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State gaming regulators are pushing back against proposed federal rules for sales promotions, saying parts of the plan could bring lotteries and prize draws back under federal oversight. Their objection, made public on 21 October 2026, came a day after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) closed consultations on its draft regulations.

An organiser could be left seeking approval from both a state gaming authority and a federal consumer regulator for the same promotion.

What State Regulators Object To

The FCCPC published its Draft Sales Promotion (Amended) Regulations on 30 September. It says the changes are intended to protect consumers and improve standards for promotions, building on rules first introduced in 2005.

The Federation of State Gaming Regulators of Nigeria (FSGRN) objects to provisions concerning prize draws, promotional lotteries and games of chance. State agencies already license and supervise these activities, the federation argues, and an additional layer of federal registration would duplicate that work. It also questions references to the National Lottery Act and the former federal lottery regulator.

Questions about overlapping responsibilities have arisen in other sectors. In July, the FCCPC discussed cooperation with state electricity regulators, recognising the need to protect customers while working alongside bodies that oversee a particular industry. The gaming regulators want similarly clear boundaries.

Why Promotion Terms Are Part of the Dispute

An advert might promise a prize or a bonus, but the conditions determine who qualifies, when an entry must be made and what happens if the advertised requirements aren’t met. Those conditions can be difficult to follow when a promotion also falls under gambling legislation.

The distinction between regulating a promotion and explaining its terms can be seen in other gambling markets. In the United States, for example, someone looking for more details about a Caesars Palace Casino offer can find state eligibility restrictions, wagering requirements and expiry periods. The offer is limited to eligible US customers, but it illustrates the kind of information consumers need to assess a promotion, regardless of which authority oversees it.

For Nigerian regulators, the difficulty is how to hold organisers to clear, accurate terms without asking state-licensed gaming businesses to obtain a second approval for the same activity. Ordinary retail prize competitions may also need different treatment from products that are already regulated as gambling.

What the Supreme Court Ruling Means

The state regulators point to a November 2024 Supreme Court judgment on lottery legislation. The Court held that the National Assembly couldn’t generally legislate for lotteries within the states and struck down the National Lottery Act’s application there. The Federal Capital Territory has a different constitutional position.

The federation argues that federal rules governing promotional lotteries could restore powers that the Court placed with the states, even if they’re introduced as consumer-protection measures.

The Court didn’t rule on the FCCPC’s 2026 proposal, however. The question now is whether the disputed provisions would regulate the lottery itself or set consumer standards for the way a promotion is advertised and administered. Licensing a lottery and policing a misleading advert aren’t necessarily the same regulatory task.

Consumers Still Need Clear Terms

The FCCPC says its proposed changes are designed to improve fairness in sales promotions. Consumers should be able to establish what a prize involves, whether restrictions apply and how to complain if an organiser fails to honour its terms. Those concerns don’t disappear because a state authority issues the gambling licence.

India’s parliament passed legislation restricting real-money online gaming in August 2025. Nigeria’s current dispute is narrower. It concerns which authority should oversee promotions, rather than a proposed nationwide ban on gambling.

State licensing and consumer-protection enforcement can cover different aspects of the same promotion. The federation says the draft doesn’t draw a clear enough boundary between them.

What Happens Next

The consultation and objection followed this timetable:

30 September 2026: The FCCPC published the draft regulations and invited comments.

20 October 2026: The consultation deadline passed.

21 October 2026: The state gaming regulators made their objection public.

The FCCPC has yet to finalise the amendments. It can consider the submissions before settling the wording, while state regulators are pressing for changes to provisions they say intrude on their licensing authority.

Until the wording is settled, organisers may remain uncertain about whether a promotion already licensed by a state will need a separate federal clearance. Customers also need to know where to take a complaint when an advertised prize isn’t delivered.

An occupational health physician, Dr. Daniel Onyetulem, has blamed low awareness and out-of-pocket payment culture for the poor uptake of health insurance in Nigeria, despite the availability of low-cost plans.

Onyetulem, who works with Stevenson Holistic Care Foundation, disclosed this in an interview on the sidelines of a global conference.

Onyetulem said the Foundation, which is in consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC, United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Framework on Climate Action, as well as IPBES, works in five thematic areas: healthcare, gender, climate, renewable energy and agriculture.

He said the organization recently ventured into agriculture in partnership with an organisation in Ireland to provide digital solutions for cattle rustling and grazing. The solution, he explained, helps to track cattle location, monitor grazing patterns, detect when they are ready for mating and monitor their health status.

On health, Onyetulem said the major objective aligns with Universal Health Coverage – making quality and affordable healthcare accessible to all.

To achieve that, he founded Synergy WellCare Medicaid Limited, a Health Maintenance Organization accredited by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), which provides prepaid health plans in Nigeria.

According to him, the biggest challenges to health insurance enrollment in Nigeria are lack of awareness and affordability.

He cited a project funded by USAID two years ago in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

‘USAID had invested so much in infrastructure, capacity building and hospital equipment in Nigeria, but realised people were still not going to the hospital. The question was why? They realised it was because of out-of-pocket payment,’ he said.

He said USAID consequently gave a grant to his NGO to create awareness and drive enrolment into the FCT Health Insurance Scheme, focusing on the informal sector, which was used as a case study.

‘Awareness is one of the major problems and then affordability is the next one,’ he said.

Onyetulem said part of his reason for attending the conference, which will move to Turkey ahead of COP, is to seek partnerships to key into the global target of reaching 150 million people worldwide with affordable and quality healthcare, with a focus on extending benefits to Africa and Nigeria.

He called on the Federal Government to strengthen health policymaking, enforce informal sector enrolment, and subsidize premiums for citizens.

He referenced the Thailand model where every child born is automatically entitled to free health insurance, while others can enroll by paying the equivalent of 20 Baht.

‘We need something like that in our country,’ he said.

He urged Nigerians to take advantage of existing schemes, noting that many do not know that with less than N50,000, they can purchase a health insurance plan that covers basic healthcare needs for one year.

He added that the government already provides free healthcare for vulnerable groups, including pregnant women, children under five, the elderly and persons with disabilities.

On lessons from the conference, he said the exchange of ideas in a multilateral setting was valuable and would be stepped down in Nigeria to improve existing systems.

‘I would love to be remembered for the lives I have touched and for bringing hope to the hopeless,’ he added.

In the middle of October 2026, journalists from the Southern part of the country gathered in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State, for a workshop on ethical reporting ahead of the 2027 elections. The primary focus of the sessions, organised by Nigeria’s FactCheckAfrica and a Spanish group, FIAP, was combating electoral misinformation. Facilitators and participants generally named ordinary citizens and bad actors as sources of misinformation.

But an entity no one deemed fit to mention as a source of bad information was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the electoral umpire, which they and millions of people across the country expect to be above board because of the sensitivity of its position. Yet, in the past few days, defective information has come from INEC, throwing its credibility – and to a larger extent, that of the 2027 elections – into question.

On Monday, October 26, the commission finally bowed to pressure and made the Preliminary Register of Voters for the 2027 general election available online to anyone who desires to view it. But minutes after the online portal, display.inecnigeria.org, came online, eagle-eyed Nigerians started to spot anomalies in the register: duplicated voters and artificial intelligence (AI)-generated photos of voters who do not seem to exist.

The implication, according to electoral observers, was that fake voters had been injected into the INEC database with the capacity to vote. If ballots are cast on behalf of those fake voters, the elections they participate in would be unfair.

Less than 24 hours after INEC announced the online platform, it acknowledged that its voter register contains defective entries. In a statement issued on Tuesday, October 27, Mohammed Kudu Haruna, Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC), said the commission was aware of suspected AI-generated photographs appearing in the Preliminary Register of Voters.

Haruna, however, noted that INEC had identified and flagged ‘a number of questionable registration records’ for further examination during the physical display from October 9-15, suggesting that the electoral umpire was aware of the problems flagged by the public well before it made the register available to view online.

‘The online publication represents the original preliminary register and does not reflect all ongoing data-cleanup activities,’ the INEC spokesperson said, revealing that the commission had commenced the process of reviewing these questionable records and taking appropriate corrective action in accordance with established procedures.

But this attempt to correct the problem has hardly earned the electoral umpire plaudits. Instead, stakeholders have described the situation as a crisis of trust and credibility, expressing fears that it may take Nigeria back to the dark ages when fake voters were inserted into the voter register and used to rig elections, subverting the will of the electorate.

How INEC embraced technology

After President Umaru Musa Yar’adua assumed the presidency, he made a notable admission that no one in his position would be expected to make: on his first day in office, he admitted that the 2007 elections that brought him in had ‘lapses and shortcomings’. Indeed, hard evidence would arrive later to back his claim that the INEC data employed in that election cycle was compromised.

In a noble bid to reform the process and prevent a reoccurrence, Yar’adua set up a 22-member electoral review committee chaired by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Uwais, on August 28, 2007. A little over a year later, in December 2008, the panel, popularly known as the Uwais committee, submitted its report to the president, who pledged to ‘carefully study and faithfully implement, with the support of the national assembly, those recommendations that will guarantee popular participation, ensure fairness and justice, and bring credibility to the electoral process in Nigeria.’

The committee recommended among others: constitutional amendments that would insulate INEC from the political influences of the executive arm of government in terms of its composition and funding; the power to appoint the INEC board was to be transferred from the president to the National Judicial Council (NJC); and a Special Electoral Offences Commission was to be set up to try electoral offenders.

About five months later, in May 2009, Yar’Adua forwarded the entire report, including its annexures, for the consideration of the National Assembly. Although the president rejected ceding the power of appointment of the INEC board, he accepted most of the fundamental recommendations and was to begin implementation when he took ill and eventually did not return to office due to his death in May 2010.

His successor, President Goodluck Jonathan, tried to sustain his efforts but got nowhere with the fundamental recommendations at the National Assembly. However, his appointment of Professor Attahiru Jega as the INEC chairman on June 8, 2010, kickstarted the commission’s technology adoption.

As all of this was going on, courts were removing governors and annulling elections from 2007, underlining the depth of the irregularities that marred that election cycle. In all, nine governorship elections in 2007, including those in Ondo, Ekiti, and Osun states, were nullified due to severe voting irregularities.

To address these irregularities, Jega’s solution was cleaning up the voter register and introducing the automated fingerprint identification system to stop voters from registering more than once, effectively halting voting by multiple people. This process helped restore some confidence in the 2011 elections and led to the introduction of the electronic register that has contributed to INEC’s current confidence crisis.

Jega also introduced the permanent voter’s card (PVC) and smart card reader for the 2015 general election. At the polling station, a voter’s identity is verified by matching his or her biometrics to the voter’s card. The voter is then allowed to vote and the votes are counted manually.

In 2022, Jega’s successor, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which is an electronic device designed to read permanent voter cards and authenticate voters – using the voters’ fingerprints – to prove that they are eligible to vote at a particular polling unit. This was used in the Ekiti and Osun states’ governorship elections in June 2022 and July 2022. The technology worked to its design in both states.

The commission also introduced the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) ahead of the 2023 elections to guarantee transparent accreditation and uploading of polling unit results, although it ended up hurting confidence rather than helping it. The commission said the technology would enable citizens to view results in real-time on election day. But many of the results could not be uploaded onto the portal due to what INEC described as technical glitches. Also, the disparity between results uploaded to the portal and those announced by INEC ended up casting doubts on the outcome of the 2023 elections.

Professor Joash Amupitan, the current INEC chairman who assumed office in October 2025, has not introduced any technology, but he has sought to consolidate the gains of the past eras, including allowing Nigerians to view the voter register online and spot irregularities such as those that INEC is now cleaning up.

So, nearly two decades after the 2007 election debacle, many stakeholders fear that the country has reversed the gains of electoral credibility and returned to the dark ages of blatant rigging of the voter register.

Stakeholders raise the alarm

During an appearance on Arise News on Friday, October 30, Lawrence Bayode, INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, admitted that the commission’s own registration officers uploaded AI-generated photographs into the national voter database. He stated that field officials used their official login details to deliberately inject fake records. He noted that the commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) eventually flagged these anomalies, but that has not halted the avalanche of criticism of the commission.

In an interview with Sunday Tribune, Abideen Olasupo, the Chairman of BallotEyes and YvoteNaija, described the revelation of AI-generated photos and duplicate entries in the voter register as a threat to public confidence ahead of the 2027 elections. ‘Trust in an election begins long before polling day; it begins with citizens believing that the register accurately reflects eligible voters… When people see questionable identities or duplicate records, they may conclude the process is already compromised, which discourages registration, verification, and turnout,’ he said.

‘The second implication is the credibility of the eventual results. An unresolved controversy over the register gives political actors grounds to challenge the process and makes it harder for citizens to accept outcomes, especially in closely contested elections. It also creates fertile ground for misinformation, where genuine irregularities might become the basis for broader, unverified claims.’

Similarly, Samson Itodo, the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, another organisation focused on free and fair elections, said the integrity of the 2027 elections ‘is already under threat from serious infirmities in the voter register’.

‘These AI-generated images and suspected cases of register padding raises fundamental questions about the credibility of the register. A compromised voter register is a compromised foundation for credible elections. The infirmities in the register are not minor errors. They pose grave threats to voting rights and our democracy,’ he said.

Amid the silence of the ruling APC’s presidential campaign council (PCC), opposition parties have questioned INEC’s neutrality and capacity to deliver credible elections on January 16 and February 6, 2027.

In a separate interview with Sunday Tribune, Kola Ologbondiyan, the Director of Media and Publicity, African Democratic Congress (ADC) PCC, said the defective voter register makes it ‘increasingly challenging’ to entrust the 2027 elections to the commission’s care.

‘I think that, beyond identifying these staff, they have to clean up the system in a manner that Nigerians can trust INEC. That, too, is also very, very important. They must clean up the voters’ register. And I don’t know, why is it difficult for a commission that describes itself as independent to act independently? Why is it difficult?’ Ologbondiyan wondered.

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) PCC spokesperson, Dr Chiogo Constance Ikokwu, also questioned INEC over the presence of deceased Nigerians, including prominent politicians, on the voters’ register.

It called on INEC to provide Nigerians with answers and ensure the register was credible, up-to-date and verifiable before the 2027 elections.

CSOs, political parties seek accountability

Though INEC claims that some of its staff had compromised its system, it is yet to reveal their identities or even whether it has uncovered those responsible, leading to accountability calls from civil society organisations (CSOs) and political parties.

According to Ologbondiyan, it is not enough for INEC to come out and say its staff were responsible.

‘Who are these staff? Who are they? Did they fall from the sky? Also, don’t forget that the issue of the back-end of INEC’s system has been a subject of debate. There are non-state actors and individuals who have access to the back-end of INEC. They didn’t say anything, and they didn’t do anything about it, but now they are saying that their staff are the ones responsible. What type of staff are they? Are they the regular staff or the non-state actors who had access to their back-end the last time?’ the ADC campaign spokesperson asked.

Likewise, the BallotEyes and YvoteNaija chairman called for the identification of the registration officers implicated in the voters’ register scandal, while raising questions over INEC’s internal safeguards.

‘If a registration officer messes up, who is supervising them? Who controls access, and where is the institutional accountability? Nigerians deserve to know how these entries were created, why existing safeguards did not prevent them before they became public, and how widespread the problem is,’ Olasupo said.

Also, the Yiaga Africa boss called for a comprehensive investigation of the crisis. ‘We need an independent audit to enable citizens to understand the extent of the irregularities, identify those responsible and verify that the register is thoroughly cleaned before December 2026,’ Itodo said.

In a separate statement, his organisation called for serious consequences for those found culpable.

‘If a registration official can manipulate the voter register, what prevents a compromised election official from uploading falsified result sheets to IReV? Nigerians must therefore pay closer attention to the conduct of election officials, particularly those responsible for voter accreditation, results management and transmission,’ the organisation said.

Can INEC clean up its mess fast enough?

Although INEC says it is yet to establish a motive for the manipulation, many stakeholders view it as an attempt by desperate politicians to foist their will on the electorate. One of the many wards that has been fingered for irregularity is Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo’s Polling Unit 001, Ward 2, Udomi Primary School, Irrua, in Esan Central Local Government Area of the state.

During his election in September 2024, his polling unit had 397 voters on its register. In INEC’s register for the 2027 elections, the register has curiously grown to 4,783 voters, a stunning 1,105% increase that has raised eyebrows in the political world. The polling unit also contains several AI-generated photos of supposed registered voters, casting doubt on whether there are genuinely 4,783 Nigerians registered to vote in that polling unit. Notably, the Edo governor has promised to deliver 2.5 million votes for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in a state that has turned out less than 700,000 voters in the past three presidential elections.

Moreover, these irregularities call into question the 103 million registered voters’ figure that the INEC chairman continues to cite in public appearances, including on Friday while receiving the ECOWAS Pre-Election Fact-Finding Mission at the commission’s National Headquarters in Abuja.

In the meantime, INEC must clean up the voter register and publish the final version by December 15, in about a month and a half. It is not clear how far the commission has gone in its efforts, but political parties, candidates, and voters are expecting a final register that they can trust.

The INEC chairman told the ECOWAS delegation on Friday that the commission has no preferred political party or candidate in the upcoming polls. But for millions of Nigerians watching the data cleanup closely, words may no longer be enough; they are waiting to see if INEC’s actions over the next six weeks will reflect an umpire ready to referee a fair game.

The 12th Lagos auction will showcase works by Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ablade Glover, Uche Okeke, and other top artists, highlighting Africa’s modern and contemporary art.

SOGAL invites a new generation of collectors to explore the legacies of African art’s modern masters at its 12th auction, ‘Echoes of Legacy’, which brings together artists who have shaped the continent’s art scene.

The auction will be held online today, Sunday, November 1, 2026, from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm, after public previews at Signature Beyond Gallery in Ikoyi, Lagos, from October 28 to 30.

Signature Beyond Gallery, Sogal’s parent company, organizes the auction to show how African art has evolved from early modernists to today’s leading artists. The selection spans generations and highlights the lasting impact of artists like Professor Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ablade Glover, and Uche Okeke.

The gallery sees this theme as a chance to celebrate artists, honour their legacies, and inspire collectors. ‘Echoes of Legacy’ aims to link the history of African art with the interests of today’s growing market for modern and contemporary works.

‘For the discerning collector, this is a chance to find remarkable works, connect with important artistic legacies, and add something meaningful to a collection,’ the gallery said. ‘Discover the works and own a piece of the legacy.’

The auction will take place only online at auction.sogalart.com. Anyone who wants to bid must register to join the live sale.

Those unable to attend the online auction may submit absentee bids by email to [email protected]. Such bids must include the bidder’s full name and contact details, the relevant lot numbers and the maximum amount they are willing to offer for each work. All submissions are subject to verification and acceptance by Sogal.

New bidders need to provide valid ID and finish the registration steps. The gallery notes that incomplete submissions may not be processed.

Absentee bids must arrive by 4 pm on Saturday, November 7. The gallery reminds bidders that submitting an absentee bid does not guarantee a purchase, as all offers follow Sogal’s terms and conditions.

It also asked prospective buyers to review the catalogue and ask for condition reports if needed before bidding because bidders are responsible for checking the condition, authenticity, and suitability of each lot.

PILOTS are falling asleep in the cockpits because they’re so overworked, a damning new report claims, as reported by Daily Mirror of UK

A survey of 7,200 pilots commissioned by the European Cockpit Association (ECA) warned of tiredness leading to ‘micro-sleeps in the cockpit.’

One pilot told the Mirror that falling asleep while flying was common, but claimed that aviation insiders ‘do not care’ while virtually all passengers are not even aware.

The ECA has argued that there was ‘insufficient rest to prevent cumulative fatigue’ and flight duties extended ‘beyond legal maximums.’

The report suggested fatigue is ‘underreported across the industry.’

‘Airlines reporting systems are often seen as neither effective nor trusted, and a substantial share of pilots fly fatigued because of fear of a punitive reaction from their airline,’ it noted, warning that the situation was particularly bad at low-cost airlines.

Ireland and Malta were identified as countries where the problem is particularly bad, but overall, more than three out of four pilots (77%) reported at least one microsleep while operating an aircraft in the four weeks before completing the survey.

One commercial airline pilot, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Mirror that he’d fallen asleep in the cockpit ‘many times.’

‘I have the responsibility of 234 souls, and I can legally work up to 14 hours straight, not including the repositioning. But after many years I realised nobody cares because, at the end of the day, no airplanes are falling from the sky,» he said.

‘After many nights in-flight, you experience microsleeps from a few seconds up to two to three minutes, but you do not realise and it’s subtle because you might seem to be aware, but you are technically sleeping. It impairs your situational awareness and your judgment ability. But…as I said, nobody cares.»

Only 37% of those surveyed said that they report unfit when fatigued, while 24% confirmed flying when tired. Almost two in five reported a fear of punishment or a «retaliatory response» to reporting fatigue.

ECA president, Captain Tanja Harter, said: ‘The numbers in this report – and the lack of any meaningful improvement over the past three years – are a clear wake-up call for airlines, authorities and the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). Something must change in the way Europe deals with pilot fatigue.’

The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said the survey›s results were worrying and should lead to action.

Joji Waites, BALPA director of flight safety, policy and regulation, said: «The ECA’s survey of almost 7,200 pilots is a clear safety signal. That 24% of pilots usually continue flying rather than report themselves unfit due to fatigue is a concern.

«Aviation is the safest mode of transport through pilots’ expertise and professionalism in tandem with other aviation professionals; however, fatigue remains one of the most significant threats. Safety margins cannot hold if pilots are routinely rostered to the upper limits of their flight and duty time limitations (FTL).

With almost half of pilots fearing repercussions for reporting fatigue, we fully support ECA’s call for EASA to strengthen fatigue rules and enforce non-punitive reporting and responsible calls on the use of commander’s discretion.

BALPA thanks the ECA for the considerable work involved in gathering this data. We are still running our Realtime fatigue app to collect actionable intelligence on UK pilot fatigue, so combined with the ECA’s findings, we can create a clear picture of pilot fatigue, which will be fed into the CAA’s ongoing FTL review.

Sample 1: ‘Akande, perceived as one of the closest allies to the President, is alleged to have lamented to party stalwarts on how difficult it has been for him to assess the villa, let alone have the opportunity to discuss issues of importance…’ (Tinubu: Discontent as new Aso Rock cabal emerges…News Opera,31 October, 2023)

The word of interest is assess which occurs in the following context: ‘…how difficult it has been for him (Bisi Akande) to assess the villa…’ The context does indicate that the word (assess) is intended to mean to enter, approach, come to without restriction or limitation, enjoy the presence of easily, have the benefit of moving into freely, etc. But that is not the meaning of assess.

The reporter has confused the word assess with access, a function of poor pronunciation and poor spelling. We have repeatedly advised readers to be attentive to slight differences in pronunciation and spelling that communicate lexical and semantic differences. In English, many times it does not require more than the presence or absence of a single letter in this or that position for a lexical item to transform into another word. Anyone who is not sensitive to these instances of lexical morphing is still a stranger to the English language.

Yes, there is a major difference between access and assess, significant enough to make them two words.

Capable of being used as a noun and a verb, the word access means having opportunity or right to use a thing, acquire a thing, enter a place, approach a person, etc.: (1) The business is not expanding because the owner does not have access to sufficient funds. (2) In spite of the media hype, the masses have no access to the low-cost houses. (3) The only access to the village is through a bumpy, dusty road. (4) Close to half a century of its existence, many people around the world still have no access to the email. (5) For more than two weeks now, I have not been able to access my mail. (6) Even Ministers do not have direct access to the president. (7) Three years after the divorce, the man has no access to his children. (8) Only by special permission can the room be accessed through that door. (9) For the country to make great strides in agriculture, farmers must have access to fertilizers and expansive land. (10) The man’s situation is worsened by the fact that he has no access to his lawyer.

Now the word assess is about evaluating, examining, trying to understand a situation, etc. It is a verb, whose noun form is assessment: (1) Experts are assessing the effects of the erosion on the environment. (2) The committee members will soon begin to assess the facts before them. (3) She says she is in the process of assessing how much love the man has for her. (4) Before the loans can be released, representatives of the bank will need to assess your production capability. (5) The purpose of our visit is to assess your facilities comparing them with the claims you make in the documents. (6) You cannot effectively tackle your political enemies without first assessing their strengths and weaknesses. (7) Before the Doctor can undertake to treat him, he must assess the extent of the damage done by the quack Doctor. (8) It is the duty of the Vehicle Inspection Officers to assess the road-worthiness of all vehicles. (9) An engineer from the Federal Ministry of Works is here to assess the quality and extent of work done so far. (10) Each applicant must be assessed objectively and impartially. 11) My assessment of him is that he is an intelligent but pompous man. 12) If journalists were not biased in their assessment, they would know that this man is unfit to rule a state. 13) I don’t believe the assessment of the new product was thorough enough.

At any rate, the verb access should replace access in the context under examination.

Sample 2: ‘I have to refund back there money…’ (News Opera, 31 October, 2023)

I have two complaints against that short piece of communication. The first is contained in the phrase: refund back. Please note the tautology in the phrase. The verb (or noun) refund does not require the particle back. You may pay back a sum of money or you simply refund it. Remember: Do not say, ‘Refund back…’ Say: ‘Refund…’ It is, however, acceptable to say: ‘Pay back…’

Next, we note the word there which occurs in the context: refund there money . It is a matter of elementary grammar that the form their should be the appropriate word in the context. This, I think, is one of the basic points of grammar we learnt at the elementary school. It is obvious that the writer has no grasp of the grammatical difference between the forms there and their. The error is irritatingly shameful.

In the light of this, it is important to illustrate the difference between the words there and their. Please read the following sentences: 1) There are many more people outside the hall than inside. 2) There is no wisdom in that suggestion. 3) There were rumours that the president had another woman in his life. 4) There is no reason to leave so early since the programme is scheduled to commence late in the afternoon. 5) There were many undercover security men snooping around. 6) There was no truth in the story. 7) Neither the chairman nor the secretary was there. 8) I was able to pick some useful information here and there. 9) How soon will you be there? 10) I was there waiting for you for almost three hours.

For the proper usage of the word their, please read the following sentences: 1) Their house is not far from ours. 2) The ancient Jews and their forefathers are part of the heroes of the Christian faith. 3) Their lawyers are holding a meeting with our own lawyers next week. 4) Sadly, their plan is to destroy their opponents’ business interests. 5) I find it difficult to understand why they could not mind their business. 6) Their directors are planning to reduce the workforce. 7) It is not their duty to tell us how to run our own affairs. 8) Their students are not even half as brilliant as our own. 9) Their house is directly opposite the bank. 10) How can our failure be a reason for their celebration?

The following sentences each contain the two words under consideration: 1) Were you not there when their thugs attacked our chairman? 2) It is their fault that their representatives were not there when the case started. 3) There were a few men at the meeting who claimed to be representing their bosses’ interest. 4) A lady went there, met the children, claimed be their mother’s friend and took some money from them. 5) I was there when our president visited that country and said something positive about their political system.

It should be obvious now that the word their should replace there in the context under review.

ONE of the fundamental diagnoses of the Nigerian state is that its constitutional framework for governance is at variance with its plural reality. In other words, the Nigerian Constitution recognises Nigeria as a federation with three tiers of government-federal, state and local. Unfortunately, the structural and institutional mechanisms of governance are so centralised and seemingly unitary in ways that deny the realities for all practical purposes. This is one key anomaly that explains why the local government structure has remained comatose since the Ironsi administration. It also explains one of the crucial reasons why the democratic governance since 1999 has not really translated into a decisively significant positive and hence impactful package of democratic dividends especially in terms of local governance at the grassroots.

And this makes the challenge of restructuring the Nigerian constitution to achieve the essence of a genuine federation all the more cogent for any administration willing to make sense of the Nigerian predicament and find adequate resolution that unburdens developmental and governance targets on behalf of millions of Nigerians. This agenda is most significant for the Tinubu administration for two fundamental reasons. The first comes from Tinubu’s ideological attachment to the task of restructuring the Nigerian governance system even before becoming the president, and even as he was never in the habit of playing to the gallery about it. One of the rallying points of his connection with the progressive elements in the Nigerian state is the imperative of constitutional restructuring of the Nigerian federation. The second reason derives from some of his key governance policies since assuming the position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

A few examples of significant governance policies have been enacted that seem to signal that the administration has come to terms with the necessity of restructuring as a pathway to impactful governance reform. One significant policy is the creation of the Ministry of Regional Development that is meant to instigate socioeconomic and infrastructural progress across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The ministry makes it possible to measure policy convergences and divergences across these zones in ways that facilitate harmonisation. This policy is followed by a correlative one: the establishment of six regional development commissions (RDCs) that would serve as the arrowheads of the policy initiatives, formulation and design. Next in line, and beyond all expectations of its possibility, the Tinubu government has pushed the bill legislating the creation of state police closer to realisation. Signing the 2023 Electricity Act significantly decentralised electricity generation, transmission and distribution away from the exclusive to the concurrent list, a policy which enables states to take charge of power generation. There are three separate amendments ongoing to the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 which are meant to undermine its rigid centralisation of the ownership of solid minerals and other natural endowments in the hands of the federal government to the exclusion of the other tiers of government.

Fundamental to all these sweeping legislative overhauls and policy transformations, and coterminous with the Supreme Court ruling of July 2024 concerning the financial autonomy of local governments, is the urgency of incentivising the subnational elements and entities in the Nigerian federation to commence the project of actively investing in their own regions and achieve governance distinction. All these speak to the challenge of restructuring to unlock the governance potentials inherent in laying the foundation for a true federalism in Nigeria. How then can this trajectory towards restructuring the Nigerian federation become a significant plank in the Tinubu administration that yields solid governance reform and brings home the impact of the Renewed Hope Agenda, post-2027?

The endgame for that restructured federation is the objective of installing a framework of structurally permanent competitive federalism among the federating units and regions. This is the overall agenda that all the preceding policy initiatives must reach for; this is the blueprint that must structure the restructuring process in the next administration cycle. Once we understand the brilliant strategy of a piecemeal legislative approach that privileges decentralisation through gradual policy advancement, then we see the significance of, for instance, the Ministry of Regional Development and the six regional development commissions. This is a pivotal transition that connects federalism to developmental local governance. The policy development serves as a cogent prelude to a full-fledged creation of local and regional economic corridors and growth poles that unravel the binding constraints around wealth generation at the grassroots level.

This is a fundamental consideration and pivot because the grassroots is what enables democratic governance. Democratic governance becomes meaningful when local governance is empowered. It is significant development at the local level-the level of the local government-that speaks to the connection of governance to the people. We had a very palpable demonstration of this relevance of local governance in the immediate post-independence period when the local government areas were significant spaces both for sociopolitical mobilisation as well as efficient public works, and service provision and delivery. Local governance therefore facilitates the grassroots participation of the people who are the most fundamental factor in governance. Indeed, the local governments constitute the framework for testing the transparency and responsiveness of government institutions. This is where the concepts of subsidiarity and social capital become fundamental in understanding local governance. The subsidiarity principle is targeted at undermining the centralisation dynamics that are at work in the lopsidedness of the Nigerian federal constitution. The principle demands that whatever policy and development issues can be handled at the local and grassroots level must not be denied the third tier of government.

How then must the initial policy initiatives of the Tinubu administration be strengthened to push the restructuring blueprint towards its ultimate objective of a competitive federalism? There are five policy and structural pathways that could serve as the basis of institutionally grounding the task of decentralising the Nigerian governance systems. The first is legal and constitutional, and it is meant to ensure that the regional bodies already established do not become mere appendages pushing the centralising logic of the federal government. Thus, the regional bodies and frameworks already set in place must be constitutionalised into significant economic spaces that reinforce Nigeria’s governance architecture. The government must also legislate on the policy significance of streamlining the regional development plans, in the shape, for example, of the North Central 20-Year Economic Infrastructure and Social Development Plan. This allows for each of the six regions (or more) to develop along the lines of their comparative advantages in terms of agriculture, trade, mining, fishing, and more.

The second reform consideration piggybacks on the first: the structural responsibilities that will unlock the economic growth and progress of the regional governance corridors must be attended by fiscal and financial autonomy. One immediate means of consolidating the financial strength of the Ministry and the regional development commissions is to allocate some specific empowering percentage to them from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. They can also leverage alternative funding especially through public-private partnerships or even through the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund (RHIDF). Without some concrete sources of revenues, the regional initiatives will regress into routine activities and eventually collapse. A critical dimension of this fiscal autonomy and responsibility must necessarily be the need to devolve management of resources to the regions. This is critical if the comparative advantages of the regions would become competitive, and if the regions would truly take ownership of their development. The federal government can then be the recipient of some percentages benchmarked against the First Republic modified model rather than be the one doling out peanuts to the regions.

The third reform pillar the Tinubu administration must explore is, as we have hinted, the pursuit and institutionalisation of developmental local governance. True federalism is only meaningful when it is founded on a bedrock of local and self-sustaining governance. The administration can jumpstart this by submitting comprehensive local government autonomy legislation that will leverage the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the financial autonomy of local governments. This ensures that there are readily available funds that the local governments receive directly for developmental purposes. But then, follow-up legislation must make oversight and accountability possible by establishing structural procedures to track expenditures and tangible developments in terms of road networks, healthcare services, sewage maintenance, small businesses and enterprises, basic education, etc.

All these will necessarily lead to the fourth pillar that will draw the Nigerian federation closer to a very visible and competitive federalism-the need to establish the regions, and the regional development commissions, as ‘growth poles’ or economic corridors that are interconnected and mutually reinforcing in terms of their harmonised policy, developmental and economic objectives. One starting point would be the strategic need to decentralise public assets and infrastructures, like military bases, national think tanks and training institutions. This constitutes a solid gesture towards ensuring a secure base for economic growth and investment. The regional development commissions would also need to facilitate the interconnections of the regions through massive transit networks, like the proposed Lagos-Calabar coastal highway, and the Sokoto-Badagry superhighway that strategically connect the north-west and the south-west. The transit networks will also focus on critical feeder roads that the regional commissions will manage together with the local governments. The economic corridors in the geopolitical zones also require electricity as a necessity. This makes it imperative for the government to start thinking about the strategic significance of decentralising the energy and grid systems in ways that offload the pressures away from the national grid that keeps collapsing. This will make the regions the beneficiaries of interconnected regional grids that service their developmental aspirations and blueprints.

The last reform mandate is, as is to be expected, security. Law and order are the basis of economic growth and developmental progress. This implies that it would be one of the greatest governance paradoxes to have achieved a significant level of decentralisation through the initiatives Tinubu has already taken while upholding a centralised security architecture. In the next administration’s development policy cycle, therefore, we expect that the state police initiative would have been completed. In other words, the government at the federal and state levels would have gone beyond the conceptualisation to active deployment. However, it would then be left to the regional development commissions to coordinate and synergise intelligence gathering and sharing, joint operations, capacity building, and so on.

From the foregoing, it becomes obvious that achieving a decentralised federation possesses a key dimension of making democratic governance work for millions of Nigerians. The key objective of restructuring the federation is to unlock the binding constraints that disconnect democracy and governance from those who are its real motivation. The policy initiatives that have quietly commenced the decentralisation mandate required to make federalism functional must be pressed to their logical conclusions once the next administration cycle begins, post-2027. With the restructuring framework set in motion, the Tinubu administration would have firmly grasped by the horns the bull of a lopsided federal arrangement that keeps stifling developmental initiatives and prospects. This is a very tough prospect, but the administration, against all odds, has proven that it is not shy to make tough choices.

The Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Movement in Nigeria has called attention to the significant gaps that persist between Nigeria’s policy commitments and the reality faced by millions of women, girls, and vulnerable populations in the country.

Lawyer, development practitioner, and coordinator of the SRHR Movement, Confidence Ezeala, said this while speaking on systemic health disparities, discriminatory laws, and shrinking global development funding as major factors jeopardising reproductive healthcare access across Nigeria.

‘Although Nigeria has progressive policy commitments – including the National Health Act, the National Gender Policy, and the Maputo Protocol – implementation and accountability remain uneven.

‘Women, young people, persons with disabilities, and conflict-affected communities face severe barriers intensified by gender inequality, harmful social norms, and anti-rights legislative pushes,’ Ezeala said.

As part of efforts to address the challenges, civil society organisation (CSO) leaders are gearing up for a major national intervention to transform the country’s Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) landscape.

To sustain the momentum, the coalition is calling for strategic co-sponsorships with local development partners and the private sector, emphasising that a healthy population directly underpins economic stability.

?’A safe and empowered population is the foundation of a strong economy. We are inviting private sector leaders and partners to join us – whether through session sponsorships or showcasing solutions in our Innovation Hub – to help define the future of reproductive justice in Nigeria,’ Ezeala said.

Ezeala heads the SRHR Movement, registered as the Safe Reproductive Health and Rights Network, serving as a unifying platform for bodily autonomy in the country.

She said the second annual national SRHR conference, scheduled for November 4-5, 2026, in Abuja, aimed to address SRHR challenges in Nigeria.

Key technical tracks during the two-day Abuja summit will focus on enforcing pan-African SRHR obligations, expanding reproductive care in humanitarian settings, leveraging safety technology, and sustaining youth-led feminist movements.

Furthermore, Ezeala said that the national gathering comes at a critical juncture marked by shrinking international aid allocations for reproductive health across the Global South.

Addressing the financial outlook, she highlighted the movement’s pivot toward self-sustaining and locally led models.

The SRHR Movement, conceived in 2019 by the Lawyers Alert Justice Initiative with support from AmplifyChange, has expanded to include more than 100 civil society organisations (CSOs) across all 36 Nigerian states.

?Ezeala noted that, over the years, the network has driven grassroots mobilisation, supported the establishment of Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs), and led legal advocacy targeting sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) alongside harmful cultural practices. c

In this piece, recent investigation of medical organisations and medical experts reveals how late-night internet use, alcohol consumption, sleep deprivation and unhealthy lifestyle choices are exposing young Nigerians to hypertension, highlighting doctors’ warnings and the urgent need for preventive measures.

VR Muhammed Usman-Vulegbo, a civil servant diagnosed with hypertension in his mid-30s, said the experience challenged his belief that high blood pressure was a condition associated mainly with old age.

He sought medical attention after experiencing numbness in his hands and legs, which became severe enough to require emergency care.

‘My father used to warn me because he had high blood pressure, but I thought it was something that would come in my 50s or 60s. Instead, it came without warning while I was still young.

‘We need more awareness because hypertension can affect people even in their late 20s,’ he said.

Beyond the initial shock of the diagnosis, Usman-Vulegbo said managing the condition required medication and dietary changes, placing additional pressure on his finances.

‘It wasn’t just about buying drugs. The doctors also told me what to eat and what to avoid. In this economy, maintaining the recommended diet is another challenge entirely,’ he said.

His experience reflects a wider challenge: detecting and managing hypertension among younger adults, a condition often associated with older people.

Indeed, recent research has documented hypertension among younger Nigerians, although reported prevalence varies across populations, age groups and diagnostic methods.

A review published in September 2026 in the Bratislava Medical Journal examined eight studies involving 5,455 participants and reported hypertension prevalence estimates ranging from 8.1 to 35.9 per cent.

The review also cited national estimates of 6.8 per cent among Nigerians aged 18 to 30 years and 18.1 per cent among those aged 30 to 39 years.

‘National estimates demonstrated a four-to-five-fold increase in hypertension among adults aged 20-39 years between 1995 and 2020,’ the researchers stated.

These findings point to a significant health concern, although differences in study populations and methods must be considered when interpreting the figures.

Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.4 billion adults aged 30 to 79 years were living with hypertension in 2024.

Yet, the burden extends beyond the number of people affected.

The WHO’s 2025 fact sheet reported that 44 per cent of adults with hypertension were unaware of their condition, while only 23 per cent had their blood pressure under control.

This lack of awareness is significant because hypertension often develops without obvious symptoms.

The WHO defines hypertension as blood pressure persistently measuring 140/90 millimetres of mercury (mmHg) or higher, with diagnosis generally requiring elevated readings on two different days.

Consequently, routine blood pressure measurement remains essential, as people may feel healthy while living with the condition.

Health experts warn that uncontrolled hypertension can damage the heart, brain and kidneys, increasing the risk of stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.

Evidence from Nigerian university-based research further illustrates the problem, especially the gap between having the condition and knowing one’s status.

A study published in May 2025 in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders examined 346 clinical students at the University of Ibadan, whose mean age was 23.9 years.

It found that eight per cent had hypertension, while 33 per cent had prehypertension under the study’s classification.

Of the 28 students identified with hypertension, only four already knew their status, and none was taking medication.

Similarly, another study published in March 2026 examined 941 sexually active adults aged 18 to 45 years in Ibadan.

Using thresholds from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association, the researchers classified 19.9 per cent of participants as having stage one hypertension and nine per cent as having stage two hypertension.

However, the study used a lower threshold for stage one hypertension than the 140/90 mmHg threshold used in the WHO definition.

Taken together, the studies demonstrate that hypertension is present among younger adults in the populations examined and that some affected individuals remain unaware of their status.

They do not, however, establish a nationwide trend or explain the causes of individual cases.

Beyond the research findings, doctors say the assumption that hypertension affects only older people may discourage younger adults from seeking routine medical checks.

Dr Adisa Adams, a consultant cardiologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said he was seeing younger patients with hypertension more often in his clinical practice.

‘In my earlier years of practice, high blood pressure is mostly an issue of the mature and old folk starting from 50 years, but now we see 28 years to 35-year-old hypertensive patients,’ he said.

According to Adams, one challenge is the belief among younger people that their age protects them from cardiovascular problems.

‘The first issue with the younger generation is the false and unwise belief that they are young and thus, do not need to regularly check themselves.

‘The second is the fact that they are not taking preventive measures, well as lack of public information and sensitisation about the dangers associated with hypertension,’ he said.

He therefore advised adults to undergo medical assessments even when they felt healthy, stressing that the absence of symptoms did not rule out hypertension or other cardiovascular problems.

Similarly, Dr Marvelous Idemudia of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Clinic identified unhealthy diets, stress, physical inactivity and poor health habits as concerns among younger adults.

‘The increasing prevalence of hypertension and diabetes among young adults should not be ignored.

‘Unhealthy diets, stress, sedentary lifestyles, and poor health habits are among the major factors driving this trend,’ she said.

To address these risks, Idemudia advised young people to undergo blood pressure and blood sugar screening, maintain balanced diets, exercise regularly and get adequate sleep.

Adding another perspective, Dr Ukoma ChiKadibia, vice-president of the Nigerian Cancer Society, pointed to changing dietary habits and reduced physical activity as concerns.

‘Young people today are no longer eating the traditional foods our parents grew up with.

‘They prefer fast foods, shawarma and other processed meals that are heavily loaded with sodium, which puts stress on the heart and increases blood pressure,’ he said.

ChiKadibia also expressed concern about prolonged sitting and excessive screen time, which could reduce opportunities for physical activity.

He added that late-night internet use could disrupt healthy sleeping patterns.

More broadly, the WHO identifies excessive salt consumption, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption, and overweight or obesity as modifiable risk factors for hypertension.

Accordingly, the organisation recommends reducing salt intake, eating more fruits and vegetables, exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy weight.

Adults should aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity weekly.

Family history is another consideration, making regular screening important for people with relatives who have hypertension.

Nevertheless, lifestyle changes alone do not replace medical assessment or prescribed treatment for people already diagnosed with the condition.

For many patients, the challenge extends beyond knowing their blood pressure status to being able to afford the medicines, consultations and dietary changes required for long-term management.

The Advocacy Partnership for Hypertension Financing and Patient Voice (APH-FiP), implemented by the Legislative Initiative for Sustainable Development (LISDEL), with support from the Global Health Advocacy Incubator and in partnership with Resolve to Save Lives, has highlighted gaps in hypertension financing.

According to its factsheet, fewer than five per cent of Nigerian primary healthcare (PHC) patients receiving hypertension care have prepaid health insurance coverage, leaving many to pay out of pocket.

The factsheet estimates that affected households spend between 20 dollars and 55 dollars or more monthly, while 48.2 per cent face a risk of impoverishment.

Beyond the direct cost to households, it puts minimum annual productivity losses from hypertension and other non-communicable diseases at 400 million dollars.

The document also states that 0.05 per cent of Nigeria’s 2025 health budget was allocated to hypertension, while about six per cent of the total health budget went to non-communicable diseases.

Against this backdrop, the partnership recommends timely release of allocated funds, dedicated budget lines for non-communicable diseases and expansion of the WHO HEARTS programme to PHC facilities nationwide.

It further identifies primary healthcare as a platform for prevention and control, estimating that an annual investment of 113 million dollars over 15 years could avert up to 77,500 deaths during the period.

Given these challenges, improving access to screening and treatment at the primary healthcare level could help identify more people with hypertension before complications develop.

Dr Ifeoluwa Odedina, a public health physician at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, said PHC facilities could provide accessible blood pressure screening using simple equipment.

‘Screening for hypertension at the primary level is very effective.

‘It requires only simple tools like a manual blood pressure machine, and most nurses or community health extension workers can be trained on how to use one,’ he said.

Odedina attributed low screening uptake partly to the absence of symptoms, which could leave the condition undetected until complications developed.

He urged adults to check their blood pressure regularly and advised people diagnosed with hypertension to attend clinic appointments and take prescribed medicines consistently.

He also recommended reducing salt intake, exercising regularly, avoiding tobacco use and limiting alcohol consumption.

In the same vein, Professor Basden Onwubere, former president of the Nigerian Hypertension Society, called for routine blood pressure checks and greater public awareness.

‘Young people are now coming down with hypertension which is a disturbing trend compared to the past where older adults in their 50’s and above were affected by the disease.

‘We should pay more attention to this because many people in this age group are unaware that they have the condition,’ he said.

Onwubere noted that hypertension could remain undetected because many affected people did not feel ill until complications occurred.

For young Nigerians, the research findings and expert accounts underline the importance of checking blood pressure rather than assuming that youth offers protection.

Routine screening, healthier diets, regular physical activity and adherence to prescribed treatment can help reduce the risks associated with hypertension and prevent complications.

However, beyond individual efforts, effective hypertension control also requires affordable medicines, sustained public awareness and improved access to healthcare services.

Against this background, Dr Temilade Adeyanju, a consultant cardiologist at UCH, Ibadan, urged Nigerians to prioritise regular blood pressure checks.

‘For Nigerians, know your numbers, do your blood pressure checks routinely, it saves you from the silent killer,’ she said.

Artist and author Fortune Ileleji has examined why talented individuals, promising organisations and relationships often fail despite having the ingredients for success in his new book, The Law of Cohesion.

The book explores how the relationships between different elements can determine whether they work together towards a common goal or undermine one another.

Drawing on observations from human relationships, business, creative pursuits and everyday life, Ileleji argues that having the right people, ideas or resources does not automatically guarantee success if the different parts fail to work in harmony.

His argument raises questions relevant to Nigeria and Africa, where individual talent, ambition and resources do not always translate into collective progress.

According to Ileleji, the idea behind the book emerged from questions about why talented people struggle to build successful organisations, why relationships between people who love one another become dysfunctional, and why intelligent, ambitious and hardworking individuals sometimes fail to achieve their goals.

These questions led him to examine the connections between different parts of a system and how their interactions shape the outcome.

‘I became interested in the relationships between the parts. We tend to examine things individually, but a good part does not automatically produce a good whole,’ he said.

In The Law of Cohesion, Ileleji explores what enables different elements to complement one another rather than work at cross-purposes, arguing that the strength of a whole depends not only on the quality of its individual components but also on how they relate to one another.

The book reflects his broader interest in making complex realities easier to understand by identifying connections that are not always immediately apparent.

Rather than examining individual elements in isolation, he focuses on how they interact, what they reinforce or contradict, and the wider consequences of those relationships.

He said the same approach informs his work across painting, writing and his observations of business and everyday situations.

‘Sometimes the problem is not hidden at all. Every piece of information is already there. What is missing is the relationship between the pieces. Once that relationship becomes visible, something that seemed complicated can suddenly become obvious,’ he said.

Beyond organisations and human relationships, Ileleji extends the idea of cohesion to personal decisions, ambitions and long-term goals.

He argues that people can make seemingly sensible choices in different areas of their lives without recognising that those decisions may collectively lead them in a direction they never intended.

‘You can make sensible decisions about your career, relationships, ambitions, money, health and time, yet discover that together they are constructing a life you never consciously chose,’ he said.

He hopes the book will encourage readers to examine whether their decisions, priorities and pursuits complement one another or pull them in conflicting directions.

‘The Law of Cohesion gives you a way to see those relationships and ask whether the different parts of your life are actually strengthening the whole,’ he added.

Ileleji’s interest in creative expression began in childhood, when he watched his father sketch with a pen. He recalls being fascinated by how an image could emerge from a blank surface, turning an idea into something tangible.

Although he does not consider the experience the sole explanation for his artistic development, he regards it as an early introduction to the possibility of giving physical form to something internal.

The Law of Cohesion is available worldwide in print and digital editions through major book retailers.