, community engagement and excellence.

On his part, Augustine Irabor of Rotary Club of Ikoyi and member of RoSFest Committee, explained that the media parley aimed to announce dates and mobilise Rotarians and the public.

Irabor, who was among those honoured for their roles in the last edition for participating in football, tug of war and golf, said RoSFest awareness is growing.

While recalling that last year’s RoSFest recorded huge success, he said that this year’s edition would be more impactful.

It is interesting to note that the qualifying games/tournaments will run from 31st January to 31st March 2027. While 2nd April would witness the opening ceremony of RoSFest Week.