Category: Nigerian Tribune

AS humans, we cannot communicate, so the communication experts say in the popular Axioms of Communication. By that, they mean that human beings possess an innate ability to talk. Man is a talking animal, so says Holly Weeks, an adjunct lecturer in Public Policy and Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In her paper, ‘Taking Stress out of Stressful Communication’, published in Harvard Business Review’s 10 Best Reads on Communication, Weeks contends that, notwithstanding that human activities are dotted with speech and talking, we more often than we like run into stressful communication-some sensitive exchanges that hurt or haunt us in no small ways. She also submits that, despite having to live by talking, humans cannot avoid stressful communication. For instance, because every human being can talk, you would want simply to take communication for granted. But speech does have problems, and communication problems are spread across every form of communicative activity-verbal and non-verbal.

Just as we have noted that stressful conversations are unavoidable, we must also note that the stress in the conversations could be intentional or inherent in the activity in which we are engaged. In a situation of public communication, whether political or organisational, stressful conversations would erupt willy-nilly. The case of the poke by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, on the subsidy removal policy of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a case in point here. Yes, Atiku might just have set out to communicate what he tagged the Atiku Economic Recovery Plan (AERP) to Nigerians when he released the statement through his media aide, Phrank Shaibu, on 20 August; the fact that he challenged a core policy thrust of the incumbent administration made it a stressful conversation on the part of the recipients. The same night Atiku released what looked like the foundation of his economic policy for the 2027 campaign; the presidency highlighted the stress inherent, and it has become a contentious piece of conversation since then. It has also become a source of huge stress for political actors, media aides of the president and the ruling party, as well as other spokespersons, who believe that they can contribute to the ongoing national debate. It was a major talking point among presidential hopefuls at the conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, last week. The Presidential Villa has almost daily taken on Atiku, either accusing him of a volte-face on his earlier positions in years past or describing him as someone talking from an archaic economic point. The Atiku declaration has also provided content for most television talk shows, political actors, and others in their attempt to showcase their knowledge of the issue at hand.

Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said that he would introduce a targeted subsidy regime that would accelerate domestic refining if elected in 2027-a statement the Presidency, in a quick reply by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, tagged as a show of desperation for power. Onanuga also accused the former number two man of a volte-face.

According to Atiku, if elected in 2027, he would implement the Atiku Economic Recovery Plan (AERP), which he said would replace the nation’s import-subsidy architecture and imbue it with a targeted, capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited production subsidy, which he said would be designed to lower energy costs and accelerate domestic refining.

‘My proposal is not to resurrect the old subsidy regime. We will move subsidy from importation to production, from middlemen to Nigerian refineries, and from unverifiable claims to verifiable barrels. The principle is simple: the subsidy will follow the barrel,’ Atiku said, and added: ‘Under the AERP, qualifying public and private Nigerian refineries would receive domestic crude at a preferential price, subject to strict production, efficiency, transparency and domestic-supply conditions.’

The Presidency had immediately fired back at Atiku, accusing him of a volte-face. It also tagged the ADC presidential candidate ‘a man who least comprehends current national realities’, adding that he spoke, ‘like a man from [an] archaic past’.

Onanuga wrote: ‘Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and perennial candidate for the presidency of Nigeria, has finally revealed his economic plans to Nigerians, should he be elected as President by January next year.

‘Against expectations that he would announce a more creative and ingenious alternative to the programme being executed by the Tinubu administration, Atiku Abubakar behaved like a man from an archaic past who least comprehends the present economic dynamics and suggested that he would restore the much-abused, wasteful, pillaged, corruption-ridden fuel subsidy regime, which the Petroleum Industry Act made illegal from the end of June 2023.’

After the initial attack on Atiku, the presidency has continued to top up its messages as it doubled down on the former Vice President, while the ADC presidential candidate has also continued to insist he would not back down on his proposal.

Without even going into the veracity of the claims on either side, we first have to give kudos to Atiku for coming out with this firestorm of an issue which immediately caught the attention of all in the 2027 electioneering campaign process. We need issue-based campaigns, and this is one example of such. Suddenly, the debate shifted from 31 governors and the threat of a one-party state or that the 2027 election was a fait accompli, and the complaints about rudderless opposition, and now it is about the fuel subsidy regime and what it means for all. This is an issue everyone has been papering over in the last three years.

President Bola Tinubu ignited the fire on 29 May 2023, when he suddenly announced, ‘subsidy is gone!’ With that, petrol, which was selling at less than ?200 per litre at the pumps, jumped to over ?1,000 across the country. Right now, it is more than ?1,200 in the South-West and an average of ?1,300 in the far North, South-East and South-South. The president, in making the announcement, did not project a detailed policy around the pronouncement. After the announcement came the palliatives to the states and the CNG transportation initiative. By simply saying subsidy was gone, the president had put Nigerians at the mercy of the fuel suppliers, who could sometimes change their figures twice in a day. We saw a quick somersault of figures at the pumps, which compelled Nigerians to pay more. Added to that, the government implemented the massive devaluation of the naira, which came with some-if you like-window-dressed adjectival phrases. That one took the naira from around ?600 to the US dollar to ?1,600 at the first instance. It recently settled at around ?1,350 to $1.

The combined effects of these two policies amounted to misery and financial strangulation for the working class, while those looking unto God for jobs were reduced to beggars or the proverbial living dead. On the contrary, the federal, state, and local governments have had their incomes quadrupled. So, as the citizens wallow in misery, the convoys of their governors grew longer with armoured versions of vehicles that are produced in faraway lands. A video recently surfaced online of the Katsina governor, in which the convoy was littered with armoured Escalades and all manner of treated SUVs. That is typical of many states.

If these are the realities Nigerians have associated with the ‘Subsidy is gone’ pronouncement of President Tinubu, can we then blame Atiku for stoking the fire and igniting an argument even though on a campaign trail? Nigerians want cheaper fuel; whatever will make them pay less would be attractive.

The presidency stated that even though Atiku used to believe that the subsidy regime must be eliminated and canvassed the same point in the build-up to the 2023 election, ‘he has now opportunistically recanted the major plank of his economic doctrine and turned a renegade.’

‘It is not difficult to explain why Atiku has latched onto the abandoned subsidy regime, five months to the election. Desperate for power, he needed to make a promise that he knew, if he were candid with our people, does not make fiscal sense, is retrogressive, and is against the genuine interest of the people. But before his suggestion hoodwinks the people, we must quickly subject the promise to a serious examination, especially in the context of Nigeria’s present economic and petroleum realities,’ the statement by Onanuga read.

Incidentally, many of the defenders of the president have been busy attacking the person of Atiku. Some have said that he was igniting confusion, which was difficult to ignore. When they do that, they make the conversations more stressful. Atiku, as a citizen of Nigeria, is entitled to his opinion. The government is also entitled to its choices. Both parties must, however, defend their options and convince the people why the option they chose was the best for the people, whether in the short or the long run. The people would remain the ultimate deciders of what is right or wrong as they endorse or reject either idea with their votes. The government has likened the sufferings associated with the subsidy removal and naira devaluation (or is it undervaluation) to the pains of childbirth. Luckily, it has had three years to implement the programme. Everyone knows that no woman can last three years in the labour room. By that time, the first child should be ripe for a sibling. So, at this time, government communicators should be telling us the gains from the subsidy labour room. If the essence of their discussion remains that the president has been pushing more money to the states and local governments, that would amount to a self-defeating argument. The leadership recruitment process in the states in this Fourth Republic has shown that true and conscientious leaders may be hard to come by. A situation where it is either a cabal imposes a governorship candidate or a group of moneybags stakes their funds to install a governor can hardly produce a leader who would provide incisive governance. Little wonder, the fatter the FAAC allocations, the more astronomical the rise we see in the recurrent expenditure of the states and the local governments. In several instances, the governors simply pocket the funds belonging to the local governments and use that as ‘pocket money’.

Rather than attack Atiku for raising the debate on subsidy removal at this time, defenders of the status quo should show us the good things we have reaped from the removal of the subsidy. Maybe they should also explain why the government is still borrowing money, despite the subsidy removal and the devaluation of the currency. Both policies incidentally attack the purchasing power of the average worker. The least-paid public worker goes home with ?70,000, barely enough to transport him to work, yet he has a family of four or more to feed, school fees to pay, and health challenges to attend to. He also has no assurance about how to raise the next rent. Discussions should therefore turn to public accountability, rather than name-calling, tagging, and what have you. How does the money the country makes work for the people? What benefits are Nigerians deriving from the oil God has given them, and how do we hold our leaders to account for the funds they oversee? For the government in power, the people need to hear what they are doing to fix the dilapidated infrastructure, the collapsed Ajaokuta Steel Company, the massive rail projects that should link the North to the South, the ongoing superhighways and plans to add others, including the Abuja-Lagos and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri superhighways, among others. They should also poke at Atiku’s subsidy plan. How will he do it differently, and how will he avoid the usual rent-seeking that followed the subsidy bazaar of the past?

The Ondo State Government said it has intensified efforts to improve power supply, boost agricultural production and attract industrial investments as part of measures to drive economic growth and improve the standard of living of residents of the state.

The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, disclosed this while reviewing the achievements of the present administration in the last 18 months.

Adeniyan said the initiatives were anchored on the government’s ‘Our EASE’ agenda of ease of living, ease of doing business and ease of governance, stressing that ‘the central idea is to put the people first, deliver projects that matter and build a foundation for sustainable growth.’

According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration in the state had taken steps to address the power challenges confronting households and businesses through alternative energy initiatives, mass metering and the establishment of a regulatory framework for the electricity sector.

He disclosed that the State Executive Council recently approved a $1.6 million 350-kilowatt hydropower project as well as a 7.5-megawatt gas-fired turbine project to provide power to government facilities across the state.

He added that the government had commenced the distribution of transformers to communities, while the ‘Light-Up the Lucky Light’ solar programme and the O’Datiwa Mass Metering Programme were also being implemented to improve electricity supply and reduce the burden of energy costs on residents and businesses.

‘The strategy is to combine regulation, alternative energy, consumer protection and infrastructure development while laying the foundation for state-level electricity generation,’ Adeniyan said.

On agriculture, the CPS said the administration had committed more than N10 billion to the sector, with emphasis on food security, investment, value-chain development and support for farmers.

He said the government was opening up large areas of farmland to attract private investment, while rural roads were being constructed and rehabilitated to facilitate the movement of agricultural produce from farms to markets.

Adeniyan disclosed that more than 500 youths had been trained and empowered in modern agricultural practices, while the administration had inaugurated the Ondo State Cocoa Revolution and Management Board to strengthen the state’s position as Nigeria’s leading cocoa producer.

He said the state had also inaugurated a Strategic Committee on compliance with the European Union Deforestation Regulation, while 14,000 smallholder cocoa and oil palm farmers had been profiled under the FAO GEF-7 programme across eight local government areas.

On industrialisation, Adeniyan said the administration was pursuing major investments in the Ondo Deep Sea Port, refinery, Free Trade Zone and fertiliser plant as part of efforts to transform the state into a major industrial hub.

He said the government’s investment drive had also contributed to the return of the Dangote Group to the state, with plans to establish what he described as Nigeria’s largest industrial zone in Ondo State.

According to him, the state government had signed several memoranda of understanding with investors, including a $50 billion investment agreement involving Backbone Infrastructure Nigeria Limited and Sunshine Infrastructure JV.

He said the proposed investment included a 500,000-barrel-per-day refinery and a 1,471-hectare Free Trade Zone in Ilaje, while another $4 billion petrochemical, fertiliser and cement project was also being pursued.

Adeniyan said the various investments were expected to create jobs, strengthen local production, diversify the state’s revenue base and stimulate economic activities across the state.

‘We are not just attracting investments for the sake of it; the objective is to create jobs, support local businesses, diversify government revenue and position Ondo State as a competitive investment destination,’ he said.

The CPS said the three sectors were part of the administration’s broader development strategy, which also included road infrastructure, healthcare, education, security and youth and women empowerment.

He added that the administration’s focus remained on implementing projects and policies capable of delivering tangible benefits to residents and laying a foundation for sustainable economic development in Ondo State.

As the world continues to expand into a more technology-driven and competitive economy, with millions of youths globally taking advantage of emerging opportunities in education, innovation and digital skills, a Nigerian entrepreneur and tech expert, John Akhigbe, has urged Nigerian youths to embrace education and acquire the skills needed to compete in the global space.

Akhigbe, who spoke on the need for greater investment in young people, noted that financial limitations should not be allowed to prevent youths from pursuing education or developing themselves for the opportunities emerging across the world.

Speaking with newsmen during the unveiling of 100 free General Certificate Examination (GCE) forms for indigent students in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State, he disclosed that youths must be empowered with the education, skills and opportunities required to become productive members of society.

He said the rapidly changing global economy had made education and continuous learning increasingly important, urging young Nigerians to look beyond immediate challenges and prepare themselves for a future where skills and knowledge would determine access to opportunities.

According to him, government alone cannot bear the responsibility of preparing the country’s growing youth population for the future, stressing that individuals, private organisations and community leaders also have important roles to play.

Akhigbe said this was part of the motivation behind the annual educational intervention of the Glade Crescent Foundation for Youth Empowerment, which he founded to support young people, particularly those whose families may struggle to meet the cost of education.

The latest intervention, which took place at the Emmanuel Primary School playing ground in Ojota on Friday, August 21, 2026, saw 100 students from low-income families receive GCE forms at no cost.

The programme, now in its seventh year, according to Akhigbe, was conceived to ensure that students who have the ability and desire to continue their education are not forced to abandon their ambitions because of financial difficulties.

He said, ‘For several years, we have supported students with GCE forms because we believe that financial circumstances should never prevent a talented young person from continuing their education.’

He added that the initiative was not merely about distributing examination forms but about giving young people a sense of possibility and encouraging them to take their future seriously.

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‘Today is not simply about giving out GCE forms; it is about providing opportunities and hope. It is about telling our young people that their dreams matter and that their community believes in them,’ he said.

The technology expert, who spent his childhood in Ojota, also called on successful Nigerians to consider investing in young people within their communities, arguing that relatively small interventions could make a significant difference in the lives of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

He further linked the initiative to broader efforts to improve access to education, including the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), saying increased opportunities for young people would ultimately benefit the country.

Also speaking at the event, APC chieftain Hajia Salamatu Baiwa commended the initiative and urged more individuals to support educational development at the grassroots.

Baiwa said Akhigbe had sustained the intervention for several years, assisting young people with GCE forms and other educational needs.

‘John has been on this journey for over six years, helping young people with GCE forms and other educational needs,’ she said.

She also said the establishment of NELFUND had further strengthened efforts to reduce financial barriers to education, describing access to education as critical to the ability of young Nigerians to improve their lives and contribute meaningfully to society.

The event also featured a counselling session by Funke Ogunnaike, who encouraged the beneficiaries to develop clear goals, remain focused and make responsible decisions as they pursue their education.

The students, who expressed appreciation for the support, were urged to see the opportunity not simply as assistance with an examination but as another step towards building the qualifications and skills needed to compete in an increasingly demanding global environment.

Emma Ajufo is somebody that can describe himself as fulfilled. I started out as a Business Administration graduate, joined the TROYKA Group in 1990 as a Trainee Manager and rose in the group to become the Senior Manager at Optimum Exposure. Before I left, I was number four in the company. When I left the company, I joined a company where I was supposed to be a Director, but, it didn’t work.

So I left there and went to InventMedia, where I helped the company to bring new types of billboards into the industry as their General Manager. From there, I left and joined Marketing and Media as their Managing Director before ending up in Opportunity To See (OTS) as the founder. Presently, I have handed over to the next set of management and I’m just the Chairman of OTS.

Why did you hand over?

In founding OTS, I had it in mind that I didn’t want it to die with the founder, as most one-man businesses do. So, from Day One, we set up corporate structure. We had our board in place, and I told them that at a certain stage in my life, I would hand over. And, I have done just that. Today, I’m no longer talking about out-of-home advertising. I now relate with them at the board level.

So, I’m just the founder and now Chairman. The business is run by the management now and they seem to be doing well. They will make mistakes and they will learn from the mistakes, and they will grow and create their own path.

I then expect that as they journey along, they will also be owners of Opportunity To See because the more, the merrier. If you look at the likes of Unilever and Guinness, today, they started small and grew over the years. And beyond the fact that they know the founders, the people that grew the businesses are not necessarily family members. So that is where we are.

What informed the choice of marketing communication as a career?

As a young graduate, I thought that every businessman was a business graduate. That was why I studied Business Administration to start with. But I got interested in this line of business because my elderly cousin and the wife founded a modelling agency, and I also saw him do some adverts. So I got interested.

My first point of call was Promoserve. I attended their interview and failed woefully because of carelessness. That’s a story for another time. But two days later, I had the interview for Optimum Exposure, it was called Klinsite then, a member of the TROYKA Group, and because of the experience I had two days earlier, I had to work extra hard, and during the interview, the Strategic Planning Director found me worthy because before the result of the interview came, there was also an opportunity in United Bank for Africa then.

But the bank didn’t have marketing unit, it was just operations. You stayed all your hours in the bank, then, talking about tally numbers and so on, so the director then asked me what type of person I thought I was. I told him I didn’t know. He said he felt I was an extrovert. I told him I didn’t think so. He then advised me to take the job. The salary then was N700.

The UBA job?

No. Klinsite. The Strategic Planning Director, Dr. Emokpae, advised I take the job, that he saw me as an extrovert and I would not regret it. And to tell you the truth, I didn’t regret, because my friends that went into the banking sector then, upon my confirmation, six months after, I started earning more than them, even though they were earning more than me before.

What were some of those moments you wouldn’t forget in a hurry as an employee?

One of such was my movement to Invent Media as a General Manager. I crossed over from Optimum Exposure to a new agency founded by Dr. Emokpae. He left the TROYKA Group as the Strategic Planning Director, and called me on phone. I was in Kaduna then. He told me he had left the TROYKA Group, and that he wanted me to join him as a Director, and I said to him on phone: ‘Anywhere you go, I follow you’. Without thinking, I resigned. I was then the Senior Manager in charge of the Northern Operations for Optimum Exposure. Even when they were advising me to take it easy, I didn’t listen. I resigned and I came down. When I came down, it eventually became the roughest part of my adult age because my life went down. it wasn’t a good move.

Why?

Because the structures were not in place. Most of us in that group had thought the growth of the group was based on this man, but it was then that I knew that though he was doing well, but there was somebody behind him who was propelling me, and that person was Dr. Biodun Sobanjo. So when we moved, we thought it was a good move, and the man cleverly took one person from each of the unit and replicated it in his place. He even moved with WAMCO and NASCO accounts. So the media independent arm was doing well, but the outdoor arm was not doing well, and that was the one he wanted me to come and run.

Till I left there, I didn’t sign the agreement of being a director. My salary was cut by half, so I couldn’t meet up. But interestingly, a company called InventMedia was having management problem and somebody had been told to look for me, or one other person, who was in Optimum Exposure, his name is Yinka Okesiji. Of course, Yinka wouldn’t go because our salary at Optimum Exposure used to be the best in those days. So the man gave me three employment letters. The first one he gave me, I went to Dr. Emokpae and I told him, ‘Oga, things are not moving well here’ and that I wanted to move. He told me, ‘How can you leave a place that you are a director to go and become an employee again?’

Though I had not signed any document, I stayed. They gave me a second employment letter. I went to the wife, and the wife told me, ‘Your oga likes you, why do you want to go?’ I stayed. The third employment letter, I didn’t tell anybody again. I left. And when I got to InventMedia, a few weeks after, the man gave me a brand new Toyota Corolla, and my life came back, and in return for his turning me around, I gave him my all, and he can attest to that. By the time I left InventMedia when they went to Ministry of Environment, they told him he was not the owner of the place and that I was the owner because of the way I worked for him.

So that experience can not go off my mind because my standard of living dropped. In fact, this is the first time I’m saying it publicly, because those days whenever I was asked I would say very fine, but I wasn’t fine at all, because it was a bad move. But every disappointment is a blessing. Maybe if I didn’t come to Lagos, I wouldn’t have risen to the height of my profession.

Does it mean you didn’t start your career in Lagos?

I was recruited in Lagos, but transferred to Kaduna. From there to Jos, and from Jos to Akure. But when they made Kaduna the regional office of the company, I was moved back to Kaduna. I spent 11 years with Optimum Exposure, initially called Klinsite Outdoor Services.

How did you come across the name OTS?

I didn’t start my ownership early, I was working for people, and was well-known in the industry. And I said to myself that what we were selling in those days was opportunity to see. When you put up billboards, what you were selling was opportunity to see, but now it has improved. It’s no longer opportunity to see. We want you to look beyond seeing. We want you such that when you see, you take a decision. But that time, what we were selling was an opportunity for you to see the billboard outside. So I said to myself that I needed to have a name that when you mention it to the people, it would stick, and this name OTS just came up, and I didn’t think twice the moment it came up. And everybody that I told those days that I worked for OTS tend to remember the name of the company faster than my own name. it also helped us in growing the business at that early stage.

Can you tell us the journey to becoming the President of OAAN, then?

Joining the association was because we were making complaints. In 2006, when LASAA came up, we needed a focused leadership. So the present president, one other guy and myself started meeting in my office with the aim of advising the president at that time, Otunba Kole Ademulegun, to see our views. The man felt that what to do was to now appoint me in his council, as a committee member, not as an elected officer. He tended to like us, that’s why when I talk about my journey in OAAN, I first of all give credit to him because he found me and gave me wings as it were to fly, and all the contributions I made in the council, he took. He made me committee chairman here and there. At that time, I was even told I was the future president of the association, and that time I was not even holding any office at all. I was contributing in council and saying it as it was.

So after that I now contested to be General Secretary. The powers that be wanted me to be Assistant General Secretary, and they wanted the present president to be General Secretary, but because the present president had helped me when I was putting some boards up in Abuja, by the way he worked with me at Optimum Exposure, so we have known each other, so I used his company to secure some sites in Abuja.

So when this issue of General Secretary came up, I stepped down for him. I had no issue doing that. But somehow, he wasn’t able to contest. So I contested for Assistant General Secretary. But there was a vacuum in Gen Sec position. So, after the first year, I moved to that office. After that, I became the VP to Mr. Tunde Adedoyin, and thereafter became the president.

What informed your decision to study Law?

When I was in Akure, I used to have a friend, Mr Ignatius, he’s late now. He was older than me…

A professional colleague…?

No. We met in Akure. You know when you are in a region and you are doing well, you have a way of making new friends. He was the one that told me that FUTA ( Federal University of Technology Akure) was doing MBA. So when he finished his MBA, I did mine. So, as I was finishing my MBA, I was transferred out of Akure to Kaduna. So he did part-time Law. I didn’t know until one day he called me and told me, ‘I’m a lawyer’. So he started ‘harassing’ me, positive, peer-group harassment. When we talked he would say, ‘I’m a lawyer.’ Before then, I didn’t like Law.

I felt Law was a technical course, quoting cases and other things. But his argument was changing a bit because of his knowledge of Law. As he was saying this, the government cancelled part-time Law, so I couldn’t study Law again. So he had an edge because I couldn’t leave my job to do full-time Law. Shortly after that, he went and registered with ARCON and said to me, ‘I’m also in your profession now. So what is the big thing? All this thing that you say you are an advertising practitioner’. And I was very disappointed with the fact that anybody can just walk in and become an advertising practitioner.

I came to Lagos, the opportunity of Open University now came. I enrolled there, but I didn’t tell him. But later when we were talking, he said ‘This my friend, it’s like you are studying Law’, I said, ‘No’. He said, ‘But the way you talk suggests that you are studying law’, and I would tell him, ‘No’. So we finished at Open University, but the university was not recognised by the Council of Legal Education.

I finished at Open University in 2015, but couldn’t go to Law School. Of course, it’s either you are a lawyer, or you are not one, until one of my friends told me that I needed to go back to school if I truly wanted to be a lawyer. I now went to Lead City University and started afresh from Direct Entry. That’s why I have two Law degrees.

I have Open University Law Degree and that of Lead City University, which now took me to Law School. As I graduated from Open University, I was still not a lawyer. I was ashamed of myself, but when you have knowledge, you have knowledge. I was still talking as if I knew law, but the man died before I graduated from Lead City University. The second person that motivated me was one of my friends who abused his wife. When I went to him to talk about that, he was telling me: ‘Do you know I’m a lawyer?’ And I said, ‘This law that you are talking about, it’s something I can do.’ So when I graduated from Law School, I went back to him and told him, ‘This is the Law thing you are talking about, what else? But what I told you before still remains, it is not good to abuse women.’ So those are the two reasons I did Law. And I have no regrets.

But you became a lawyer, the year you were marking your 60th birthday. Was it planned, or just a mere coincidence?

It wasn’t planned. You know I would have been a lawyer since, but the fact that Law in Open University was not approved. So it was just a coincidence, and an icing on the cake. I got the Law result a day to my 60th birthday. So it was a good birthday present, because I was truly scared of the result. But I did very well.

Now that you’ve been called to the Bar. Are we looking at a career switch here?

After 35 years of practising out of home advertising business, I’m comfortable starting a law firm. I see it as an opportunity to give back to the society. Most of the things I do now are pro bono, for association and friends in advertising because two areas I’m looking at critically is the issue of advertising law, because there is a lot of things our members do not know about that are in the law. For instance, the Federal Highway Act says that anybody that wants to practise out-of-home on their corridor must be a member of OAAN. But a lot of people get on the corridor without being members of the association. So if we are conscious of the law that we have that protects us, the way we go about our business will be different. I also want to help our friends in the area of trust. A lot of us do not think about trust. I will only do litigation if it is absolutely necessary. I’m already a member of Alternative Dispute Resolution Society. Of course, the way litigation goes, today you can spend all the years in the court, but there are faster ways of resolving issues. So that is where I am and I’m happy with where I am today in terms of the Law practice.

You have a chieftaincy title, you are a lawyer and ad practitioner. How do you marry all these together to ensure one does not affect the other?

For the chieftaincy titles, all the ones I have are ordinary ones, but because of my standing in the society I have to also be getting closer home to assist, because no place is as good as home. So that is not a problem. With the advertising business, yes, even in ARCON, I’m still the chairman of fellowship committee. I think it’s about planning. If you plan your life, things will go on well. Law practice is only just growing. It is gathering momentum. The core business, advertising, like I said, I’m a non-executive chairman. There are people who are much busier than I do, but who are still doing extremely well.

Your advice to the younger ones?

They should believe in their dreams. They should have integrity. There must be tenacity. For instance, talking about my journey, it took tenacity to be where I am today. Some stopped. That is why I would say that people should believe in their dream, stay with their dream, and at the end of the day they will make it.

The Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists (SONTA), the foremost professional and academic body for theatre and performing arts practitioners in Nigeria, has conferred its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award on Professor Taofiq Olaide Nasir, a distinguished don at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Ekiti State, at its just-concluded 40th annual conference held on August 19, 2026, at Lead City University, Ibadan.

The award recognises Professor Nasir’s over two decades-long contributions to theatre scholarship, applied drama, and the development of dramatherapy as an academic and clinical discipline in Nigeria and across Africa.

Professor Nasir holds the distinction of being the first professor of dramatherapy in Africa, a milestone that places him at the forefront of a still-emerging field on the continent. His scholarship has focused heavily on the therapeutic uses of drama, applying theatre techniques to address issues such as trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, child sexual abuse recovery, and drug abuse rehabilitation, among other social and psychological challenges.

He has consistently advocated the formal inclusion of drama therapy as a course of study in Nigerian tertiary institutions, noting the shortage of specialists in the field despite its growing relevance to mental health and social intervention in the country.

The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has welcomed Moody’s Ratings’ decision to revise Nigeria’s sovereign credit outlook from stable to positive, while affirming the country’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer ratings at B3.

Oyedele noted that the decision, announced at the weekend, reflects the tangible impact of the Federal Government’s macroeconomic and fiscal reform agenda over the past three years.

‘Moody’s attributed the improved outlook to a markedly stronger external position, underpinned by sizeable current account surpluses, rising foreign exchange reserves, improved functioning of the foreign exchange market, and more effective transmission of monetary policy.

‘The agency noted that Nigeria’s current account surplus is projected to widen to about 6.1 per cent of GDP in 2026, while gross external reserves have risen substantially over the past year, a build-up corroborated by Central Bank of Nigeria data showing reserves climbing to $53.30 billion as of August 26, 2026.’

According to information posted on the Minister’s X handle, ‘the agency also pointed to stronger-than-expected economic performance, with real GDP growth reaching 4 per cent in 2025 against earlier projections of about 3 per cent, and similar expansion anticipated through 2027, supported by non-oil sector activity and rising oil output. Headline inflation has continued to ease, falling to 15.4 per cent in July 2026 from 25.3 per cent a year earlier.

‘The rating action follows FTSE Russell’s confirmation on August 27, 2026, of Nigeria’s reclassification from ‘Unclassified’ to ‘Frontier Market’ status, and comes on the heels of SandP Global Ratings’ upgrade of Nigeria to B from B- in May 2026, and Fitch’s affirmation of Nigeria at B with a stable outlook. Taken together, these actions reflect a converging and increasingly favourable assessment of Nigeria’s reform trajectory among the major international rating agencies.’

Oyedele said: ‘Moody’s positive outlook is an important external validation of the difficult but necessary reforms this administration has implemented, from removing a costly and inequitable fuel subsidy to unifying the exchange rate, and the landmark tax reforms. These decisions are restoring the fundamentals of macroeconomic stability: stronger reserves, a resilient external position, moderating inflation, and more credible policy transmission.

‘Our medium-term ambition is to place Nigeria firmly on the path to investment grade. That will require us to sustain the external gains Moody’s has recognised, while making faster progress on domestic revenue mobilisation, spending efficiency, and debt affordability. We are committed to doing the work required to get there, not for the rating itself, but because the underlying reforms are what will lower Nigeria’s cost of capital, crowd in private investment, and deliver shared prosperity for Nigerians.’

The Minister reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to the reform priorities underpinning the country’s improving credit profile, including:

‘Deepening domestic revenue mobilisation through ongoing tax reform and administration improvements;

‘Sustaining a disciplined, market-reflective and transparent foreign exchange regime, strengthening public debt management and improving debt affordability metrics;

‘Maintaining fiscal discipline in coordination with the sub-national governments; and

‘Advancing structural reforms to support non-oil growth and diversify government revenue.’

A successful fashion label is rarely defined by a single product. What ultimately shapes a brand is its ability to create a recognizable universe that evolves while remaining coherent.

With Eclipse and Glitch, BALNIA demonstrates precisely that ambition.

Although the two collections explore different creative directions, both remain rooted in the same philosophy of technical craftsmanship and contemporary design.

Eclipse embraces darker tones, minimalist silhouettes and functional construction inspired by performance apparel and urban architecture. Every garment emphasizes precision, discretion and premium materials.

Glitch, meanwhile, pushes BALNIA toward a more futuristic aesthetic. Drawing inspiration from digital culture and technological imagery, the collection introduces bolder graphics and a more experimental visual language while remaining faithful to the brand’s DNA.

These collections have also benefited from increasing cultural visibility.

Artists such as Ninho have helped place BALNIA within today’s French streetwear conversation, while professional rider Gringo has reinforced its legitimacy inside the motorcycle community. Together, these two worlds perfectly reflect the brand’s identity: one foot in contemporary music culture, the other firmly rooted in technical riding and performance.

Rather than producing seasonal collections disconnected from one another, BALNIA continues to expand a coherent creative universe where every release contributes to a larger story. It is this long-term vision that increasingly distinguishes the brand within the new generation of European streetwear.

National Leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has held a consultative and reconciliation meeting with leaders, candidates and stakeholders of the party in Imo State as part of efforts to strengthen unity ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Dickson disclosed this in a Facebook post following the meeting, which was led by former Imo State Governor and NDC State Leader, Chief Achike Udenwa.

He described the meeting as ‘very fruitful’, saying participants agreed to work together towards securing victory for all NDC candidates in the state.

The former Bayelsa State governor said the meeting was part of ongoing efforts by the national leadership to build a strong and united party capable of delivering electoral victories across all levels.

‘I thanked them for attending and for appreciating the efforts I and the party leadership are making in building a strong and united NDC,’ Dickson stated.

He urged the Imo stakeholders to build on the outcome of the meeting by convening further engagements aimed at achieving what he described as total unity and comprehensive reconciliation involving every stakeholder in the state.

Dickson also called on all NDC candidates and party leaders to play active roles in the reconciliation process, stressing the need for them to become instruments of unity within the party.

He further disclosed that the NDC would soon send a team of senior party officers to Imo State to support and deepen the reconciliation efforts.

The NDC National Leader commended Udenwa for his leadership as the party’s State Leader in Imo and urged him to intensify his efforts with the support of the national leadership.

‘I thank His Excellency, Chief Udenwa, for the leadership he is providing as State Leader in Imo and urge him to do more with the support of the National Leadership of the party,’ Dickson said.

The reconciliation initiative is part of the NDC’s efforts to consolidate its structures and address internal differences among stakeholders ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Official Members – 21 in all:

(1) The Governor who was President, with original and casting votes;

(2) Chief Secretary to the Government;

(3) 3 Chief Commissioners;

(4) 3 Senior Residents, one each from the three groups of Provinces;

(5) Attorney-General;

(6) Financial Secretary;

(7) Development Secretary;

(8) Director of Education;

(9) Director of Agriculture;

(10) Director of Medical Services;

(1I) Director of Public Works;

(12) Commissioner of Labour;

(13) Director of Marine;

(14) Comptroller of Customs and Excise;

(15) General Manager of the Railway;

(16) Commissioner of Police;

(17) Commissioner of Lagos and Colony.

Unofficial Members – 28 in all:

(I) 4 Chiefs selected by the Northern House of Chiefs from its members;

(2) 2 Chiefs from the Western Provinces, nominated by the Governor from among the three Chiefs who were members of the Western House of Assembly;

(3) 5 Members from the Northern Provinces selected by the unofficial members of the Northern House of Assembly from their own numbers;

(4) 4 Members from the Western Provinces, selected in the like manner;

(5) 5 Members from the Eastern Provinces similarly selected;

(6) 1 Member for Calabar, elected as under the 1922 Order-in-Council to represent Calabar township;

(7) 3 Members for Lagos elected as under the 1922 Order-in-Council to represent the Municipality of Lagos;

(8) 1 Member for the Colony, nominated by the Governor after consultation with the Native Authorities in the area;

(9) 3 members nominated by the Governor because of their expert knowledge in certain aspects of life not adequately represented in the council.

This constitution did not affect the composition and powers of the Executive Council which was constituted by Letters Patent in 1922, save that the ratio of two to one between the expatriate and indigenous members of the Council was reversed. We have seen that of the total members of the Northern, Western, and Eastern Houses of Assembly, 14, 7, and 9, respectively, were selected by Native Authorities from among their members. A word or two about the composition of a Native Authority at the time of the selections is, therefore, essential to a proper understanding and appreciation of the representatives of these selected members.

It has been pointed out that at the time of Lugard, a Native Authority was for all practical purposes the Natural Ruler advised by a body of subordinate chiefs. The position remained more or less the same in 1946, and indeed up till the early fifties, in the North and West.

As a result of persistent agitation on the part of Nigerian nationalists and of criticism by a few British political observers, Sir Donald Cameroon (himself a progressive Colonial Administrator) had, in 1933, initiated reforms in Native Administration which had since been gradually improved upon.

The advisory composition of the Native Authority in the West had been enlarged by the inclusion of a number of members other than subordinate traditional chiefs. These members were in a very small minority, and their appointment was, by law, vested in the resident acting in his own discretion.

In practice, however, the appointment was usually made in two stages. In the first stage, a whole town, district, village, or quarter was asked to recommend the name of one person for appointment to the Native Authority. The subordinate chiefs and elders of the area concerned would then assemble at a meeting to agree on name for submission to the resident. The second stage was that when the latter had received the name, he would then decide, in his discretion, whether to accept or reject it. In the one case, he would appoint the person named as a member of the Native Authority; in the other, the chiefs and elders concerned would have to meet again and consider another candidate.

In the North, however, it was the Natural Ruler who, in practice and in his sole discretion, nominated, for appointment by the Resident, those persons other than subordinate traditional chiefs who would sit as advisers in the Native Authority. Invariably, the persons nominated were employees of the Native Authority.

In the Eastern Provinces, the office of Warrant Chief having been abolished in 1933, the first stage in the appointment of a member of Native Authority was conducted by an assemblage of Clan Heads and taxpayers in a village, quarter, or ward. The second stage consisted, as in the West and North, in the resident giving his confirmation to the choice of the village, quarter, or ward meeting.

Thus, in effect, a Native Authority in 1946 consisted (in the North and West) of the natural ruler, his subordinate traditional chiefs, and a small minority of selected members; and (in the East) of persons wholly selected.

It must be pointed out that, in practice, the resident almost invariably appointed the nominees (in the case of the West) of the subordinate chiefs and elders and (in the case of the North) of the traditional ruler. But this was because the Natural Ruler, both in the West and in the North, always saw to it that only a person who was likely to be acceptable to the resident was nominated in the first instance. The Paramount Chiefs and the British officials always kept up-to-date lists of Nigerian ‘agitators’ and ‘self-styled leaders’; and the Paramount Chiefs, as the residents’ loyal agents, were always vigilant to ensure that only ‘good’ Nigerians were recommended to the residents. There were, however, a few urban areas in the Western Provinces where the taxpayers, under the leadership of some ‘agitators’, forced their way into the nomination meetings, voted for some candidates from among themselves, and sheer weight of public opinion, compelled the Residents to appoint those candidates. In the case of the East, the Resident had to accept the choice of the village, quarter, or ward meeting.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has intercepted consignments of Captagon, widely known as the ‘Jihadi drug’, and millions of opioid pills worth over N6.2 billion at the Lagos International Airport.

The Director, Media and Advocacy of the NDLEA, Mr Femi Babafemi, said in a statement on Sunday that the Captagon shipment was seized at the Lagos airport on August 22, 2026, following the arrest of a 49-year-old cross-border kingpin, Akinbile Kazeem Aikins, who arrived from Accra, Ghana, aboard an African World Airlines flight.

A search of his carton of local bathing soap, popularly called ‘Ghana Soap’, led to the recovery of 47,200 pills of the illicit amphetamine drug worth over N1.5 billion, concealed within blocks of soap.

Captagon, which is notoriously dubbed the ‘Jihadi drug’ because of its reported use in funding extremist activities in conflict zones, was first intercepted in Nigeria by the NDLEA in September 2021 at the Apapa Port in Lagos.

After his arrest, the statement said Akinbile claimed he was meant to deliver the consignment in the North.

In another successful interdiction operation at the Lagos airport, no fewer than 3,900,030 tablets of Tramaking 225mg and Tapentadol 250mg, with a combined gross weight of 2,787.40kg and a street value of more than N4.6 billion, were recovered from four abandoned consignments at the import shed of the Lagos airport.

Three of the consignments, comprising 900,000 tablets of Tramaking (815.40kg), arrived aboard RwandAir flights from Bangladesh, while a fourth, comprising 3,000,030 tablets of Tapentadol (1,972kg), arrived on Qatar Airways from Amsterdam.

The shipments, which had been placed under close watch after no one showed up to claim them, were formally retrieved following a joint examination by NDLEA officers, Customs officials and other stakeholders on August 28.

The statement said a 31-year-old US returnee, Sowunmi David Oludotun, was arrested by NDLEA operatives on August 19 in the Ikate area of Lekki after he showed up to take delivery of 3.350kg of Loud, a synthetic strain of cannabis imported from the United Kingdom.

In Rivers State, NDLEA operatives raided the notorious Abuja Down/Up area of Port Harcourt, where they recovered a fireproof iron safe, among other items. When the safe was cracked open with a welding machine on August 25, 237g of Colorado, 316g of cocaine and 10g of heroin were recovered from it.

Three suspects, Oyedele Daniel, Taye Saliu and Kehinde Saliu, were arrested on Friday along the Ipele-Idoani Road in Ondo State with a total of 728kg of skunk recovered from their truck, marked KRE 120 XB.

Two other suspects, Uche Joseph and Godwin Umeh, were arrested at Aponmu Forest with 341kg of the same substance on August 26.

In Delta State, more than 176,000 pills of assorted opioids, including tramadol, molly and others, were recovered in two interdiction operations carried out in parts of the state between August 26 and 28.

Meanwhile, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation activities in schools, worship centres, workplaces and communities, among others, in the past week.

While commending the officers and men of the MMIA, Ondo and Delta Commands for the various successful operations, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Marwa (rtd.), enjoined them and their colleagues across the country to continue with the Agency’s balanced approach to drug control efforts.

He also directed them to sustain the momentum against drug traffickers who are desperate to explore every means, including concealing illicit consignments in everyday household items such as soap.