Category: Nigerian Tribune

YEEP Alumni Nigeria has called for greater and more meaningful participation of young people in decision-making processes as part of efforts to prevent violent extremism and strengthen peace and security in the country.

The YEEP alumni, a network of young Nigerians focused on preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE), made the call in a statement issued to mark International Youth Day 2026, with the theme, ‘Different Contexts, Common Aspirations.’

It said although young people live in different circumstances, including communities affected by conflict, unemployment, displacement, discrimination, political exclusion, drug abuse, online manipulation, and distrust in public institutions, they share common aspirations for safety, respect, education, employment, participation and a better future.

According to the statement, these aspirations should not be viewed solely as development concerns but also as critical peace and security issues.

The PCVE-focused network said prevention should begin before young people are recruited into extremist groups or violence escalates, stating however that early prevention requires communities to pay attention to grievances, provide safe avenues for young people to express their concerns, counter misinformation and hate narratives, and create credible alternatives to violence.

According to the statement marking the IYD2026 celebration, young people are often portrayed in PCVE discussions either as vulnerable individuals who could be recruited by extremist groups or as instruments for fighting extremism.

It, however, argued that both perspectives were incomplete.

‘Young people are not simply potential victims or instruments of prevention. They are already community actors, peacebuilders, educators, digital communicators, entrepreneurs, volunteers, early-warning actors and bridge-builders. Their proximity to community realities gives them knowledge that institutions and programmes may not always capture. Their presence in schools, markets, religious spaces, neighbourhoods and online communities means that they often encounter emerging tensions, rumours and harmful narratives before they become visible to formal systems,’ the statement partly reads.

Continuing, the youth network said young people’s proximity to community realities gives them valuable knowledge that institutions and programmes may not always capture.

However, it stressed that meaningful youth participation must go beyond inviting young people to workshops, conferences, and commemorative events, adding that participation must translate into actual influence over policies, programmes and community decisions.

‘A young person who is consulted but whose recommendations never shape a programme, policy or community decision has been heard, but not meaningfully included. Similarly, training young people in peacebuilding without creating pathways for them to apply those skills leaves valuable capacity underused.

‘We therefore believe that the 2026 International Youth Day theme provides an opportunity to reconsider how societies approach youth engagement in peace and security,’ the statement added.

On the digital environment, the group said violent extremism increasingly interacts with misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, conspiracy narratives, and identity-based manipulation and therefore advocated stronger media and information literacy programmes to equip young people and communities to identify manipulation, verify information and resist narratives that promote hatred or violence.

The youth-led network, which graduated from the Youth Engagement and Empowerment Programme (YEEP), a prgramme run by the United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), also urged stakeholders to create credible alternatives to violence by providing young people with opportunities to learn, earn, organise, participate and contribute to their communities.

It said economic empowerment should be viewed not only as an income issue but also as a means of strengthening young people’s agency, dignity and resilience.

On community-based prevention, the group stressed that there is no single pathway into violent extremism and no universal solution, urging stakeholders to develop interventions based on local realities, grievances, relationships and existing peace mechanisms rather than adopting one-size-fits-all approaches.

YEEP Alumni Nigeria further called for meaningful youth participation in local and national peace and security processes; greater investment in youth-led prevention initiatives; stronger media and information literacy; accessible economic and livelihood opportunities; locally grounded PCVE approaches; and safe spaces for dialogue across social, ethnic, and religious divides.

The network urged governments, development partners, civil society organisations, community and religious leaders, the media and technology platforms to stop treating young people merely as ‘leaders of tomorrow.’

‘Young people are already living with the consequences of decisions being made today. They must therefore have a meaningful role in shaping those decisions today.’

The Bauchi State chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), over the weekend, received thousands of defectors from various political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and Allied Peoples Movement (APM).

The figure, according to the APC, was not fewer than 157,000 members of various political parties, thereby increasing the strength of the APC and boosting its popularity ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The defectors were formally received into the APC during a major party gathering held in Azare, where party leaders, stakeholders and supporters gathered to welcome the new members.

Speaking at the occasion, the leader of the APC in Bauchi State and Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, said the new members had been formally admitted into the APC, with their details documented as registered members of the party.

Ali Pate described the mass defection as a demonstration of growing confidence in the APC and its leadership in Bauchi State. He called on old and new members of the party to work together as one family, stressing that unity, mutual respect and commitment would be crucial to the party’s success in future elections.

The minister also urged the people of Bauchi State to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s bid for a second term in 2027, saying the President’s administration had implemented several projects and programmes beneficial to the state.

He maintained that Tinubu’s achievements across various sectors justified his re-election, urging APC members to mobilise support for the President ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Also speaking, the 2027 APC governorship candidate in Bauchi State and former governor, Barrister Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar, SAN, urged members to set aside their differences and strengthen unity within the party.

Muhammad Abdullahi Abubakar said the growing number of new members joining the APC presented both an opportunity and a responsibility for the party, urging the defectors to regard themselves as full members of the APC family.

He also appealed to long-standing members to welcome the new entrants and work with them towards building a stronger political structure across the state.

According to him, ‘Unity would be critical to effective grassroots mobilisation and ensuring that the APC remains competitive in all parts of Bauchi State.’

Speaking on behalf of the new members, Deputy governorship running mate, Hon. Farouq Mustapha, expressed appreciation for the reception accorded the defectors, describing his return to the APC as a homecoming.

According to him, ‘I am a son of the house, APC is my home and I have returned home.’

He assured the party leadership that the new members were prepared to contribute to the growth and success of the APC, while calling for cooperation between old and new members.

Farouq Mustapha, who announced the number of defectors, said the group had recorded 157,000 new members across the political platforms it had reached out to.

‘Across the parties I listed, from the APM to the NDC, we have a total of 157,000 people on our records. We did not simply make noise; we quietly reached out and appealed to them, and those who deemed us worthy agreed to join us and align with the APC,’ he said.

He urged APC members to embrace one another and shun divisions, stressing that the party’s success would depend on unity, discipline and effective coordination.

The Azare gathering attracted APC leaders, stakeholders, supporters and the newly defected members, who pledged their commitment to the party and its programmes in Bauchi State.

Governor Ademola Adeleke has made history in Osun by securing a second term in office, becoming only the third elected governor in the state to win re-election since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

Adeleke, who contested Saturday’s governorship election on the platform of the Accord Party after leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), defeated his closest challenger, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Bola Oyebamiji.

The governor polled 511,067 votes against Oyebamiji’s 444,815 votes, winning by a margin of 66,252 votes. He also carried 19 of the state’s 30 local government areas.

His victory puts him in the company of former governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Rauf Aregbesola, who were also able to secure second terms in office.

For years, the politics of Osun has been characterised by fierce contests, shifting alliances and the difficulty of incumbents securing consecutive electoral mandates. But Adeleke has now broken that pattern. What, therefore, worked in his favour?

Incumbency advantage

Adeleke went into the election with the advantage of incumbency and four years of visibility across the state.

As governor, he had the opportunity to implement and publicise government programmes, commission projects and maintain regular contact with communities and interest groups.

Beyond the projects and programmes of his administration, incumbency also gave Adeleke an established political platform from which to mobilise supporters across the state.

In a closely contested election such as Osun’s, the advantage of being the sitting governor can be significant, particularly when combined with a strong grassroots structure.

Adeleke family’s political influence

The political influence of the Adeleke family remained an important factor in the election.

The family has maintained a strong presence in Osun politics, particularly in Osun West, where it has built a formidable political network over the years.

Adeleke’s political structure, reinforced by loyalists and supporters who have remained with him through successive elections, provided the organisational base needed to prosecute the campaign.

The family’s influence was also evident in Adeleke’s emergence in the 2022 governorship election, when he defeated the then-incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola.

PDP structure followed him to Accord

One of the major talking points ahead of the election was Adeleke’s decision to leave the PDP and contest under the Accord Party.

Ordinarily, changing political platforms shortly before an election could pose a serious organisational challenge.

However, the absence of a PDP candidate meant that Adeleke was able to retain much of the political support associated with his previous platform.

Rather than dissipating, the political structure built around Adeleke largely moved with him to Accord.

This became particularly important in a contest where the APC was seeking to regain control of the state.

Opposition vote split

Another factor that worked in Adeleke’s favour was the failure of the opposition vote to consolidate behind a single challenger.

While Oyebamiji emerged as the APC candidate and the major challenger to Adeleke, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) also fielded Najeem Salaam, a former Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly and a former governorship candidate.

Salaam’s participation provided another option for voters opposed to the incumbent.

He eventually finished third with 17,180 votes, meaning a portion of the votes that could have otherwise strengthened the APC challenge went to another opposition platform.

In a closely fought election, such a division can make a significant difference.

Strong grassroots mobilisation

The results also showed that Adeleke’s campaign was able to translate political support into votes across several local government areas.

The governor won 19 of the 30 local government areas, including key areas such as Osogbo.

In Osogbo, Adeleke secured 36,480 votes against Oyebamiji’s 30,474 votes.

His performance across several areas traditionally associated with the PDP also helped build the statewide margin that ultimately delivered victory.

The ability to mobilise voters at the grassroots level, particularly in areas where political structures are deeply rooted, proved crucial.

APC’s failure to fully exploit anti-incumbency

The APC entered the election with the objective of reclaiming Osun after losing the state to Adeleke in 2022.

Oyebamiji, a former Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), was presented as the party’s candidate in an effort to challenge the incumbent.

The party, however, could not convert its opposition strength into a statewide majority.

Although the APC won 11 local government areas, its total votes remained below Adeleke’s tally by more than 66,000.

The result suggests that opposition to the incumbent, where it existed, was not sufficiently concentrated to dislodge him.

The 2022 victory provided a foundation

Adeleke’s 2026 victory cannot be separated from his breakthrough four years earlier.

In 2022, he defeated Oyetola in one of the most closely watched governorship elections in the state.

That victory gave him four years to establish himself as governor, consolidate his political base and strengthen his relationships with communities and political stakeholders.

The 2026 election therefore became a test of whether the support that brought him to office in 2022 could be sustained.

The result indicates that he succeeded in retaining a substantial portion of that support.

Symbolic victories at political heavyweights’ polling units

Some of the results from polling units associated with prominent political figures also provided symbolic highlights during the election.

Adeleke’s party won at a polling unit associated with former governor Gboyega Oyetola, repeating the feat recorded during the 2022 election.

Such results may not determine the overall outcome of an election, but they often carry considerable political significance, particularly in a state where political personalities and their support bases remain influential.

The results also demonstrated that voters did not necessarily follow the political preferences of prominent leaders in their respective communities.

A different chapter in Osun politics

Beyond the numbers, Adeleke’s re-election represents a significant development in the political history of Osun.

His victory shows that an incumbent governor can overcome the state’s historically competitive political environment and secure a second consecutive mandate.

It also highlights the importance of a combination of factors – incumbency, grassroots mobilisation, political structures, family influence, opposition vote splitting and the ability to consolidate support across local government areas.

The victory now gives him another four years to consolidate his administration and pursue the policies and programmes on which he sought a fresh mandate.

More importantly, Adeleke has joined the small circle of Osun governors who have successfully crossed the second-term hurdle – breaking what had become a significant political jinx in the state.

Over 500 residents from within and outside Alakia trooped out recently for a free health outreach at the ALGON Ibadan Airport Community PHC, Airport Road, Alakia, Egbeda LGA.

The two-day programme offered free BP checks, diabetes and cholesterol screening, prostate cancer and malaria tests, dental care, mental health counselling, and free medications.

Organised by the Global Health Charity and Training Foundation in collaboration with UCH, Ibadan, the Oyo State Ministry of Health, and UCH Alumni Class of 1991, the outreach aimed to expand access to basic healthcare and link patients to further treatment.

Speaking at the venue, Dr. Adebayo Akintobi of the Global Health Charity and Training Foundation, in an interview with Tribune Online said the exercise was aimed at expanding access to healthcare while upgrading the PHC to a functional Level 2 facility.

‘When we walked in here this morning, there were probably about 300 people waiting in the waiting area. We are expecting to see about 400 patients here today,’ Akintobi said.

He commended the local organising committee, the CMD and CMAC of UCH, Professor Olubukola Adesina, and the ALAC team for their efforts.

‘This PHC was almost literally non-existent two years ago, but we are trying to elevate the status of this PHC,’ he stated.

Akintobi announced that the UCH Class of 1991 is adopting the PHC to serve as a training site.

‘We want to adopt this PHC such that the Family Medicine Department of UCH will be able to use this now for training of medical residents and medical doctors. This is a full-throated collaboration that involves UCH, the PHC, and allied care,’ he said.

He disclosed that 150 volunteers, including medical students, residents, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and lab scientists, are on ground.

Food for volunteers was donated by the Trimble Foundation, Lagos.

The dental unit is led by Dr. Deola Fale and Dr. Dedeke, a community dentist from UCH. Dr. Akintobi also acknowledged the donation of a brand new dental chair by the PHC Executive Secretary, Dr. Latunji.

Services being offered include checks for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, Hepatitis B, and PSA prostate cancer screening for men. Patients diagnosed with new conditions will receive two months of free medications.

‘500 people have registered in this PHC. They paid ?1,500 to register here. So they already have a medical home. Dr. Aderintor is the Family Physician Consultant here. They have three dental hygienists here,’ Akintobi said, adding that the team will provide resources to sustain the flow of care.

According to Akintobi, the Alakia outreach is part of ongoing activities by the UCH ’91 set. The team was in Lagos on Monday and Tuesday, where 1,000 patients were attended to in two days. Concurrently, Dr. John-Louis Toubou is leading orthopedic surgeries in Lagos, while Dr. Nneka Folabi, Dr. Akonde, and Dr. Sikiru Adebayo are leading surgical and endoscopy teams at UCH.

On crowd control, he said the group has experience from previous outreaches in Owerri and Sagamu. ‘Once people see orderliness and compassion, they reciprocate. That is part of what is missing in our society today,’ he said.

Also in chat with Tribune Online at the sidelines of the medical outreach programme, another member of the Class of 1991 set, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Dr Fola Oluwehinmi, a physician, described the two-day free medical outreach as the defining highlight of their 35th year reunion and a practical contribution to nation building.

According to Oluwehinmi, the initiative gave the reunion deeper meaning beyond celebration.

‘When I look around, I am very happy. This makes our reunion a lot more memorable. This is not just later on, when we will have our time to meet each other and to felicitate. But this makes our reunion much more memorable in the sense of service, giving back to society,’ Oluwehinmi said.

‘We’re all products of UCH, where we went to medical school. But giving back to society like this collaborative effort of medical and dental outreach is much more humanitarian. It helps us to remember this reunion very well.’

He commended the leadership of Dr. Adebayo Akintobi and Dr. Irabo for driving the initiative, noting that the turnout and organisation had been impressive.

Oluwehinmi disclosed that the class plans to adopt the Primary Health Centre in Alakia as a training and service hub for UCH’s Family Medicine Department.

Confirming Oluwehinmi’s statement, Akintobi added that the project is being executed in partnership with the Cooperation Private Sector Alliance of Nigeria, which aims to adopt 774 PHCs across the country.

‘This will be a flagship for Oyo State, in our opinion, because now there’s still a panel in this primary that wasn’t there before. There’s a pump that brings bottled water that wasn’t there before. There are three dental chairs that are being used today that weren’t there before,’ he said.

The UCH ’91 alumnus also acknowledged the support of Dr. Olatunji, Executive Secretary, Oyo State Primary Health Care Board, and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ajayi Chamundi, a family physician and UCH alumnus, for their role in the collaboration.

On whether other alumni sets would be encouraged to replicate the model, Dr. Oluwehonmi said: ‘Little drops of water make a mighty ocean. UCH ’91 is taking this step… Others will hear about it. One will tell one. When we are done with this, I will mention this to maybe a friend in the ’90 class or a colleague in the 2000 class. There’s no way an effort like this will not inspire somebody else.’

He described the initiative as part of broader efforts to rebuild the country’s health capacity, stressing that ‘the government cannot do it alone, and that’s why you are here. It takes the partnership of the public and the private sector coming together with a clear vision and with good leadership to make things happen.’

Akintobi also hinted that the next phase of the outreach would focus on Bayelsa and Rivers States, where arrangements are already underway to adopt two PHCs in each state.

‘We were in Lagos just two days ago, but the level of organisation here today is first class. We have done some side visits in those states as we speak right now,’ he added.

The UCH Class of ’91 said it hopes the Alakia PHC model will serve as a template for other alumni groups seeking to give back to their communities.

Beneficiaries of the free medical outreach in Alakia, Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State have expressed their gratitude to the Class of 1991 from the University College Hospital, Ibadan, and its partners for making healthcare services more accessible to the community.

Residents of Alakia and environs in Akinyele Local Government Area have commended the organisers of the ongoing free medical outreach by the University College Hospital, UCH, Class of ’91, describing the exercise as well-coordinated and beneficial to the community.

Speaking during the 2-day outreach, Chief Adesina Adekunle, Chairman of Anoluwa Community Association, said the planning and conduct of the programme stood out.

‘The planners did very well. The whole thing is well-organized. And the staff who are attending to us are doing the thing diligently. So there’s no hurry-hurry. They are doing the thing the way it should be,’ Chief Adekunle said.

When asked if he had experienced a similar intervention in the area before, the community leader said it was the first of its kind.

‘No, this initiative is laudable and this is the first of its kind In this area because I live here,’ he said. ‘As a matter of fact, I’m chairman of one of the associations here – Anoluwa Community.’

Chief Adekunle disclosed that he presented his health complaints at the outreach and he was attended to promptly.

‘Yes, I came here, gave them my complaints, and they ran tests for me,’ he stated. ‘And as a matter of fact, I’ve been given a referral to UCH to receive treatment for one of the problems I complained about,’ Adekunle added.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Samuel Afolabi, mentioned that the initiative has significantly eased the difficulty of accessing treatment.

He noted that many residents who would typically have to travel to UCH for care are now receiving treatment in their own community.

‘I really appreciate what they are doing for us. It has helped us a lot. We were expecting to go to UCH, but now this service is available right here. Thank God,’ Afolabi said at the outreach event.

When asked about the services he sought, he explained that he had come for a general medical check-up and dental care.

‘For a general body check-up, including dental health. They told us to come back the next day for dental treatment. They examined me today and found several issues. I’m very happy to be here now. The way they treat us is excellent, and the best part is that everything is free,’ he stated.

For another beneficiary of the free medical outreach, who identified herself as Miss Orimisan Ebun iyebiye also expressed satisfaction with the care received, saying the free services made the experience worthwhile.

According to iyebiye who came to the 2-day outreach to look for a solution to her eye problems, said she had difficulty seeing when it is sunny and complained of difficulty in seeing objects at a distance.

‘I’ve come for the treatment of my eyes. I always find it difficult to see when the sun comes out, and I can’t see things from far,’ she said.

According to her, medical personnel at the outreach screened her and determined that the available glasses were not suitable for her condition.

‘They said that the glasses they have are not for me, but I was given free medication at the PHC pharmacy,’ she explained.

She added that she was also advised to visit a health centre for further evaluation to ‘learn to see.’

When asked if she was happy with the outcome, the beneficiary responded in the affirmative, citing cost as a major factor, saying the free access to medical care and a doctor at your doorstep initiative of the outreach was a big relief to her.

Another resident highlighted that the program has brought medical services to parts of the community that rarely receive such assistance.

‘The program has provided medical treatment to the entire area, even to those of us from less accessible parts. I typically have to travel quite a distance, but now everything is going well,’ he expressed.

The National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has lost his Ilesa East local government to the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Oyebamiji.

According to the results announced from the local government area, Oyebamiji’s APC emerged victorious in Ilesa East with 16,208 votes while Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party got 12,280 votes.

Aregbesola’s ADC came third in his local government, polling just 504 votes.

Earlier, Tribune Online reports that the former governor lost his polling unit 01, Isare/Ifofin, ward 8, after polling 13 votes while the winner, APC, got 256 votes and Accord received 43 votes.

Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party has secured a landslide victory in Ede North Local Government Area, his home council, in the ongoing Osun governorship election.

Final collation figures from the local government showed that Adeleke polled 35,427 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who garnered 10,283 votes.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Najeem Salaam, received 307 votes in the local government.

The result gave the Accord Party a margin of 25,144 votes over the APC in Ede North, further strengthening Adeleke’s performance in his political stronghold.

Ede North is regarded as one of the governor’s key support bases and was closely watched as votes were counted across the state.

In this piece, I am interested in distilling the consequences, in economic and governance terms, of what investing in public service institutional reform would mean for the Nigerian government, going forward. And by investment, I speak to the possibility of the government being willing to facilitate foreign low-interest loans from the entire gamut of multilateral partners that could be committed to the urgent task of rehabilitating the administrative and institutional structures on which the efficient and effective operational performance and productivity of the public service rests. Foreign loans have often been secured to fund physical infrastructures. But then, what arguments can we marshal for not extending the same measure to the funding of human and institutional infrastructures, especially those core institutions that make up the civil/public service, given their relevance to Nigeria’s democratic governance and national productivity?

Why must the government pursue this option? The sole justification is none other than the weak capability readiness of the civil service administrative system (in spite of the numerous reforms) to backstop institutional performance that will deepen and consolidate democratic governance and national development policy outcomes for the benefit of Nigerians. In the past, development plans and contingent administrative reforms have failed for three out of several cogent reasons. The first is that there has remained a lack of willpower both at political and administrative leadership levels, backed up with significant investment and resourcing in all the past reforms. This, in a measure that could enable reform blueprints and change programmes to fully reengineer the old Weberian bureaucratic structures and processes, so that reform managers and change agents could follow through with the reforms to the point of their institutionalisation within the operating systems of the MDAs. This would have firmly enabled them to achieve the installation, beyond pronouncements and mere rhetoric, of the capacity, capability and resilience needed to execute complex policy processes, projects and programmes required to shape development management in the twenty-first century.

Secondly, the public service is confronted with the curse of resource-use efficiency. This implies that budgets and resources are often lost or swallowed up by often bloated and inefficient administrative processes and systems that by that very reason are unable to, and incapable of, facilitating the creation of public value. At the third level, and quite so unfortunately, the wage and remuneration structure is designed to support, in a manner of speaking, the retention of a thousand mediocre employees where only two hundred well-remunerated, self-motivated and well-trained highly skilled professionals could be employed to do the same level of jobs much more smartly and with a higher level of productivity. This lack of competitive wage structure is one cogent reason why the government has lost its status as the employer of choice to the private sector.

Investing the infusion of low-interest foreign loans into these structural and institutional administrative reforms is meant to boost the chances of the civil service in picking up on its institutional transformations in terms of performance management systems, the continuous financing of professional and managerial training, competitive wage structures, and the blocking of systemic leakages through which bureaucratic corrupt practices are enabled, and more. We must again be grateful for the ongoing HR audit of the federal civil service approved by HE President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In its fullness, this auditing exercise and its iteration will lay open the massive institutional gaps across the MDAs that such an investment of funds will be directed at. And before this audit is completed, the process for sourcing for and procuring the loans must have been jumpstarted to coincide with the end of the audit and the commencement of the institutional reform, as much as it is practicable.

There are already several nodal administrative and structural/institutional points that will be the beneficiaries of the investment. One of the most immediate recipients of such a critical investment will be the federal secretariat complex that is very crucial to any reform efforts. The secretariat is a physical structure that plays a fundamental role in structural and institutional transformation of the workforce. However, many of the critical facilities and infrastructures that will be needed to enable workforce productivity need urgent upgrade in order to be able to become operationally efficient. Some of these facilities are the very basics: reprofiled workspaces, decent furniture upgrade, good lighting, proper ventilation, low noise levels, getting the office spaces internet-ready through upgrade with high-capacity ISP cum fibre optic connections, implementing structured maintenance policy that enables asset tracking, routine servicing, energy efficiency and safety compliance, and dedicated collaborative spaces. Another immediate investment is demanded by the urgency of automation for resource planning through deployment of digital tools and AI to manage budgets, government assets, inventory tracking, and to connect isolated departments/field offices, etc. into shared platforms, across the entire MDAs. At the general level, this is meant to enlarge and expand the ongoing digitisation reform of the workforce and workspace to improve bureaucratic efficiency usually undermined by manual delays and red tape. The digitisation reform is also meant to strengthen existing centralised digital frameworks to deepen digital literacy and institutional learning. This will also specifically upgrade data security and firm up communication networks while filling data and statistical gaps in the MDAs.

These initial investment interventions have a deeper bearing on human resource management, planning, research and statistics functions and dynamics in the MDAs. This manifests most distinctly in the need to professionalise and incentivise the job roles involved in this professionalisation. This can also be backstopped by continuous structured training and capacity development that expand the opportunities for continuous learning through specialised leadership modules and digital platforms. This is already contained in such initiatives like the Structured Mandatory Assessment-Based Training Programme (SMAT-P) and the Leadership Enhancement and Development Programme (LEAD-P) flagship capacity-building programme for mid-level civil servants. This automatically affects the need to also upgrade the several manpower development institutes and the government training institutions that are charged with manpower and infrastructural development objectives.

Critical intervention funds must also be invested in launching a solid merit-based recruitment platform that must benefit from both the digitisation of the federal secretariat as well as the strengthening of the manpower requirements and the need for a reevaluated and upgraded job roles. This reevaluation implies focusing on both the reform of the competitive wage and remuneration packages, a serious investment in staff welfare schemes (including housing loans, healthcare and medical provisions, pension and retirement security), as well as the work-life balance that involves revitalising the senior and junior staff clubs, for instance. The civil service reform measures will not be complete and robust enough without investment in social assistance packages designed to backstop any rightsizing and downsizing measures that might arise within the context of re-professionalising, redundancy sorting and the dynamic of change management.

The federal government cannot but apply funds to systems remodelling that institutionalise performance management systems. This, being the single most fundamental component of the civil service reform that attends to modernised appraisal methods, one that transcends the annual performance evaluation report (APER) in connecting performance to career management, mobility and productivity. The foundation for this performance transformation lies in the implementation of a robust culture and attitudinal change programme, especially through the institutionalisation of a mentoring programme as well as a performance and consequence management project. Last, but not the least, investment funds must also intervene in the resuscitation of civil service professional bodies, and especially the National Association for Public Administration and Management (NAPAM). This goes a long way in not only strengthening but also deepening the collaborative synergies among the communities of service and of practice.

The larger and even more fundamental argument I will dedicate the rest of the piece to is that investing large doses of funds in civil service reform is not just urgent and fundamental in itself; it is a cogent and foundational investment in economic growth and development. And this investment drives not just economic growth but grounds democratic governance through a crucial engagement with improving public sector efficiency and effectiveness, mitigating bureaucratic corruption and building investors’ confidence. Public sector efficiency is driven by key and foundational reforms at several levels with clear-cut economic and developmental benefits. Merit-based recruitment, for example, will undercut the bloated budget that goes into hiring too many staff who will not be as effective as hiring key competent and skilled public servants that can adequately man critical economic and development agencies.

Better and efficient service delivery is required to facilitate and speed up the ease of doing business that involves business registration, licensing, trade processes, and many more. Achieving efficiency in this context also demands cutting down on administrative bottlenecks and undermining the culture of waste and redundancy. This also, most fundamentally as a reform imperative, requires that accountability measures must be strengthened within the ambit of, say, public procurement, automated tax systems, and performance tracking. Applying critical components in digital and digitisation reforms will go a long way to strengthen anti-corruption practices that plug systemic leaks through enhanced transparency and streamlined regulatory frameworks. All these are very important for fast-tracking economic growth while also restoring foreign and domestic private sector investors’ confidence in the economic and business environment of the Nigerian state.

It should already be obvious what returns on investment the Nigerian government can expect on deploying foreign low-interest loans to facilitate civil service institutional reform. The most immediate return on investment, as I hinted earlier, is the transformation of the capacity readiness of the public service system to keep backstopping the government’s commitment to Nigerians through efficient service delivery of the dividends of democratic governance. And this public service institutional reform contributes a bulk of other benefits that indirectly manifest as governance and fiscal improvements to the Nigerian economy. A key possibility is how the ability to streamline administrative operations can enable the government to free up revenues that could, for instance, be deployed towards the servicing of low-cost external debts.

If public sector institutional reform can be sufficiently achieved, we cannot begin to underestimate the rolling effects on economic, governance and productivity returns, especially in terms of optimising the MDAs, eliminating ghost workers, reducing the monthly wage bill, automating the payroll and the legion of HRM processes, and more. These have solid implications for the attempt to lower recurrent costs of the government and free up revenues for more governance and development projects.

I hope this piece will instigate a new dimension of political and bureaucratic reflection on how urgent we want the civil service institutional reform to happen, and the tantalising possibilities that the efficiency of the public service can yield for governance and economic progress.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested a 48-year-old businessman, Nwankwo Innocent Onyebuchi, at the Lagos International Airport while heading to New Delhi, India, with 1.550 kilogrammes of cocaine cleverly concealed within the side walls and railings of his bag.

A statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, on Sunday said Nwankwo, who deals in marble in Lagos, was arrested at the departure hall of Terminal II of the Lagos airport while attempting to board a Qatar Airways flight to New Delhi, India. A search of his check-in bag uncovered 1.550 kilogrammes of cocaine factory-fitted into the walls and railings of the bag.

In a candid confession that lays bare the desperation that fuels the drug trade, Nwankwo said he had sold off his marble business and every asset he owned to raise the N23 million he paid for the consignment, with the expectation of selling it in India for as much as N100 million.

With his assets gone and his dream of transiting from a marble trader to a drug kingpin effectively shattered following his arrest, the suspect remains in custody awaiting prosecution and a possible prison sentence.

In another operation, NDLEA operatives, acting on credible intelligence, raided a warehouse within a residential compound at 20 Hakeem Dosumu Street, Ago Palace area of Okota, Lagos, where a massive stockpile of codeine-based syrup was discovered. A total of 3,776 cartons, comprising 377,600 bottles of the controlled substance valued at over N2.6 billion, were recovered between August 7 and 8, 2026.

In yet another intelligence-led operation, the statement said NDLEA operatives on August 14 raided the residence of a 55-year-old alleged drug kingpin, Shoremi Kayode, at 37 Ogundare Street, Ipaja Estate, Ipaja area of Lagos, recovering 324 kilogrammes of Colorado, a synthetic strain of cannabis, with a street value of N972 million. Also recovered from the suspect were a Mercedes-Benz car and a Toyota Corolla.

In Kwara State, Babafemi said two suspects, Abubakar Adamu and Bilyaminu Nuhu, were arrested on August 13 at Kam Wire area of Ilorin with 55.96 kilogrammes of skunk in a truck marked DKA 350 XL.

Meanwhile, two other suspects, 70-year-old Abdulfatai Oyelaran and Abdulrauf Ajadi, were arrested by NDLEA officers on patrol along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ibadan, Oyo State, on August 12. Recovered from their Toyota Sienna vehicle marked FFA-115KA were 52,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 6,000 ampoules of tramadol injection.

A total of 124,100 pills of tramadol, 786 bottles of codeine syrup, 2,598 tablets of rohypnol, 4,800 tablets of diazepam, 470 ampoules of pentazocine injection and 200 ampoules of tramadol injection were recovered from two suspects, Osaro Ikpoba and Samuel Godbless, along the Onitsha-Asaba Expressway on August 13.

Another suspect, Emeka Tony, was arrested with 1,244 cartridges and a monetary exhibit of N800 million along the Kwale-Ozoro Expressway on August 12.

A Toyota Corolla car with registration number MKD 341 EA was intercepted by NDLEA operatives along the Riyom-Jos Road in Jos, Plateau State, where 239,490 capsules of Tramaforce, a brand of tramadol, were recovered and a suspect, Kasum Sherif, was arrested.

In Kano State, six suspects were arrested on August 10 by NDLEA operatives on patrol along the Zaria-Kano Road. They include Okodili Ibeabuchi, Onyeka Vincent, Nwanko Wisdom, Success Chigozie, Emmanuel Jude and Chinedu Peter.

Large consignments of opioids recovered from them included 728,958 pills of tramadol, rohypnol and others, as well as 360 grammes of cocaine, 99.8 grammes of methamphetamine, 50 bottles of codeine syrup and 2.7 kilogrammes of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis.

Also in Kano State, NDLEA operatives on Friday raided Zawaciki Gida Dubu in Kumbotso Local Government Area, where they recovered 171 blocks of skunk weighing 106.8 kilogrammes and arrested two suspects, Mustapha Iliya and Abdulwahab Abdulrashid, in connection with the seizure.

A total of 4,628.9775 kilogrammes of skunk was destroyed on two cannabis farms measuring 1.851591 hectares at Ugboku/Igbanke Forest, Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, where a suspect, Agholor Elebojie, was arrested in one of the farms during a raid by NDLEA operatives on August 12.

The statement said another suspect, Kingsley Anigala, was arrested with 25.857 kilogrammes of Loud and 93 grammes of methamphetamine during a raid on drug joints in the Oluku area of Benin City on Friday.

The War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands also continued across the country in the past week.

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd.), while commending the officers, men and women of the various commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures recorded during the past week, also praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for pursuing a fair balance between drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

Former Sokoto State Governor and Senator representing Sokoto South, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has congratulated Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, on his re-election, describing the outcome as a triumph for democracy and the people of the state.

Tambuwal, in a statement posted on his X account on Sunday, said Adeleke’s victory reflected the power of the electorate to choose their leaders through the ballot.

He said the outcome was bigger than Adeleke’s personal victory, stressing that it represented the triumph of democratic choice in Osun State.

‘This victory is not only a personal triumph for Governor Adeleke; it is a victory for democracy and, above all, a victory for the people of Osun State, who have once again exercised their constitutional right to determine who leads them,’ Tambuwal said.

The former Speaker of the House of Representatives said the ballot remained a critical instrument through which citizens could express their will in a democracy.

He noted that respecting the choices made by voters would strengthen democratic institutions and restore confidence in the electoral process.

‘The ballot remains the most powerful expression of the will of the people in a democracy. When citizens freely make their choice and that choice is respected, our democratic institutions are strengthened and public confidence in the electoral process is deepened,’ he stated.

Tambuwal also commended the people of Osun State for participating in the electoral process and congratulated Adeleke for securing another mandate from the electorate.

He urged the governor to regard the renewed mandate as a call to greater service, particularly by ensuring that his administration accommodates citizens across political divides.

‘As he prepares to continue the work of governance, I urge him to see this renewed mandate as an even greater responsibility to serve all the people of Osun State, irrespective of political affiliation,’ Tambuwal said.

He further wished Adeleke wisdom and strength in his second term, urging him to continue working for the development and wellbeing of the people of Osun State.

Tambuwal concluded his message by saying: ‘Congratulations, Your Excellency. Congratulations to the people of Osun State. Democracy has won.’

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has told President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop blaming past administrations and account for the trillions of naira committed to Nigeria’s refineries under his government.

Reacting on Sunday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) said it was ‘political escapism’ for Tinubu to now describe the refineries as inherited liabilities after his administration celebrated their rehabilitation.

Citing NNPC’s financial records, Atiku said the combined obligations of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries to the national oil company rose from about ?4.52 trillion at the end of 2023 to ?8.67 trillion at the end of 2024, an increase of ?4.15 trillion in one year under President Tinubu.

‘You cannot have it both ways,’ Atiku said.

‘When the cameras were rolling in November 2024, your government told Nigerians that the Port Harcourt refinery was back. NNPC announced that it was operating at 70 per cent capacity and presented it as an achievement under your leadership.

‘Now that the celebration has turned into embarrassment, the same administration wants Nigerians to believe that the refineries are merely liabilities inherited from previous governments.

‘Mr President, you claimed the refinery when you thought it was working. You cannot disown it now that the smoke has cleared.’

Atiku said the situation was worse because Tinubu’s own NNPC leadership had admitted that the refineries were running at a ‘monumental loss’ and that the country was ‘effectively wasting money.’

‘So Nigerians deserve answers. If the combined obligations of these refineries jumped by more than ?4 trillion in 2024 alone, what exactly did Nigerians receive in return? Where did the money go? Where are the products? Where are the savings Nigerians were promised? And where is the refinery your government celebrated before television cameras?’

He added that after more than three years in office, Nigerians were entitled to examine ‘the liability his own administration has become.’

‘The real liability today is a government that consumes trillions without delivering results; a government that celebrates projects before they work and searches for predecessors to blame when they collapse,’ Atiku stated.

The former Vice President said it was painful that Nigerians were paying high petrol prices while huge public funds were tied up in refineries that failed to deliver sustainable capacity.

‘Think about what ?4 trillion could do for Nigeria. Think about the universities struggling with overcrowded lecture halls, hospitals without modern equipment, roads that have become death traps and communities without electricity or potable water.

‘Yet trillions accumulate around refineries that the government itself now effectively acknowledges have been haemorrhaging public resources. This is not merely incompetence. It is an unforgivable failure of stewardship.’

Atiku said the contradiction between the government’s 2024 refinery announcements and its later admissions was ‘a fitting metaphor for Tinubu’s presidency.’

‘President Tinubu’s scorecard after more than three years is increasingly a story of fire and smoke – enormous expenditure, extravagant announcements and very little Nigerians can hold in their hands.

‘Nigeria cannot afford another four years of paying for failure.

‘Mr President, stop blaming your predecessors. After more than three years, you are no longer merely managing inherited liabilities. You are creating your own – and increasingly, your government itself has become the biggest liability Nigerians are being forced to carry.’