Category: Daily Trust

The Jigawa State House of Assembly has suspended indefinitely the Chairman of Buji Local Government Council, Najibullahi Falalu Tukur, over allegations of gross misconduct and misappropriation of public funds.

The suspension followed the adoption of the recommendations of the House Committee on Local Government, presented by its Vice Chairman, Sani Sale Zaburan, during plenary on Tuesday, September 1, 2026.

In its report, the committee recommended the suspension of the chairman in accordance with Section 36, Subsections (2) and (3) of the Jigawa State Local Government Establishment Law, 2024.

Announcing the decision, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Haruna Aliyu Dangyatin, directed the suspended chairman to hand over all government properties in his possession to the Vice Chairman of the council.

The Speaker also announced the constitution of an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the allegations of gross misconduct and misappropriation against the suspended chairman.

The committee is chaired by Usman Abdullahi Tura Musari, representing Guri Constituency, while members representing Maigatari, Malam Madori, Birnin Kudu, Yankwashi, Kafin Hausa and Sule Tankarkar constituencies will serve as members.

The committee is expected to investigate the allegations and report its findings to the House for further consideration.

Governor Uba Sani has fulfilled a 30-year old promise that was made to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic gold medalists, by giving them plots of land and naming streets after three of them who are from Kaduna State.

Speaking to newsmen after inspecting the ongoing Ahmadu Bello Stadium project on Tuesday, Daniel Amokachi recalled that in 1996 when the Dream Team won the Olympics Gold Medal, federal and state governments made promises that were never redeemed.

He disclosed that Governor Uba Sani has given him, Garba Lawal and Emmanuel Babayaro plots of land 30 years after they were promised, adding that he also directed that streets should be named after those of them who were not so immortalized.

Amokachi who is renowned Football Manager and former Professional Player, said that they lacked the words to thank the Governor for his kind gestures and his promise to duly reward veteran footballers and coaches in their lifetimes.

Another former professional footballer and an ex General Manager of Kaduna United Football Club, Garba Lawal, described the Ahmadu Bello Stadium as a world-class stadium which will be of FIFA standard when completed.

”Now, Super Eagles will not have to go to Uyo to train. Now, this one is right here at my door mouth. It’s a wonderful project and by the Grace of God, we shall come and unveil it by November,” he added.

Another Olympic Gold Medalist, Emmanuel Babayaro noted that Governor Uba Sani has assembled the entire football family of Kaduna State and football is thriving again ”like we used to know it.”

”Coming to the stadium and seeing the edifice and the very amazing work that is going on here, I can not but admit that he is indeed a political conundrum,” the former goalkeeper added.

While thanking the Governor for fulfilling a 30-year old promise, he recalled that ”the first time that Garba Lawal called me and sent me the papers for the land, I doubted it.”

”The next thing that came to my mind was that maybe they needed us to come for one elaborate event and use it for some political whatever. But guess what, nothing of such came up.

”That means, he gave us those lands because he is that awesome. He did not say that ‘I am giving this land, come and say thank you on TV or come and do one political campaign or the other,’ ” he added.

Responding, Governor Uba Sani thanked the football veterans, including coaches and administrators, for contributing to sports and football development in Kaduna State.

He noted that ”Kaduna is the leading footballing state in Nigeria. We have produced more stars that have gone out of the country and made their marks globally.”

”As a Government, it is our responsibility to bring back the glory of Kaduna state in the world of sports. The last time that any CAF football tournament was played in this stadium was in 2016, when Super Eagles played against Egypt,” he recalled.

According to him, the condition of Ahmadu Bello Stadium has deteriorated so badly that he had to reach out to President Bola Tinubu, requesting that the sports facility be handed over to Kaduna State.

”I made it very clear to him that I will demolish the stadium, which had 16,000 seating capacity and was built in 1964. I disclosed to him that in the whole of Nigeria, there is only one CAF-standard football stadium, that is the one at Uyo with 31, 000 capacity.

”But today, I am happy to say that Ahmadu Bello Stadium when completed will be 33,000 capacity,” he said, adding that its pitch will be a hybrid of grass and synthetic.

”When completed, Ahmadu Bello Stadium will be the only stadium in Nigeria with a FIFA-standard pitch. Only last week, I was reading the number of stadiums in Africa that are CAF-standard. In Nigeria, there is only one stadium. When you are talking of FIFA-standard, we don’t have any, not even the Uyo stadium.

Governor Uba Sani pointed out that Kaduna State is investing heavily in sporting facilities because football generates a lot of revenue.

”In the last World Cup that was hosted in the United States, the country made about $20 to $24 billion, in terms of hotel accommodation, transportation and hospitality generally.

”Only recently, Morocco hosted CAF/AFCON tournament and from what we have seen, the country was also able to get at least $1.4 billion from all the different regions where the event took place,” he added.

Arewa Think Tank has defended the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mohammed Shehu, saying the commission’s interventions on fiscal matters are within its mandate.

Muhammad Alhaji Yakubu, the Convener, stated this in a statement reacting to criticisms against the commission over recent pronouncements relating to Nigeria’s fiscal and economic policies.

Yakubu described the criticism of the RMAFC Chairman as misplaced, arguing that the Commission is a constitutionally established institution with a direct responsibility for issues relating to revenue mobilisation, allocation and the financial relationship among the three tiers of government.

According to him, attempts to portray the Commission’s interventions on fiscal matters as an overreach of its mandate amount to a misunderstanding of the constitutional responsibilities assigned to RMAFC. The statement reads, ‘The Arewa Think Tank Convener said it was therefore wrong for anyone to suggest that the Chairman had no business speaking on issues with direct implications for revenue generation, revenue allocation and the Federation Account. ‘Since when did the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission become an agency that is expected to remain silent on matters that directly affect revenue mobilisation and the allocation of the Federation’s resources?’

He said the Commission’s interventions should rather be viewed as part of its institutional responsibility to ensure that revenues accruing to the Federation are properly monitored and equitably distributed.

Yakubu noted that RMAFC has consistently participated in national discussions concerning taxation, revenue allocation and fiscal reforms. During the 2025 public hearing on the tax reform bills, for instance, the RMAFC Chairman, Mohammed Shehu, publicly stated the Commission’s position on the proposed reforms and called for adjustments concerning the distribution of Value Added Tax revenue to subnational governments.

Yakubu stressed that public officials should be allowed to discharge their responsibilities without being subjected to unwarranted attacks whenever their positions do not conform to the expectations of particular individuals or interest groups.

He, however, urged critics of the RMAFC Chairman to engage the substance of the Commission’s position rather than questioning its right to participate in fiscal-policy discussions.

Operatives of the Zone 12 Intelligence Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, based in Bauchi, have arrested five suspects allegedly found in possession of human eyes and materials suspected to be used for money rituals in Bauchi State.

The suspects, identified as Abdullahi Idris, Sani Haruna, Auwal Umar, Abubakar Yusuf and Sharu Sale, were arrested during an intelligence-led operation, according to a statement signed by the Zone 12 Public Relations Officer, SP Jalige Mohammad, and made available to journalists in Bauchi.

Mohammad said the operatives recovered two human eyes, white and red clothes, as well as other materials suspected to be connected with money ritual activities.

He said the suspects were currently in police custody and undergoing interrogation, while investigation was ongoing to establish the circumstances surrounding the recovered items and identify possible accomplices.

The police spokesperson added that the source of the exhibits was also being investigated, saying the suspects would be charged before a court of competent jurisdiction upon completion of the investigation.

Mohammad said the Assistant Inspector-General of Police had condemned the alleged act in strong terms and urged parents, guardians and members of the public to remain vigilant.

He advised members of the public to promptly report suspicious persons or activities to the nearest police formation.

The AIG, he added, reassured residents of the zone of the police command’s commitment to rid the area of criminal elements and protect lives and property.

The African reparations debate has focused for decades on human and material loss.

A new report from the University of Lagos says the ledger is missing a critical entry: the environment.

The report, CO2lonialism, Ecocide and Reparations: Colonial Ecological Damage in Africa and the Case for a Harmonised Reparations Methodology, directed by Prof. J. G. Nkem Onyekpe, argues that environmental destruction caused by colonial rule should be treated as a distinct component of reparations claims.

According to the report, the damage is not abstract. It can be traced to specific colonial policies and measured with physical evidence. What is missing, the authors say, is a harmonised methodology to translate that evidence into a defensible monetary claim.

Five countries, one pattern

The study examines Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Uganda and South Africa. It finds a recurring pattern across different colonial administrations: export monocultures, mineral extraction, commercial forestry, land dispossession, and the disruption of indigenous environmental management systems.

In Ghana, the report documents a sharp decline in natural forest cover from an estimated 8.2 million hectares in 1900 to between 1.5 and 2.7 million hectares today – a drop of roughly 67% to 82%. The report attributes the loss to the expansion of cocoa monoculture and gold mining under British rule.

It cites a 1926 colonial report that warned heavy cocoa cultivation was depleting soil minerals. ‘The ecological consequences were not necessarily invisible to the administration responsible for promoting the system,’ the report states.

In Nigeria, the report points to tin and coal mining on the Jos Plateau and in Enugu, cocoa, oil-palm and rubber monocultures in the south, and crude-oil extraction in the Niger Delta. Consequences listed include deforestation, savanna overgrazing, soil erosion, abandoned mined land and persistent pollution.

The report estimates 9-13 million barrels of oil have spilled in the Niger Delta since 1958. It places that figure alongside a reported life expectancy of about 41 years in the region, roughly a decade below the national average. The authors stress they are not drawing a direct causal line, but highlighting what they call an ‘extraction-and-abandonment’ model whose effects outlive the institutions that created them.

In Uganda, the study examines the colonial push for cotton and coffee exports and changes to land tenure that excluded communities from customary resource management. The report links these shifts to soil degradation, deforestation and the disruption of communal systems.

It also identifies four major colonial-era famines in 1914, 1927, 1942 and 1951, and connects them to the breakdown of mixed farming and fallow systems.

The report brings the argument to the present with the 1996-2000 Bukaleba plantation project, where an estimated 80,000-100,000 hectares were leased and around 8,000 people were reportedly displaced, citing a single investigative source. This, the report says, illustrates ‘CO2lonialism’ – the use of African land for carbon-offset projects under external control, echoing earlier extractive structures.

In South Africa, the report centers on the 1913 and 1936 Land Acts. The 1913 Act restricted African land ownership to about 7% of the country’s territory. The 1936 Act expanded it to about 13%. The report notes that roughly two-thirds of the population was confined to that 7%. The result, it argues, was overcrowding, overgrazing and soil erosion with effects still visible today.

In Senegal, the study looks at French promotion of groundnut monoculture in the Groundnut Basin. It documents deforestation, soil exhaustion, salinisation and desertification. The report states that about 40% of cultivated land remains under groundnuts, even though Senegal’s share of global exports has fallen to around 1% from about 25% at independence. The authors link this to ongoing food-import dependence and to restoration efforts like the Great Green Wall.

From damage to dollars

The report does not put a final figure on colonial ecological damage. It explicitly states that assigning a number like $5 trillion or $100 trillion now ‘would be indefensible.’

Instead, it proposes a two-part approach: first, historical and geospatial reconstruction of environmental change using archives and remote sensing; second, monetary valuation using environmental input-output, footprint and trade-accounting methods.

The authors cite a 2022 study in Global Environmental Change that estimated unequal exchange transferred more than $10.8 trillion from the Global South to the Global North in 2015 alone, and about $242 trillion between 1990 and 2015. They use it to argue that large-scale valuation is technically feasible.

The report references Senator Ned Nwoko’s $5 trillion reparations demand as a current benchmark, but argues that excluding environmental loss means the debate is happening ‘without a complete accounting of what was extracted, destroyed and left behind.’

A legal opening

The authors say the international legal context is shifting. They point to Nauru v. Australia at the International Court of Justice as precedent for claims on environmental damage by former colonies.

They also note the African Union’s 2025 decision to review the classification of mass ecosystem destruction as a crime, with a report due in 2027. The report calls this a ‘time-limited institutional opportunity.’

What comes next

The report recommends the AU convene a multidisciplinary technical working group with governments, NGOs, research institutions and experts in economics, statistics, accounting, environmental science, engineering, estate management, geography, history and international law.

It proposes a framework that measures both ‘absolute environmental impact’ – total damage – and ‘proportional environmental impact’ – damage relative to a country’s ecological base. The goal, it says, is a rigorous, transparent and independently verifiable assessment completed in time to inform the AU’s ecocide review.

Conclusion

Prof. Onyekpe’s team concludes that the value of the report is not a final price tag, but a foundation. Colonial ecological damage, it argues, can be documented, linked to policy, measured physically, and eventually valued economically.

The numbers cited are stark: Ghana’s forests down to as little as 1.5 million hectares; 9-13 million barrels of oil spilled in the Niger Delta; about 8,000 people displaced at Bukaleba; 40% of Senegal’s farmland still in groundnuts; and 7% of South African land allocated to the African majority in 1913.

‘Together, however, they demonstrate the scale of a historical ledger that has largely remained outside the reparations debate,’ the report concludes.

The question it poses is no longer only ‘How much were Africa’s resources worth?’

It is: ‘What is the measurable value of the forests destroyed, soils exhausted, water systems contaminated, agricultural systems disrupted, biodiversity lost and communities displaced – and who bears responsibility for that loss today, and at what monetary value?’

Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike, has said he would become the first target should President Bola Tinubu lose the 2027 presidential election to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi.

Wike, who has made his support for Tinubu’s re-election a central feature of his current political activities despite remaining a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he was fully aware of the consequences of the position he had taken.

Speaking during a media chat monitored by our correspondent, the minister said the intensity of his support for Tinubu had already made him a prominent target of his political opponents.

‘I will be the first politician that I think they will come after. I will be the first politician. I know they will come for my head,’ he said.

Wike said the possibility of political consequences had not weakened his resolve to campaign for the president, insisting that he had no regrets about openly identifying with Tinubu.

Rather than retreating from the political contest, the minister said he remained focused on ensuring the president secures another term in office.

‘Each day I sleep, I am thinking about the president’s reelection. When I am eating, I think about the president’s reelection. Everything I am doing now is about the president’s reelection,’ he stated.

The former Rivers State governor said the criticism directed at him over his political position had been unusually intense.

But he maintained that he was not concerned about the names he had been called or the opinions expressed by his critics.

‘I don’t see where anybody in this country today has been called names the way my name has been. I am not bothered about people who say their [own] thing. My business is, like I said, I am going to support Mr President,’ he declared.

Wike’s position has placed him in an unusual political situation ahead of the 2027 election.

Although he remains in the PDP, he is backing Tinubu, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC, against opposition figures including Atiku and Obi.

His stance has also fuelled political disagreements within the PDP, particularly as efforts to construct a broad opposition platform for the 2027 election continue.

Atiku and Obi, who contested the 2023 presidential election on the platforms of the PDP and Labour Party respectively, are now associated with the emerging opposition realignment around the African Democratic Congress ADC.

For Wike, however, the political consequences of his choice are secondary to the objective he has set for himself.

He said he understood that a Tinubu defeat could expose him to reprisals from political opponents but insisted that such concerns would not change his decision to campaign for the president.

The minister’s comments underline the extent to which he has tied his current political engagement to Tinubu’s re-election bid, even as his continued membership of the PDP leaves him outside the president’s APC.

Wike has repeatedly maintained that he has never concealed his political intentions, arguing that his support for Tinubu should therefore not come as a surprise to anyone.

The constitution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 election is a significant step towards organising the party’s machinery for the contest ahead.

With President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Chairman and former Zamfara State Governor, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, as Director-General, the council brings together experienced political leaders from across the country.

However, beyond the calibre of individuals appointed, the effectiveness of a campaign council will ultimately depend on how well it reflects the diversity of the country it seeks to mobilise. Nigeria is a federation of more than 250 ethnic groups, six geopolitical zones, diverse faiths, generations, and social interests.

A presidential campaign that seeks a national mandate must, therefore, be seen not only as politically competent but also as genuinely inclusive.

The APC leadership deserves commendation for recognising the importance of women and youth mobilisation in the campaign structure. The published council includes dedicated positions for women mobilisation, youth mobilisation, and persons with disabilities, among others.

Yet, there is still room to deepen this inclusiveness by ensuring that the broader membership of the council provides a stronger reflection of Nigeria’s geographical, gender and demographic spread.

This is not merely about satisfying the principle of representation. It is about political strategy.

Beyond geographical and demographic representation, the composition of the council should also take into account the value of political heavyweights whose records of leadership, governance and electoral mobilisation can add considerable depth to the campaign.

Nigeria’s political landscape has produced governors, former governors, former presiding officers of the National Assembly, former ministers, senators, party leaders and other statesmen whose experience could be invaluable to a presidential campaign of national scale.

Some of these leaders have built formidable political structures, successfully contested and won elections, managed complex political coalitions and governed states with diverse populations.

Their inclusion would bring not only political stature but also institutional memory, strategic insight and established networks that could strengthen the campaign’s reach at both national and grassroots levels.

The APC should therefore consider creating sufficient room for respected political figures with demonstrable track records of political leadership, particularly those who have consistently contributed to the growth and stability of the party.

Personalities such as Senator George Akume, the incubent Secretary to the Government of the Federation, former Governor of Benue State, and former Minister of Special Duties, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, the first elected Woman Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, former Minister of State, FCT, a great mobilizer, Festus Kayamo SAN, a former Minister of State for Labour and Productivity and current Minister of Aviation and Airospace, Sen. Almakura Tanko, former Governor of Nasarawa State, among other personalities, can serve as bridges between the national campaign structure and influential political constituencies across the states.

Also, the inclusion of such personalities can help to manage the complex negotiations and alliances that inevitably accompany a presidential election.The importance of experienced political leaders becomes even more apparent in a contest as consequential as the 2027 presidential election.

There are areas in which veteran politicians with decades of experience can make a difference.

There is also strategic value in bringing together different generations of political leadership.

The wisdom and institutional memory of established political figures can complement the energy, innovation, and digital sophistication of younger leaders.

Rather than choosing between experience and youth, the APC can build a campaign structure in which both reinforce each other. Equally important is the inclusion of political leaders who command respect beyond their immediate states or geopolitical zones.

A presidential campaign should benefit from individuals whose influence cuts across regional, ethnic and political boundaries.

Their presence can help communicate the message that the APC’s 2027 campaign is not simply seeking votes but building a broad national coalition around the Renewed Hope agenda.

The principle should therefore be simple: every person brought into the campaign council should contribute something measurable to the collective objective-political experience, grassroots structure, national visibility, professional competence, demographic reach, communication capacity or a trusted constituency.

In that regard, expanding the council to accommodate more political heavyweights with proven records would not constitute an admission of weakness in the existing structure. It would demonstrate confidence in the strength of the APC’s political family and its willingness to deploy every available asset towards victory.

Women constitute a formidable electoral constituency; young Nigerians represent an enormous voting population; persons with disabilities, professionals, traditional institutions, community leaders, and grassroots organisers all possess networks that can influence electoral outcomes.

Giving such constituencies meaningful places at the campaign table allows the party to better understand their concerns and communicate its message through trusted voices.

The APC’s presidential campaign must therefore be visibly national in character, with credible representatives from the North-West, North-East, North-Central, South-West, South-East, and South-South since each zone has its peculiar political dynamics, aspirations, and concerns.

A campaign council that mirrors this diversity will be better positioned to develop messages and strategies that resonate across the federation rather than appearing concentrated around a few political centres.

Gender representation deserves particular attention.

Women should not be viewed principally as mobilisers who fill campaign grounds or deliver votes.

They should also be recognised as strategists, policy voices, administrators, communicators, and political leaders.

The presence of women in decision-making positions within the campaign structure would send a powerful message that the APC values their contribution beyond electoral mobilisation.

The same principle should apply to young people.

If the party hopes to win the confidence of a youthful electorate, young Nigerians must have more than symbolic representation.

They should be given responsibilities that place them at the centre of digital strategy, communications, policy messaging, grassroots mobilisation, and voter engagement.

The campaign of the future can not be designed entirely through the political language and structures of the past.

There is, therefore, a compelling case for expanding the membership of the council where necessary to accommodate more credible representatives across regions, gender and generations.

Such an expansion need not diminish the authority of those already appointed. Rather, it would strengthen the council by adding voices, networks, and perspectives capable of extending its reach to every constituency.

The APC should approach the 2027 presidential election with the understanding that victory will require more than political structures.

It will require a broad coalition of Nigerians who feel represented, respected, and heard.

An inclusive campaign council can become a symbol of that coalition.

President Tinubu’s re-election campaign should consequently be presented as a national project, not the project of a particular region, gender, generation, or political bloc.

The broader the tent, the wider the reach.

The wider the reach, the stronger the possibility of building the national consensus required for victory.

In politics, representation is not merely about who occupies a seat; it is about who has a voice in shaping the journey.

The APC has taken the first step by constituting its Presidential Campaign Council.

The next step should be to make that council as reflective as possible of the Nigeria it seeks to lead.

Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum, has constructed and handed over a 42-room patients’ apartment to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), to support healthcare development.

Commissioning the project at the hospital premises, Zulum said the facility was designed to alleviate the sufferings of patients’ relatives and visitors, many of whom travel long distances from various parts of the region to seek specialised medical care at the tertiary health institution.

This latest intervention at UMTH preceded previous interventions by the governor, including N100 million to support the hospital’s funding gaps for medical consumables and other needs, and the construction of 24 three-bedroom apartments for medical staff to reduce housing shortages and keep doctors closer to patients.

In addition, Zulum has ordered the release of N1 billion in financial support to facilitate kidney transplant and maternal health services at the hospital.

He also provided a N500 million intervention following the 2024 flood disaster.

The chief medical director of UMTH, Professor Ahmed Ahidjo, expressed gratitude to the governor and commended him for his relentless support.

Two teenagers have drowned in a river at Askplaye community in Kaduna State following torrential rainfall that affected parts of the state.

The victims were identified as Suleiman Yakubu, 19, and Abubakar Mohammed, 17.

Details of the incident remained sketchy as of Monday, but the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), North-West Operations Office, Kaduna, confirmed the incident.

The agency said the bodies of the two victims were yet to be recovered.

In a statement posted on its official Facebook page, NEMA said its North-West Operations Office, in collaboration with the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (KADSEMA) and other stakeholders, had continued to assess the flood situation following torrential rainfall that lasted for approximately four consecutive days, from Thursday to Monday, across parts of Kaduna metropolis.

It said the Head of Operations, Hajia Halima Suleiman, led the assessment team to communities affected by the flood to ascertain the extent and impact of the floodwaters.

According to the agency, some communities experienced flash floods which submerged roads and temporarily trapped some residents in their homes.

The flooding also disrupted movement, forcing residents to navigate through affected areas with caution. NEMA said Suleiman also visited the bereaved family of Yakubu to condole with them over the loss and offer support.

The agency said NEMA, KADSEMA and other emergency responders would continue to monitor the situation and assess the needs of affected communities to facilitate an appropriate response.

When I arrived in Jeddah on August 15 for the Strategic Business Leadership Programme jointly organised by the Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) and Prince Mohammed Bin Salman College of Business and Entrepreneurship (MBSC), I expected to learn about strategy, decision-making and organisational leadership.

I did.

But I left with something more profound: a renewed understanding that before we can lead organisations, institutions or countries, we must first learn to lead ourselves.

That may sound like a familiar leadership cliché. After all, Nigeria has no shortage of leadership conferences, seminars, motivational speakers and management courses.

But there is a difference between learning the vocabulary of leadership and genuinely examining the human being behind the leader.

That difference became clear to me during this programme.

The 2026 cohort brought together 30 participants from 15 IsDB member countries, including Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Bangladesh, Niger, Somalia, Kenya and India.

It was a fascinating classroom.

Different countries. Different sectors. Different cultures. Different leadership experiences.

Yet many of our challenges sounded remarkably familiar.

That, perhaps, was the first lesson: geography may change the context of leadership, but the human questions remain remarkably universal.

Leadership begins with the leader

One of the most profound parts of the programme for me was the session led by Professor Muhammad Azam Roomi.

Professor Roomi did not approach leadership merely as a collection of techniques for managing people. He took us deeper-into self-awareness, social awareness, emotional regulation, relationships, personality, behaviour, belief and what it means to win hearts and minds.

His teaching style was unusual.

He could move from a professional explanation to a social interpretation and then into a spiritual reflection, often within minutes.

As a space enthusiast, I sometimes felt as though I was touring the Milky Way galaxy-moving from one idea about human behaviour to another and discovering parts of myself I had not consciously stopped to examine.

The lesson was uncomfortable in the best possible way.

We often ask: What kind of leader do I want to become?

Perhaps the more important question is: Who am I becoming while I lead?

Nigeria’s leadership conversation often focuses on institutions, policies, elections, corruption, economic growth and governance. These are important.

But behind every institution are human beings.

And the quality of an institution cannot consistently rise above the quality of the people leading it.

This is why leadership development cannot simply be about acquiring technical skills. It must also involve character, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, judgement and the ability to understand how our behaviour affects others.

The politics we pretend does not exist

Another important lesson came from examining organisational politics.

The phrase itself often carries a negative connotation. We associate politics in organisations with manipulation, favouritism, alliances and hidden agendas.

But organisational politics is not necessarily synonymous with manipulation.

Every organisation has competing interests, informal networks, influence, relationships and power dynamics.

The real leadership challenge is understanding these dynamics without losing one’s values.

Sometimes leadership means knowing when to step forward.

Sometimes it means building an alliance.

Sometimes it means influencing people towards a shared objective.

And sometimes, perhaps most importantly, it means knowing when to hold back.

This is a lesson that has relevance far beyond corporate boardrooms.

It applies to newsrooms, government ministries, civil society organisations, businesses and even families.

Leaders who pretend these dynamics do not exist often become victims of them.

Leaders who understand them can navigate them ethically.

The power of a secure base

Another concept that stayed with me was the idea of the Secure Base.

At its simplest, it is the understanding that people are more likely to grow, take risks and venture beyond their comfort zones when they have someone who provides psychological safety, confidence and encouragement-while still challenging them to stretch themselves.

It made me think about Nigerian workplaces.

How many employees have the confidence to tell their boss, ‘I think we are getting this wrong’?

How many young professionals feel safe enough to propose an unconventional idea?

How many people are encouraged to experiment, fail, learn and try again?

And how many talented people remain silent because they have learned that speaking up carries consequences?

A leader should not merely be the person who gives instructions.

A good leader should create an environment from which people have the courage to take the next step.

This is particularly important for young Nigerians.

We have an extraordinarily young and ambitious population. If our organisations are designed primarily to protect hierarchy rather than encourage initiative, we will continue to waste enormous amounts of human potential.

Strategy is meaningless without execution

The programme also challenged us to think differently about strategy.

Dr Farzad Khan explored motivation, storytelling and influence, reminding us that leaders do not persuade people simply by presenting facts. People connect with stories, meaning and purpose.

Tarek El-Masry took us through the journey from Strategy Design to Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard.

And Professor Zeger Degraeve challenged our assumptions about decision-making through highly interactive cases.

One question from the programme particularly stayed with me:

When to play and how to win.

It is a deceptively simple question.

Nigeria has never suffered from a shortage of ideas, strategies, policies or development plans.

Our more persistent challenge has often been execution.

A strategy that remains on paper is not a strategy that has changed lives.

Leadership therefore requires the ability to translate vision into action, align people behind it, make difficult decisions and remain accountable for outcomes.

What happens when leaders from 15 countries share one room?

Perhaps one of the most valuable aspects of the programme was what happened outside the formal curriculum.

Thirty people from 15 countries became colleagues, friends and sounding boards.

A conversation with someone from Pakistan could change how you viewed a challenge in Nigeria.

A perspective from Indonesia could challenge an assumption you had carried for years.

A colleague from Kazakhstan, Ghana, Somalia, India or Morocco could offer an entirely different way of approaching a problem you thought you understood.

This is the often-underestimated power of diversity.

Diversity does not necessarily give us one answer.

It gives us more ways to see the question.

We also had the opportunity to hear directly from senior leaders of IsDBI about how the institution operates, its mandate and how it works with and supports member countries. It was an opportunity to connect classroom lessons with the realities of a major multilateral development institution.

The programme itself reflects a broader commitment by IsDBI and MBSC to develop leadership and human capital across IsDB member countries. The partnership was established to combine executive education with practical approaches to strategic thinking, value creation, responsible governance and sustainable impact.

For Nigeria, this kind of investment in human capital should matter.

We often talk about infrastructure.

We talk about roads, electricity, technology, healthcare and education.

But institutions are ultimately built and sustained by people.

Human capital is not a soft issue.

It is infrastructure too.

The Nigerian leadership question

My greatest takeaway from Jeddah is therefore not a particular management tool or framework.

It is a question:

What kind of leaders are we deliberately developing for Nigeria’s future?

Leaders who can manage people but cannot manage themselves?

Leaders who understand authority but not influence?

Leaders who can develop strategies but cannot execute them?

Leaders who demand loyalty but cannot create psychological safety?

Or leaders who understand that leadership is ultimately about people, purpose, responsibility and impact?

Nigeria does not lack talented people.

What we need is a stronger culture of deliberately developing those talents into ethical, strategic, emotionally intelligent and courageous leaders.

That development cannot be left only to chance.

It must happen in our universities, newsrooms, businesses, government institutions, civil society organisations and professional bodies.

And it must begin early.

Because leadership is not something we suddenly acquire when we are given a title.

It is something we practise long before anyone calls us a leader.

I arrived in Jeddah expecting a great leadership programme.

I left with knowledge, friendships, renewed self-awareness and a different perspective on what leadership demands.

But perhaps the most important lesson was also the simplest:

Leadership is not only about leading organisations. It begins with learning to lead yourself.

And for a country like Nigeria, perhaps that is where the next chapter of our leadership story must begin.

Halima Umar Saleh is a Senior Editor at TRT Afrika