House of Reps Minority Caucus boils over leadership

The simmering crisis within the minority caucus of the House of Representatives has boiled over ahead of tomorrow’s resumption of plenary.

Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), under threat of removal from a section of minority members, obtained an injunction stopping the leadership of the House and the Minority Caucus from removing him.

He is targeted for removal because of his affiliation with Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, it was learnt.

Today, members of the caucus have slated a ‘crucial meeting’ to decide Chinda’s fate.

The meeting, billed for one of the conference rooms in the House of Representatives wing of the National Assembly, is expected to be attended by all caucus members.

The notice of the meeting was signed by leaders of four of the minority parties.

These are: Frederick Agbedi (PDP), Afam Victor Ogene (LP), Muktar Umar-Zakari (NNPP) and Peter Nzokwe (YPP).

But supporters of Chinda are not relenting. They are fighting back under the ‘Active Minority’ group, which claims to have the majority of members.

They have, in fact, prepared for a showdown with the anti-Chinda group.

Defendants in Chinda’s suit are the National Assembly, the Clerk to the National Assembly, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Clerk to the House of Representatives, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Labour Party (LP), All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Africa Democratic Congress (ADC) and Young Progressive Party (YPP).

Justice J.O. Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued an interim injunction asking all parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the suit.

The notice for the meeting reads: ‘You are hereby invited to an emergency meeting to discuss recent developments in the minority leadership, particularly to review the lawsuit instituted by Minority Leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, against all members of minority parties in the 10th House of Representatives.’

The items on the agenda are to prepare a ‘response to the lawsuit instituted by Chinda, against all minority parties and any other business (AOB).’

In an order of interim injunction, the court ordered all parties in the suit filed on behalf of Chinda by Dr. J.Y. Musa (SAN) to maintain the status quo, pending the determination of the suit.

Chinda is seeking ‘an order restraining the defendants, their servants, privies, officers, agents, members, howsoever described, from removing him as Minority Leader of the House of Representatives without compliance with the due process of the law or accepting/recognising any exercise by any person(s) purportedly removing him from his position as the Minority Leader.’

Justice Abdulmalik ruled: ‘It is my considered firm opinion that in order to ensure all the parties listed in these processes have equal playing ground by virtue of their constitutional rights enshrined in Section 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended), as well as the need to protect the res sought in the application, I hereby order as follows: ‘THAT the applicant shall forthwith serve on all the defendants/respondents the Motion on Notice with Suit No:- FHC/ABJ/CS/1936/2025 filed on 16th September 2025, along with all relevant processes filed in this matter, so as not to foist a fait accompli on the outcome of the reliefs sought in this application, which are also exact same reliefs prayed in the Motion on Notice with Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1936/2025.

‘That the hearing of the Motion on Notice with Suit No:- FHC/ABJ/CS/1936/2025 filed on 16th September 2025, shall pursuant to Section 6 (6) (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) be expediently resolved on its merit by this Honourable Court for the attainment of Justice in this matter.

‘THAT all the concerned parties listed in this application shall maintain status quo in respect of the res prayed on the face of the Motion Ex-Parte pending the hearing and determination on its MERIT of the Motion on Notice with Suit No:- FHC/ABJ/CS/1936/2025 filed on 16th September 2025.

‘THAT all the Defendants/Respondents SHALL be served with Hearing Notices in respect of this matter.’

Preparing for a showdown

Pro-Chinda members of the minority caucus under the aegis of ‘Active Minority’ are set for a showdown with their colleagues over the removal plot.

No fewer than 89 members have thrown their weight behind Chinda, vowing to resist any attempt to remove him.

A member of the Active Minority, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were prepared to counter the moves by certain interests in the PDP and the ADC bent on replacing Chinda because of his affiliation with Wike.

He said: ‘We have stumbled on a plot by certain leaders in the PDP and ADC to replace Chinda. His only sin is the allegations that he is close to Wike.

‘But I can assure you, we are ready for those sponsored to come to the floor and execute this insidious plan.

‘Our group, the Active Minority, is prepared to resist this because Chinda has discharged his responsibilities as an opposition leader very well.

‘As I speak with you, the Active Minority has a membership strength of 89 members and more members are identifying with us.

‘All opposition lawmakers are about 140, and we have an overwhelming majority to counter any undemocratic move.’

When asked to unveil the identities of the Active Minority, the lawmaker said: ‘We are keeping our identities under wraps until the House resumes. We don’t want to let the cat out of the bag now. Our strategy is also within us until we meet on the battlefield.’

On why they chose to support the minority leader, the lawmaker said: ‘Chinda’s unwavering commitment to upholding democratic principles and advocating the rights of the Nigerians has set him apart as a beacon of hope in times of uncertainty.

‘Chinda has since 2023 vehemently stood against the defection of opposition lawmakers to the APC.

‘One of Chinda’s notable contributions lies in his staunch opposition to members of the opposition defecting to the ruling party, citing violations of constitutional provisions and electoral laws.’

Residents urge Makinde, Ladoja to save them from land grabbers

Residents of about 50 villages under Lafiku Dynasty in Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State have urged Governor Seyi Makinde, Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja and other stakeholders to save them from land grabbers.

The residents, who lamented injuries, tension and unrest the land grabbers had caused them, said they would be forced to resort to self-defence if Governor Makinde, Oba Ladoja and other stakeholders failed to do the needful.

They said as law-abiding citizens, they called on the governor and the first-class monarch to assist them, ”because we don’t want to take the law into our hands.”

Addressing reporters in Ibadan at the weekend, one of the affected people, Akogun Saheed Olawoyin from Onifade Ogunkanmi, Lafiku Dynasty, said: ‘We appeal to the new Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Ladoja, who does not tolerate corruption and land grabbing, to assist us through legal means, to chase these people away so that residents can have peace of mind.

‘We want the government to give us a police station because we are too far from Sanyo Police Station. Alternatively, the government can give us an Amotekun division so that residents will enjoy peace and security.’

Narrating their ordeal, Olawoyin alleged: ‘About six years ago, a deposed Baale started disturbing over 50 villages under Lafiku Dynasty. These villages have been there for over 400 years. The land is located at Olojuoro, Olomi, Oluyole Local Government.’

Baale Lafiku, Chief Yusuf Alimi, Baale Okeseyin, Chief Moruf Olaigbe and the Chairman of Landlord Association at Onifade Ogunkanmi Village, Lafiku, said: ‘There was peace and we were living in harmony until the deposed Baale came in 2019.

‘He caused chaos everywhere and started grabbing land belonging to residents. He attacked some, took some to the police station and lied against others.

‘This is why we are appealing to Governor Makinde and Oba Ladoja to rescue us. We don’t want problem. We don’t have thugs to fight for us, except government.’

Norrie records first win since US Open

Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie claimed a first win since September’s US Open, beating Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in a third-set tie-break to reach the third round of the Shanghai Masters.

The British number two was knocked out by Novak Djokovic in the third round at Flushing Meadows and has since tasted back-to-back defeats in Chengdu and Beijing.

But it proved to be third time lucky in China for Norrie as the five-time winner on the ATP Tour clinched a rollercoaster 6-3 0-6 7-6 (7-5) victory over the world number 70.

After receiving a bye in the first round, Norrie’s first win at a Masters 1,000 event since May, when he won on the clay in Rome, sets up a third-round match against 19-year-old American Learner Tien.

Braekhus Retires In Style By Winning More Belts

Norway’s Cecilia Braekhus ended her illustrious career in style, beating Ema Kozin on points to claim the WBC and WBO light-middleweight titles in her final bout.

The 44-year-old rolled back the years with sharp attacks to the head and body in a dominant performance in Lillestrom.

The judges scored it 97-93, 96-94 and 98-92, as Braekhus became a world champion in a second weight division.

The ‘First Lady’ of boxing fell to her knees when the scores were read out, with head in hands – clearly overcome with emotion, having previously announced that the fight would be her last.

Braekhus – who in 2014 became the first female boxer to hold all four major belts simultaneously – retires with a record of 39 wins, two defeats and one draw.

Has URA failed to tax agriculture?

From the coffee hills of Bugisu to the dairy plains of Mbarara, the farmlands are booming, driving exports, creating jobs, and feeding millions.

Yet, amid this growth, one question lingers: why does Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) collect almost nothing from a sector powering nearly a quarter of the economy?

The URA Guide to Taxation of the Agricultural Sector (2022/2023) indicates that agriculture contributes 23.8 percent of Uganda’s GDP but less than 1 percent of total tax revenue.

It’s a paradox that raises a bigger question: has URA failed to tax agriculture, or has the system failed URA?

Stuck in the past

Part of the problem dates back to 1997, when the Income Tax Act exempted ‘income derived from farming, animal husbandry, and fish farming’.

The goal was noble – to protect smallholders who dominated the post-war rural economy.

But the landscape has changed. Today, agriculture includes large-scale exporters, investors, and processors with turnovers in the billions, all operating under the same exemptions designed for peasant farmers. That gap has allowed the rich to benefit from a policy meant for the poor.

Yet the guide that had been built to help structure proper mechanisms to tax agriculture and associated industries is gathering dust.

URA estimates that government loses between Shs500b and Shs1 trillion each year due to agricultural exemptions and informal operations.

Agriculture may employ up to 70 percent of Ugandans, but tax collections remain dismal.

Out of millions of participants, only 38,528 agricultural taxpayers are registered, a mere 4 percent of URA’s total taxpayer base.

Of these, 96 percent are in crop and animal production, and only 2 percent each are in forestry and fisheries.

In many districts, entire agricultural value chains, from produce buyers to exporters, operate outside URA’s records, yet the law requires every business operator to have a Tax Identification Number.

The situation is worsened by creative accounting, with several agribusinesses classifying their transport, processing, or export activities as ‘farming’ to claim tax exemptions.

URA calls this the ‘loophole economy’, where tax-free farming becomes a disguise for tax avoidance.

The result is a distorted system where major exporters of coffee, tea, and fish, the top foreign exchange earners, pay far less tax than smaller industries like manufacturing or retail.

Little or almost no oversight

The tax regime has been generous to agriculture. Inputs like tractors, fertilizers, seeds, irrigation systems, refrigerated trucks, and dairy equipment are all VAT and duty-exempt.

These incentives sought to modernize farming, but have also opened loopholes for abuse. Some companies import machinery tax-free for ‘farming,’ only to lease it out commercially.

But the issue becomes more delicate because of politics. With most Ugandans reliant on farming, any proposal to tax agriculture is branded anti-poor.

In the Guide to Taxation of the Agricultural Sector, URA concedes that reforms have faced ‘strong resistance and misunderstanding’. But has managed to push through some changes even as some remain unimplemented.

In the Guide URA notes, it is expanding registration under the Taxpayer Registration Expansion Programme and linking commercial farmers to digital tracking systems such as Electronic Fiscal Receipting and Invoicing (EFRIS).

URA also proposes withholding taxes at export points, starting with coffee, tea, and fish, to capture large-scale players without burdening subsistence farmers, which it says would be ‘a balance between fairness and feasibility.’

At the weekend, Moses Kaggwa, the Ministry of Finance acting director of economic affairs, said government and the entire value chain were reviewing tax policies to find a workable approach for taxing agriculture.

‘The review aims to provide a clear understanding of the modalities and basis for taxing the sector,’ he said.

The government invests close to or more than Shs2 trillion in agriculture annually, but the returns, as noted by Secretary to the Treasury Ramathan Ggoobi, are negligible in terms of taxes.

UPL reforms, boycott leave game in ruin

Ugandan football now finds itself caught in a storm with no shelter in sight – a battle of power, pride, and principle playing out on a pitch that’s growing colder by the day.

In a game where both sides refuse to blink first, it’s the soul of the sport that’s taking the beating.

The curtain was supposed to rise on a new chapter of the Uganda Premier League (UPL) on Saturday at Namboole, but instead, all that unfolded was an unsettling silence and a painful reminder of how far the game has strayed.

Vipers, led by the defiant Lawrence Mulindwa, stayed true to their word and never showed up for their match against Kitara – a bold protest against the controversial new league format imposed by Fufa.

And when KCCA edged SC Villa 2-1 in the second fixture, it was a victory drowned in apathy, played before empty stands and an echo of fan disapproval reverberating across social media.

The much-hyped ‘double header’ turned into a disaster. Kitara’s players were left awkwardly warming up in what looked more like a training drill than a league match. Vipers, firm in their earlier objection, never appeared – exposing the depths of division that now threaten to tear Ugandan football apart.

The new league format, spearheaded by Fufa President Moses Magogo, splits the season into three phases, with points reset after the first round and double headers introduced throughout.

It’s a system widely criticized by stakeholders and fans alike – described by Mulindwa as a ‘gamble with football’ that disregards logic, fairness, and financial investment.

Mulindwa vows

‘This format is not only confusing but a total mockery,’ Mulindwa fumed in a recent interview.

Mulindwa’s rhetoric has been blunt and unambiguous. ‘I want to assure Ugandans that I can’t be intimidated, bribed, corrupted. If you want to dismiss Vipers out of Ugandan football, I have no problem. Me, I don’t feed on football, it is football that feeds on me. But Fufa feeds on football, you remove football and they will not exist.’

He added a stern warning: ‘If they are not willing to listen, I am not ready to bow down. This is the beginning of the struggle, if they don’t consider their position, we shall fight. Don’t expect to change my mind because where they are taking is gambling, manipulation of football, match fixing.’

While Fufa has promised increased investment, including Shs3.4b injected into the league, Mulindwa remains unconvinced.

‘Even with those billions, some clubs are still walking away with less than ten million. And we, the league and cup champions, haven’t even received our prize money from last season,’ he revealed.

Empty win

KCCA’s win over Villa – once a fixture that brought the country to a standstill – now felt like a formality.

Ivan Ahimbisibwe opened the scoring with a composed finish in the 31st minute, Villa responded through a Najib Yiga penalty, but substitute Umar Lutalo curled home a late free kick to seal the 2-1 win.

Still, the lifeless atmosphere and the glaring absence of fans said it all – the league has lost its spark.

To make matters worse, StarTimes, the league’s broadcast partner, has yet to televise any matchdays under the new format – reportedly due to a breach of contract. For a format that promised greater visibility, Ugandan football is now being played in the shadows.

With SC Villa reluctantly playing under protest, and KCCA far from their fluent best, the quality of football has also suffered. The opening two matchdays have done little to inspire confidence in the so-called ‘reforms’.

Until both parties climb down from their high horses and meet at the negotiation table – perhaps during this two-week international break – Ugandan football remains stuck in a stalemate.

And unless the government or an independent mediator steps in, the league risks sliding into irrelevance, leaving behind nothing but broken dreams and unplayed matches.

This rupture risks a long-term erosion of confidence. Sponsors watch nervously as fixtures dissolve into controversy. For now, the only certainty is uncertainty.

StarTimes Uganda Premier League

Results

Kitara vs. Vipers (boycotted)

KCCA 2-1 SC Villa

What it means to lead a creative life

IN her book, The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action, Dr. Zorana Ivcevic Pringle writes about how to use emotional intelligence to manage the creative process, regardless of industry or job role.

As communicators, we certainly can appreciate her thoughts on this. After all, she is a senior researcher at the Yale Center of Emotional Life.

After all, ‘creativity is the powerhouse that differentiates good organizations from great ones. It goes beyond generating ideas. It is about the long process of developing ideas for more effective performance and the process of building abstract notions into concrete products.’

Fast Company recently interviewed Dr. Pringle, and here she shares one of her top tips for fueling creativity.

Noticing emotions to identify opportunities

‘Entrepreneurs are skilled at identifying opportunities by reading their own and others’ feelings,’ says Dr. Pringle.

She cites Apoorva Mehta who hated everything about the grocery shopping experience, and used this feeling to found Instacart. With this, he created a way to shop for groceries from one’s phone.

Likewise, Melissa Butler founded Lip Bar to counter her frustration with the beauty industry. Its products are vegan and cruelty- free, and offer a wide variety of vibrant lip colors and complexion products.

She encourages innovators inside organizations to do the same. For example, ‘when a supervisor in a food service unit of a major hospital realizes his workers are exhausted, he’s identifying a problem in need of a creative solution.’

As a result, the hospital redesigned the workflow, reducing worker burnout and improving their accuracy on the job.

Taking advantage of thinking/feeling connections

Emotion scientists have discovered moods boost different kinds of thinking.

When we feel positive, energized, and enthusiastic, these are the best times for brainstorming and charting new ideas.

When we are feeling subdued or even sullen, these are times best for critical thinking.

‘To optimize creative work, it takes skill to match different moods and tasks which benefit from them, ‘says Dr. Pringle. Feeling playful? Come up with new ideas for a project. Feeling down? Review and revise.

Generating emotions

Remember we have more power over emotions than we realize. You can create the mood that is more helpful at the moment. Recall a past win. Put on a song that inspires you.

Another skill is generating emotions to communicate and inspire. ‘Leaders skilled at communicating their passion to inspire others end up having workers who are clear about their responsibilities and goals,’ says Dr. Pringle.

Using emotional intelligence to build a climate for creativity and innovation

A Yale study including more than 14,000 people across industries in thee US asked workers to describe how their supervisors act in emotionally fraught situations. It shows that emotionally intelligent supervisors do four specific things.

1. They are skilled at reading emotions and acknowledge them. They realize when people are upset or worried about organizational or industry changes

2. They inspire enthusiasm and model decision-making that takes into account more optimistic and cautious voices.

3. Emotionally intelligent supervisors understand how their decisions or other events affect other people.

4. They are able to successfully manage their own emotions, and also help their team members when they are upset or frustrated.

‘If the goal is creativity and innovation, leaders should develop emotional intelligence skills,’ says Dr. Pringle.

When leaders develop these skills, ‘they notice how their team members feel, demonstrate understanding of how their decisions impact others, and help people deal with challenges at work. Investment in leadership development will pay off in capacity for innovation.’

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the Senior Vice President for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chair.

Honorary president of Italian luxury brand Fendi named

FENDI recently announced that, from October 1st, Silvia Venturini Fendi is taking on the role of Honorary President of the Italian luxury brand, following her distinguished creative tenure, which included her direction of the women’s collections during the brand’s centennial year.

In her new capacity, she will focus on supporting Fendi’s heritage while continuing to champion the brand worldwide and promoting the house’s rich history, exceptional craftsmanship, and the world of Fendi Casa.

Silvia Venturini Fendi represents the third generation of the Fendi family. From 1992 until 2019, she seconded the late Karl Lagerfeld in the Artistic Direction. Since 1994, she was responsible for the Accessories and Menswear lines and lately, the Women’s collection.

‘These have been truly exciting years, a journey I have walked also in the name of my grandmother Adele, my mother Anna, and her sisters. My heart turns to Karl, an extraordinary master who granted me the honor of working by his side, teaching me the art of sharing, a defining quality in my family’s history of women, while guiding me to nurture and protect my own creative vision so that I could then fly on my own,’ says Silvia. ‘What a wonderful journey it has been, not only creatively but also from a human perspective: first through my bond with Karl Lagerfeld, then with Kim Jones and with my fantastic team, who over the years has become part of my family.’

‘Since 1992, Silvia has greatly contributed to shape Fendi’s creative direction and has been pivotal to the brand’s international success,’ says Ramon Rose, chairman and CEO of Fendi.

A new creative organization for Fendi will be announced in due course.

Cyprus Department of Meteorology – Forecast for the Sea Area of Cyprus (A)

CYPRUS DEPARTMENT OF METEOROLOGY

FORECAST FOR THE SEA AREA OF CYPRUS (A)

FOR THE PERIOD FROM 0600 06/10/2025 UNTIL 0600 07/10/2025

Area covered is 8 kilometers seawards.

Winds are in BEAUFORT scale. Times are local times.

Atmospheric pressure at the time of issue: 1013hPa (hectopascal)

Weak low pressure is affecting the area. The weather will be mainly fine with locally increased cloud coverage at times.

Visibility: Good

Sea surface temperature: 26°C

Warnings: NIL

At 65, Nigeria is stuck in a vicious circle: It’s time to break it!

President Bola Tinubu cancelled last week’s Independence Anniversary parade at the last minute. No reason was given for the cancellation beyond the government’s ‘deep regret’ for the ‘inconvenience caused’. Given that it was about Nigeria’s 65th anniversary as an independent state, a milestone, the cancellation was significant. Yet, in truth, it was just as well the parade was axed. For it would be an extraordinary act of self-deception to roll out the drums for Nigeria’s 65th independence anniversary.

The sad truth is that, beyond the fact of its existence as a political entity, there’s little worthy of jubilation about Nigeria at 65. If that statement sounds outlandish, then consider the following three critical measures of a nation’s success: unity, security and prosperity. Add a fourth: state capacity. How well has Nigeria fared, at 65, on these indices of development? Abysmally, one must say!

Take unity, without which no country can succeed. Is there unity in Nigeria? Is there a shared sense of purpose? Nigeria is a deeply divided country, ethnically, politically, socially, and religiously. As a result of these domestic fissures, virtually every issue in Nigeria is viewed through sectional or sectarian lenses. What about security? Can Nigerians go about their daily activities without fear for life or safety? The answer is no. The spread and impunity of non-state violence routinely blight human lives in Nigeria. Last week, a young Arise TV News anchor, Somtochukwu Maduagwu, died in an armed robbery incident in Abuja. (May her soul rest in peace!) Insecurity has turned Nigeria into a Hobbesian state of nature, where life is ‘nasty, brutish, and short’, as Thomas Hobbes put it in Leviathan.

Then, what about prosperity? Nigeria has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world and was named the ‘poverty capital of the world’, with most of its citizens living below the poverty line. Yet, generating prosperity and engendering better living standards are part of what define a successful nation. But Nigeria is not generating prosperity for its people; instead of improving their living standards, it is pauperising them. Of course, Nigeria is also a deeply unequal country; the gap between the rich and the poor is so wide that the middle class has virtually vanished. Yet, the expansion of the middle classes is a test of a healthy nation.

Finally, what about state capacity? Well, it’s an open secret that Nigeria acutely lacks state capacity. This is a country where the government can’t deliver basic public services, where things like electricity, clean water, sewage systems, and public health, which citizens of most other countries take for granted, are luxuries. Of course, the Nigerian state is not only ineffective but also corrupt. Nigeria has long been ruled by narrow elites feathering their nets at the expense of society. Nigeria is a country where the government is not accountable and responsive to citizens; where citizens lack effective political rights; where they can’t keep politicians in check or easily get rid of corrupt and inept ones. Elections are not free and fair, thus, the citizens have no genuine voice in the political direction their country takes. With massive rigging, vote-buying and disenfranchisements, how could they? The foregoing is the state of Nigeria 65 years after its independence. If you think 65 years is not long enough to assess a country’s progress, then consider Nigeria’s peers at independence: South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia. Where are they today? Truth is, if Nigeria is not a failed state, it is certainly a fragile one. It has all the well-known symptoms of state fragility. Young and educated Nigerians are fleeing the country in droves to have the chance to experience rich-country living standards and opportunities that elude them at home. But here’s the paradox: the same Nigeria that seemingly can’t govern and transform itself from poverty to prosperity has citizens who are transforming other nations and running world bodies like the World Trade Organisation, ably led by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a world-renowned technocrat. What, then, is the problem? Well, every symptom has a root cause. So, what are the root causes of Nigeria’s symptoms of state failure or fragility?

Let’s turn to the famous book Why Nations Fail, written by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson. The book has sold millions of copies worldwide and recently earned their authors the Nobel Prize in Economics. Its greatest insight is that nations fail because of their political institutions. Why? Because political institutions determine how a country is run, who has power and to what ends that power can be used; they determine the ability of citizens to control politicians and influence how they behave; and they determine the nature of economic institutions and who can take advantage of economic opportunities. In any country where the political structure centralises and concentrates power in the hands of a narrow elite, where there are no effective limitations on the use of power, especially checks against abuses of power and corrupt practices, progress is impossible because the exercise of political power in those circumstances will always put private interests above the public good.

Now, without an iota of doubt, Nigeria is what Acemoglu and Robinson describe as an ‘extractive’ state, where the distribution of power is narrow and unconstrained, where those with political power use their offices to amass wealth and use the wealth to sustain their power, and where there is absolutely no incentive for those in power to provide the basic public services that would improve the quality of life for ordinary people and to engender economic progress and prosperity for many, not a few. That’s the political, economic and social cul-de-sac that Nigeria is trapped in today, 65 years after independence. Historically, critical junctures, defined as major events that can cause a sharp turn in the trajectory of a nation, have disrupted existing balance of political and economic power in many countries, leading to structural transformations. For instance, the English Civil War and the American Civil War had transformative effects on those countries. But critical junctures have never transformed Nigeria from an extractive state to an inclusive one. Rather, any change is path dependent, reinforcing existing institutions, or just tinkering around them, like the piecemeal constitutional amendments. Yet, what Nigeria needs are systemic, root-and-branch structural reforms.

Sadly, Nigeria is caught in a vicious circle. Politicians who enriched themselves through the existing pernicious system, and who bought voters, electoral officers and judges to get to power, will defend the status quo to the hilt. Those in opposition, eyeing political power, will portray themselves as change agents. But if they get power, they too, with the same concentrated and unconstrained power, will do nothing to change the system. So, power struggle is not about transformative change but about capturing the state. That’s the vicious circle that is being perpetuated in Nigeria, deepening poverty, inequality and misery.

Yet, history is not destiny, and vicious circles can be broken. However, that requires everyone – the media, civil society groups and the wider society – to fight for transformative change through coherent and persistent political agitations. Of course, it won’t be easy: vicious circles create powerful forces towards the persistence of the status quo. But path dependency and vicious circles are antithetical to progress and prosperity. Nigeria must break free from them. At 65, it must embark upon a path to unity, stability and prosperity. In other words, it must restructure its polity!