Asianet Pakistan Private Limited

When the Federal Government, through the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), announced earlier this year that Federal Science and Technical Colleges (FSTCs) would be converted into purely technical colleges, the move stirred both applause and unease. According to the NBTE, new admissions into these schools will no longer accommodate science-based subjects; instead, the colleges will focus entirely on vocational and technical training.

The logic is clear and easy to understand. Nigeria is facing a widening technical skills gap. Industries constantly lament the shortage of trained welders, machinists, electricians, and ICT technicians. Meanwhile, graduate unemployment remains high, partly because many young people emerge from universities with degrees but without market-ready skills. By emphasizing technical education, the government hopes to produce a workforce equipped for immediate industrial needs, reduce dependence on foreign artisans, and give young Nigerians practical pathways to employment. Yet, as commendable as this looks, the question remains: is it wise to ask science to take a back seat?

Science has always been more than classroom theory or an abstract discipline. Science is the discipline that tries to explain life, and how different phenomena occur in life and then use this knowledge to make life easier, create innovations and products that help humans live a more productive and healthier life. The fact that many people in Nigeria do not see it as such, and do not even understand or even really value science is a testament of our collective refusal or failure to invest in equipment and infrastructure. Many of the schools teaching science at primary, secondary and even tertiary levels in Nigeria do so without having well equipped laboratories. This has reduced the quality of the science being taught in these schools and has turned it into an abstract study which students and even the general public find difficult to relate with. Sometimes in academic circles it is jokingly said that what we practice in our country is science in the ‘tropics’ and not real science as the rest of the world is doing. Subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics are the backbone of innovation, research, and industry. They prepare students not only for professional courses such as medicine, Information and computer technology, engineering, and pharmacy but also for emerging fields like biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy. To sideline science in favor of technical training is to weaken the intellectual foundations of Nigeria’s future knowledge economy.

There is danger if we insist on adopting this one-sided approach. Germany, admired for its technical education system, runs a dual model where vocational training is integrated with academic foundations. South Korea invested heavily in both science high schools and technical institutions during its industrial rise, which is why it now leads in semiconductors, ICT, and biotechnology. Singapore balances strong polytechnics with science-rich junior colleges. None of these countries abandoned science for skills; instead, they combined the two to create robust education systems. Let us not create a workforce of people who can only ‘do’ but cannot think as a result of not understanding the basic science principles that guide the work they do and the output they produce.

In my capacity as a SIWES coordinator, I have visited industries across Nigeria and witnessed first-hand how industrialization is reshaping the workplace. Increasingly, machines and automation is pushing traditional artisans out of factories, replacing manual tasks with technology-driven processes. About a little while ago, breweries, bottling plants, Car battery producing entities and companies producing detergents used to have thousands of casual and technical workers manning many of their units and carrying out one technical or manual function or the other. Machines and automation is rapidly changing this narrative and this shows that technical knowledge and expertise cannot and should not be acquired at the expense of understanding the underlying science principles. The future is going in the direction of robotics and we cannot have technical people who have zero knowledge of science principles.

The reality of the workplace today shows why science must not be thrown out of the window in our pursuit of technical education. If technical people are trained without a scientific foundation, they risk being confined to routine, low-level tasks, repetitive and low paying jobs without prospects for future. Yet, with science integrated into their training, technical workers can evolve into problem-solvers capable of adapting, innovating, and driving the very technologies that are manning and thus transforming industries in Nigeria.

The world itself is evolving and doing so very quickly, and so are technical skills. Modern technicians are no longer expected to only ‘use their hands’; they must understand the science and technology behind their work. Today’s automotive technician, for an example, must grasp not only mechanical repairs but also electronics, computer diagnostics, Artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and chemistry in battery technology among other things. Without the knowledge of science, technical training risks becoming stagnant but with science foundation technical training will remain dynamic, equipping graduates to innovate and remain relevant in a fast-changing economy.

This is why the door should not be shut on science in technical colleges. What is needed is not an outright divergence between science and skills but a deliberate convergence and blend of technical expertise and science. Technical training should be firmly supported by scientific understanding of the underlying principles. When science and skills converge, students not only learn how to ‘do’ but also why and how they are doing it and they can then think of how to improve it. This approach prepares Nigeria’s youth not just for today’s labor market but also for tomorrow’s knowledge-driven economy.

As the NBTE and the Federal Ministry of Education push this policy forward, it is crucial that they also listen to educators, scientists, parents, and industry leaders. Nigeria cannot afford a reform that solves today’s unemployment crisis at the expense of tomorrow’s innovation. A balanced education system where science sharpens the mind and skills train the hand is the true recipe for national development. The choice before us is not science or skills. The real future lies in science and skills together building a generation that can both work today and innovate for tomorrow.

Taye (PhD) writes in from the Department of Biological Sciences, Lead City University, Ibadan.

WORDS are sacred, sovereign objects. This sacredness makes them very essential to democratic freedom. In his poem, The Word Is An Egg, great Nigerian poet and dramatist, Niyi Osundare demonstrated the primacy of the word, whether written or spoken. To show the uniqueness of the word, Osundare’s Yoruba people say, like the broken egg, when you break the shell of the word by uttering it, it dissolves into nothingness. Both the one who utters it and the word itself are then never the same. Believing that the word is sacred, Yoruba transfer that sacredness to the African giant pouched rat (Okete). Whatever this giant rat tells the earth when it is digging its hole, it must comply, they believe. The Yoruba chant this belief in incantations that decree abidance to their command. Thus, drawing largely from the cosmology of his people, Osundare said the word predated man and even the world. ‘In the beginning was not the word/In the word was the beginning’ he wrote. In the world of this poet, the word is omnipotent and omnipresent. The word is creation and the creator.

By granting presidential pardon to Herbert Macaulay, Mamman Vatsa, Ken Saro-Wiwa and others last week, the Nigerian president seems to affirm the primacy of the word. Essentially, what unites these three great Nigerians is their use of the word, spoken and written. Macaulay, for instance, apart from being a Nigerian nationalist, politician, surveyor, engineer and architect, he was also a journalist and newspaper founder. It must be said that virtually all nationalists in the colony were journalists. Realizing the power of the word, especially the written word, against colonialists, nationalists crusading for independence not only founded newspapers for this purpose, the word became their weapon of war. Ernest Sese Ikoli, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, S. L. Akintola etc. were all journalists whose arsenal against the colonizers was the written word.

From 1898 when he disengaged from public service, Macaulay joined the anti-colonial government forces. In the service of this quest, he co-founded the Nigerian Daily News newspaper where he bore his fangs against the colonial government. Some of his pieces included one he entitled ‘Justitia Fiat: The moral obligation of the British Government to the House of Docemo’ and ‘Henry Carr Must Go’. The newspaper also became the platform he deployed to attack his political opponents and ex-associates like Henry Carr and Adamo Akeju, the Obanikoro of Lagos.

Macaulay’s adversarial journalism eventually led to his travails in the hands of the colonialists. He was notorious for the network of informants he kept who, for handsome fees, passed stolen sensitive information from the colonial government to him. These included minutes from colonial government meetings. He then got them published as exclusive stories damaging to white rule in newspapers that he was acquainted with. For this, Macaulay was nicknamed Wizard of Kirsten Hall.

By the twilight of the 1800s, Macaulay had begun to veer from his profession into activism. He became a lone voice against colonial policies on land, water, and what he felt was non-judicial use of public funds. He was also a member of the Anti-Slavery Aborigines’ Protection Society.

In order to bring him to book due to his trenchant opposition to government, Macaulay’s private survey and architect practice was used to allege fraud and criminal misappropriation of funds from an estate where he was engaged as an executor. The Mary Franklin Estate belonging to a deceased client of Macaulay’s, which he was managing, became an object of litigation. In 1913, he was tried by a Robert Irving, who was the prosecuting counsel in the case, for stealing 350 pounds and imprisoned for two years. Some historians claim Macaulay might have been a victim of vendetta. For all his fights for the people of Lagos, a song was composed in Macaulay’s honour which goes thus, ‘E ki Macaulay o, Oyinbo alawo dudu’ (Macaulay deserves reverence; this white man in black skin). Another Yoruba Sakara genre musician of the Lagos colony of the 1920s and 1930s, Abibu Oluwa, regarded as the first breakout start of that traditional musical genre, recorded a track in his tribute where he sang, ‘Macaulay Macaulay, Ejòn’gboro’. Ejòn’gboro – Snake on the Street – was Macaulay’s alias.

Both Saro-Wiwa and Vatsa also personified the sacredness of the word. Apart from his environmental activism, Saro-Wiwa was a great writer whose works included television, drama and prose. Same goes for Major General Mamman Jiya Vatsa who was also an accomplished poet and writer.

I went on the above historical journey to situate the Tinubu administration’s perhaps unintended recognition of the sacredness of the word in the president’s last week pardon granted Macaulay, Saro-Wiwa and Vatsa. However, for the administration and a herd of its servile supporters, it is the proverbial favour of Esu Elegbara, the devil. As Esu approbates, it reprobates. Like Esu, the benefit Tinubu gave with one hand, he and his social media lieutenants repossessed with the other a thousand times. Take for instance the television confrontation between Rufai Oseni of Arise TV and Minister of Works, Dave Umahi last week. In the obsession to demonize Rufai, those I label regime boot-lickers took away what looked like harvested gains by the Tinubu administration. By granting those patrons of the word pardon, even though some have said for political reasons, he invariably acknowledged the potency of their word-crusading.

Let us get some fundamentals right. First, Rufai Oseni is one of Nigeria’s most brilliant journalists. I confess to being addicted to watching him. In my 30 years active romance with the word, seldom have I encountered someone in possession of such robustness of mind and an obsessive quest for the good of society. Anchoring his belief on Niyi Osundare’s credo that the word is powerful, omnipotent and omnipresent, the creation and the creator, Oseni uses words to be a guiding principle for those who want a good society.

Last Friday when the Norwegian Nobel committee, in far away Oslo, was announcing Maria Corina Machado as its 2025 Prize winner, my mind went to Oseni, his crusade for a just society and his travails in the hands of Nigerians who have grown luscious inside the sewers of bad governance.

Permit me to state that, substitute Venezuela for Nigeria and the committee could as well have been referring to Rufai Oseni. In his small corner of television advocacy and activism, Oseni, like Machado, challenges monarchical rule dressed in the garb of democracy. He has tirelessly advocated for free elections and representative government. If you read the work of two scholars, Olakunle A. Lawal and Oluwasegun M. Jimo, in their journal article entitled ‘Missiles from ‘Kirsten Hall’: Herbert Macaulay versus Hugh Clifford, 1922 – 1931′ as I did, you would see in Rufai Oseni the Herbert Macaulay spirit.

A motley crowd palace courtiers denigrate Rufai Oseni today for rousing us all against a brand of civilian colonialists, the type Macaulay fought to a standstill. Like Macaulay, Oseni faces intense persecution. Macaulay’s is mostly from Lagos people and the colonial government whose perception of him was that he was an unnecessary pest. Many think same of Oseni, too. If Macaulay had been an anchor on TV as Oseni is, the Tinubu government Rottweilers would have bayed for his blood, too. During Macaulay’s court trial, a local musician called Gbadamosi Bishi composed a song for him which approximates the high level of opposition against colonial rule of the time.

What many do not know is that what Rufai Oseni and his very few fellow travelers on this rarely-traveled road go through in fighting bad governance and entrenched forces of democratic retrogression is significant. You may deplore his method of fighting the self-serving and the ‘violent machinery of the state’, but you cannot undermine the fact that Oseni is, just like Machado, a ‘symbol of (our) collective aspiration against an alien government that (doesn’t care for our) welfare.’

The Nobel committee had strong words for those who perceive criticism of the government as adversarial. The committee stated that ‘what lies at the heart of democracy’ is ‘our shared willingness to defend the principles of popular rule, even though we disagree.’ Its description of Machado’s seemingly hopeless Venezuela seems to find mutual validity in Nigeria.

In a country where hero-worship and the belly, rather than principle, dictate the compass of individuals’ stands in the blight of normalcy currently reigning in Nigeria, the word, as represented by the media, plays crucial role as representatives of free speech. The Rufai kind who hold governments accountable is fast becoming extinct. When a Minister of Works appears vague and opaque on the cost of roads under his superintendence on national television, it is the responsibility of a journalist to make the minister lose his appetite. That was what Rufai did. You may not like how he did it but that is business for further discourse. That he courageously did it, without kow-tow-ing to his dollars and grits, Oseni deserves our own Nobel. Erstwhile clan members with whom the likes of Rufai ingressed and egressed through the same aganrandi (a traditional Yoruba door) have recently almost all exited, citing their love for country and how ‘hate and anger should not blind Nigerians to progress.’ The Rufais should be commended for not following the ignominious paths of our brothers, Judas.

Come to think of it, what Rufai demanded was just accountability. If a government awards a Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, a 700 km project, for $11-13 billion (?15.6 trillion) to the self-confessed friend of the president, where his son is a director, methinks this incongruity should raise red flag in the minds of any righteousness-seeking nation. If however you have chosen to live a fawning life of grovelling before your Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves over this matter, why demonize those who are asking questions? Even the governor of Oyo State, Engr Seyi Makinde, an engineer like Dave Umahi, has imputed that his ministerial grandiloquence has no place in accountability. So, why was Umahi waffling on cost of the road per kilometer? The reality is, an average Southwesterner may never ply that coastal road in ten years, whereas he cannot but ply the Ibadan-Ilesa road, for example, which kills the people on a daily basis. But for ulterior motive of self-enrichment, why would a government expend scarce national resources on a white elephant road while abandoning the people to die on consequential roads that have become deathtraps?

We are not all Lagosians who don’t ask questions. Lagos has never asked a single question about the running of their state since 1999. But that is Lagosians’ own problem. What Rufai Oseni and some of us are saying is that, in reality, we are not advocating that the Agatu should not chant the Yoruba traditional oral praise poetry called Rara. Rara is chanted at ceremonies and used as salute in praise of an individual. What we however deplore is the Agatu chanting the praise song of our mother – ‘Aa ni ki Agatu ma sun rara; k’o sa ma fi ki iya wa’. This fear is raised because Agatu, a Benue State tribe, many of whom lived in the Southwest, were renowned for their predilection of mis-pronunciation while mimicking Yoruba words. In other words, those obsequious fawners of power should not extend their canopy of silence to our side.

The truth is, words are what despots and pretentious lovers of democracy first seek to hold captive. Yet, the word is the most valuable hand-tool of democracy. The choice is however ours: We can continue to demonize the Rufai Osenis and idolize individuals who fawn before regimes, the palace appeasers, courtiers and regime sympathizers like Reno Omokri, Daniel Bwala and their clan. As I told one of them on a Whatsapp platform last week, we will all someday reap the fruits of where we stand.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has commended the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, for his groundbreaking humanitarian initiative that secured the release of 4,068 inmates across correctional facilities nationwide, describing it as a major step towards reforming Nigeria’s criminal justice system and advancing President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

In a statement issued by its Assistant Secretary-General, Adejuwon Olatunji Emmanuel, NANS lauded the Minister for what it termed ‘a display of empathy, efficiency, and reform-driven governance.’

According to the association, the initiative, funded through ?585 million raised from private contributions, was achieved at zero cost to the Federal Government and has already restored freedom, training, and reintegration opportunities to thousands of inmates who were held due to their inability to pay fines or bail conditions.

‘Through this noble action, Tunji-Ojo has restored hope to thousands of Nigerians and reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to humane and reform-oriented governance,’ the statement read in part.

NANS described the project as a clear demonstration of the Renewed Hope Agenda in action, commending President Tinubu for appointing leaders with vision, compassion, and administrative excellence.

‘His tireless commitment to reforming the correctional system reflects the new direction of the Tinubu administration – one that values rehabilitation and human dignity over condemnation,’ the students’ body said.

The association further noted that the Interior Minister’s leadership continues to inspire trust in governance and public institutions, emphasising that his approach to reform aligns with modern global practices in restorative justice.

‘We sincerely appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for giving Nigeria such a visionary, proactive, and people-centred Minister. The impact of Hon. BTO’s leadership continues to resonate across all sectors, inspiring a new wave of trust in public service,’ the statement added.

NANS reaffirmed its confidence in the Tinubu administration’s ongoing reform agenda and expressed optimism that similar initiatives would continue to address systemic issues across Nigeria’s justice and correctional systems.

‘Indeed, Nigeria is in motion under the Renewed Hope Agenda,’ the statement concluded.

SAMPLE 1: ‘About two days ago, the Internet has been awashed with news of ex-Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, who verbally assaulted a Daily Trust journalist, Charlse Eyor'(Verbal assault: Fela’s daughter reacts to outburst of FFK against Daily Trust journalist, Charlse, Opera News, 26 August, 2020)

I draw attention to the form awashed occurring in the structure, ‘the Internet has been awashed with news’. Let us note that the word is in the past participle form, a fact attested by the final -ed that characterizes regular past/past participle forms in English. It is difficult to fault a reported sentence that appropriately inflects the verbs, converting them to their past/past participle forms.

However, the trouble here is that the word awash is not a verb but an adjective, and, as we well know, adjectives are never inflected for past or past participle. Some writers often commit the injurious blunder of adding the morpheme -ed to awash, thus giving the misleading impression that it is a verb.

Meaning to exist or be available in large numbers or to be numerous, the word awash is typically used as follows: (1) The streets were awash with posters advertising the new film. (2) The newspapers were awash with stories of the Governor’s sexual escapades in the US. (3) During the era of the oil boom, the country was awash with naira. (4) At this time of the year, the markets are usually awash with fruits. (5) Five weeks on, the country is still awash with unsavoury rumours about the president’s health. (6) American newspapers were awash with the reports of the police’s murder of an innocent African-American. 7) Soon Nigerian landscape will be awash with the posters of politicians seeking elective posts.

What we have learnt today is that the word awash is not a verb but an adjective and, as an adjective, it is anomalous to add -ed to it i.e. to convert it to a past form or a past participle. The error must have emanated from the erroneous analogy that sees the word in terms of the verb wash. Unmistakably a verb, the word wash can be correctly inflected for the past tense and past participle both of which happen to be washed: (1) I have washed my clothes. (2) The erosion washed away all the sands intended for the construction of a new building. (3) Having washed the floor and the walls, the new tenants seemed ready to move into the apartment. (4) The boy washed his hands thoroughly before eating. (5) The driver has washed the car. (6) She washes the plates every morning. (7) What are you doing? I am washing my clothes.

Yes, as the sentences above demonstrate, we have the following forms of wash: washes, washing, washed. It is remarkable that such forms do not exist in the case of awash, which, as we have emphasized, is an adjective.

Sample 2: ‘Adams Oshiomole is the formal Governor of Edo State; he is also the formal president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, but fortunately for the formal Governor, he was able to find a woman who helped him to heal his wound.'(5 years after Oshiomole got married to a foreign lady.Opera News, 24 August, 2020)

The word formal occurs three times in the excerpt as follows: ‘formal Governor’; ‘formal president’; and, again, ‘formal Governor.’ In each of those three appearances, the word formal has been confused with former. In other words, the word former should replace formal in each of those contexts. There is a difference between formal and former, a difference often blurred in the Nigerian perception by poor pronunciation.

Next, we illustrate the difference in meaning and usage between former(ly) and formal(ly). Now read the following sentences: 1) It was surprising that a former chairman of our party could be so shameless as to join another party. 2) He earns much more salary here than he did in his former employment. 3) Disciplined and respectable as he seems, he has had two former wives. 4) Former students of the institution are holding meetings on the possibility of giving it a facelift. 5) In former times, Sanitary Inspectors had some of the powers reserved exclusively today for the police. 6) I ran into a former classmate who introduced me to the new business. 7) Two former governors are being prosecuted for embezzlement and related corrupt practices. 8) It is interesting listening to the testimonies of the former armed robber, now an evangelist. 9) One of the guests is a former beauty queen. 10) One of the governors is a former labour leader. 11) The clinic was formerly housed in an old property belonging to the Local Government. 12) The school formerly belonged to a Christian Mission. 13) The young man was formerly working with an expatriate firm. 14) Our rates of pay were formerly higher than those of the civil servants. 15) It was formerly thought that the earth was flat. 16) Mathematics was formerly regarded as an arts subject. 17) The Nigerian economy formerly ranked among the strongest in the third world countries. 18) The English language formerly belonged exclusively to the British Isles. 19) The nursing profession was formerly associated with women only. 20) Twins were formerly believed to be demons or gods unfit to live with humans.

The word formal(ly) has do with official situations or conditions or behaviour. Now read the following sentences: 1) It is now time to formally welcome our guests. 2) The former leaders have not formally handed over to the new leaders. 3) The President formally announced the dissolution of the council yesterday. 4) The formal inauguration of the 8th Senate was characterized by controversy. 5) The occasion was declared open formally by the Vice Chancellor. 6) Formal education in modern times is synonymous with western education. 7) Before any other thing, we must have formal introduction. 8) Nobody can occupy a position like that without formal training. 9) The case will be presented formally today. 10) To be admitted into the hall, you have to be formally dressed. 11) Jokes of that nature should not be cracked on formal occasions. 12) A formal meeting is being arranged between the new Senate President and the President of the Federal Republic. 13) A letter has been written formally appointing him as MD. 14) Since the meeting has not adjourned formally, nobody should leave. 15) The chairman formally assumed duty last Wednesday. 16) The Matriculation day is the day new students are formally admitted into the university system. 17) The so-called engagement is the occasion the future groom’s parents formally request the future bride’s parents to release their daughter to them. 18) Retirement marks the retiree’s formal disengagement from service. 19) This is not an occasion for formal, boring speeches but for celebration and jollity. 20) The book will be formally presented to the public before the end of the year.

‘A man’s cheerful heart gives him strength when he is sick. You can’t keep going if you have a broken spirit.’ Proverbs 18.14.

‘The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.’ Psalm 34.18

Last time we began looking at negative emotions. We have seen that the human mind has the capacity to receive, process information which in turn has the capacity of control.

‘Your genes don’t control your life as much as your mind and thoughts do.’ Carmen Jacob

Proverbs 23.7 says as a man thinks in his heart so is he.

You must, therefore, not be ignorant, careless, negligent, or nonchalant about negative emotions because they are real and dangerous.

Dangers of negative emotions

1. They steal your joy – you lose enthusiasm and happiness.

2. Negative emotions, if not properly handled, usually results in the loss of peace which manifest in anxiety, worry, nervousness and mental stress.

3. It lowers and eventually destroys your morale and of those around you.

4. Creates disinterest in your job/the people and you begin to hate your job, people and yourself.

5. Mental health issues

6. Affects your self esteem. Negative emotions can lead to self doubt.

7. Discontent and dissatisfaction.

How to handle negative emotions.

a) Understand that it is common to man and everyone is prone to negative emotions. Do not allow the presence of negative emotions to isolate you from people. Everyone, one time or the other gets into the net of negative emotions.

‘There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.’ 1 Corinthians 10:13.

‘Be sober be vigilant because your adversary as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in faith knowing that the same affliction are accomplished (experienced by) your brethren that are in the world.’ 1 Peter 5.8-9.

Negative emotion is prone to happen to everyone.

‘Negative emotions are a natural part of being human. They can provide important information that helps us understand that something’s wrong. But when these feelings become persistent and overwhelming, they can become a problem that affects our mental and physical well-being. Negative emotions are unpleasant and disruptive emotional reactions. Examples of negative emotions include sadness, fear, anger, or jealousy. These feelings aren’t just unpleasant; they also make it hard to function in your normal daily life, and they interfere with your ability to accomplish goals. It is important to note that no emotion, including a negative one, is inherently bad. It’s perfectly normal to feel these things in certain contexts or situations. These emotions become problematic when they are persistent and interfere with your ability to live your life normally.’ Verywellmind.com

b) Acknowledge you have negative emotions.

– Don’t deny it. Don’t justify it.

– Admit it. You cannot solve a problem you don’t admit so identify and recognise there is a problem.

Bishop Taiwo Adelakun, the presiding Bishop of Victory International Church, has urged Christians to cultivate a habit of praising God and engaging in selfless service for His work to deepen their personal and spiritual wealth.

He made this statement during the dedication of a new church, His Pavilion Christian Centre, located in the Dizengoff Area of Kolapo Isola Estate in Ibadan. In his sermon, Bishop Adelakun emphasized that true wealth is manifested through praising God, serving God, and serving humanity selflessly. He pointed out that Christians who lack a spirit of generosity towards God and others miss the vital path to achieving economic progress.

Earlier, Reverend Niyi Dahunsi, the Lead Pastor of His Pavilion Christian Centre (HPCC), expressed that the church’s completion within one year was miraculous and filled with testimonies, thus earning it the name Miracle Land. He affirmed that his life is dedicated to helping both men and women thrive in their faith.

Reverend Dahunsi, who also serves as the Deputy Director of Programmes at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) in Ibadan, expressed his gratitude to God for fulfilling His promises. He noted that the event was particularly special as it coincided with his birthday, marking a personal double celebration.

The church dedication featured special song renditions, thanksgiving, a birthday cake cutting, and special prayers for Reverend Dahunsi, his family, and the church.

A young man who pranked people on the streets of Paris, France, by pretending to inject them with syringes has been sentenced to six months in prison, the country’s media reported..

Amine Mojito, whose real name is Ilan M., became a viral sensation after he started posting social media clips wherein he spoofed injecting bystanders with an empty syringe around Paris, during a time when genuine fear of such attacks was at an all-time high.

After being accused of ‘violence with a weapon not resulting in work incapacity,’ he defended himself by claiming that he never intended to hurt people, and that he only copied the prank from other countries in order to promote himself on the social media.

However, prosecutors showed that some of his victims were so traumatised by the prank that they had to be hospitalised for mental health assessments.

‘I had had the very bad idea of performing these tricks by mimicking what I had seen on the internet, in Spain and in Portugal,’ Ilan M. told the court.

‘I didn’t think it could hurt people. That was my mistake, I didn’t think of others, I thought of myself,’ he added.

Prosecutors confirmed that no actual injection took place during the pranks, as the 27-year-old man had kept the syringe cap on, but they also alleged that Ilan’s pranks, whether intentional or unintentional, were intended to encourage attacks on strangers.

The prosecutors added that he had also traumatised many of the victims, one of whom described the experience of believing they had been infected with a virus as ‘a nightmare’.

Despite Mojito’s lawyer asking the court for clemency towards her client, the judge viewed the influencer’s actions as having contributed to a climate of fear, even though few of his pranks were actually reported to the police.

As a result, he was sentenced to 12 months in prison, of which six months shall be served in custody, and the rest suspended.

Sunday Tribune columnist, a modern-day philosopher in his own right, Festus Adedayo, had in his offering on August 24, 2025, asked this question: ‘Is Emilokan audacity or incantation ritual?’ In that essay, he also went ahead to dissect the possibility of the words of candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 electioneering campaign carrying more than the ordinary effects. He actually suspected that the Emilokan declaration by Tinubu may not be ordinary words and that ‘a sprinkle of scholars’ believed that the Abeokuta, Ogun State, outburst of the then APC presidential hopeful might have carried some talismanic effects that possibly propelled him to the nation’s presidency.

Whatever it was, we have also heard that a political strategy once deployed loses its surprise element and can only be replicated among some sleeping dudes. In Ibadan, Oyo State, one politician is trying to rewrite that long-held belief, and his name is Adebayo Adelabu, Nigeria’s Minister of Power. Last week, the minister found himself before the elders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Saki, Oyo North Senatorial District, where he announced himself as the crown prince for the Oyo State governorship seat in 2027. He told the gathering of his party’s leaders that he had paid his dues and that, having contested in 2019 and 2023 against the incumbent Governor Seyi Makinde, it was his turn (Emilokan) to rule the state in 2027.

It is possible that Adelabu had read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, especially Mark Anthony’s conclusion that ‘Ambition should be made of sterner stuff,’ and thus decided to adopt Tinubu’s incantation/audacious declaration of ‘Emilokan’. Going by my previous encounter with Adelabu sometime ago at the Ibadan airport, when he wrongly accused me of targeting him, I should have just left him to his wits. But my late father would say that the truth would not bar you from telling it, no matter how bitter. And then, the man is occupying a public office, he is open to scrutiny from like and unlike quarters; add that to the fact that he is seeking to run Oyo State, which is not only my state of origin, but a place I have also committed time and energy in recent years. He thus deserves to be told the naked truth, whether it is palatable to his ears or not. If the truth must be told, Adelabu’s declaration in Oke-Ogun is nothing but a misadventure. First, it was an affront to the nation’s electoral law, which forbids the start of a campaign before the electoral commission blows the whistle. You can talk about it in parables and set up structures, but an open declaration for office should not take place before the time set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

That aside, his declaration insults the mentality of the Oyo State people and their capability to choose who is fit to govern them. As if there is a turn-by-turn gubernatorial list which has been compiled by some forces he is privy to. And what is the foundation of his Emilokan mantra? That he has been defeated twice by the incumbent governor, whose term of office would terminate on May 28, 2027. I think that’s a poor reading of Asiwaju Tinubu’s Emilokan chant/ declaration. Tinubu’s Emilokan outburst was for me, more than what Adedayo narrowed it to-incantation ritual or audacity- it was borne out of deep political frustrations the man was faced with at the time. A sort of protest against the perceived ingratitude of the then establishment, to a man who practically did all that was possible to wake the late President Muhammadu Buhari up from deep political slumber. Adelabu said he had lost the election twice against Seyi Makinde, and so when he comes the third time, he should be simply crowned by the people. That’s a strange calculation, whether you are applying mathematical theorems or accounting procedures. The people of Oyo State and most of Yorubaland have their ways around politics. You just have to find ways to connect with them. The people of Oyo State, particularly, are averse to this thing they Yoruba call Ajele. It means that you must have a way of being in their reckoning, for positive reasons in times past; otherwise, you remain on the fringes of power till God knows when.

But in seeking to plagiarise Tinubu, Adelabu failed to x-ray all that culminated in Asiwaju’s Abeokuta outburst? Is he privy to the 2010/2011 political maneuverings of the acclaimed progressive politicians who were seeking out Buhari as an anchor? Is he aware that the late President Buhari had signed off after he was defeated by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and wept openly on national television while saying goodbye to Nigeria’s politics? Is he aware that Tinubu provided close to 70 per cent of the election funds that brought Buhari into office in 2015? Is he also aware that the same Tinubu was almost named the running mate to Buhari in 2015 but had to be forced to eat the humble pie by forces that enlisted the services of a former Nigerian President, who told him to ‘perish the thought’? Is he equally aware that the same Tinubu was not given the privilege to nominate a single minister into Buhari’s cabinet and that he had to embark on what looked like a self-exile in one West African country, when the government he installed was about to turn the heat on him? Was he told that the same Tinubu had to do whatever it took to warm himself into reckoning in the APC and into the hearts of the then reigning cabal to enable him to contest the 2023 election? If a man had fought all those battles and many other silent ones, is it not enough to provoke an outburst when he started seeing signals that the opportunity to present himself for public office is slipping off? So, there is no correlation between the Abeokuta Emilokan declaration and the entitlement mentality of Minister Adelabu.

But Adelabu’s Saki declaration may be a sort of repeat of the derisive scenes Professor Wole Soyinka painted in his famous work Ibadan: The Penkelemes years, a Memoir (1946-1965), a book in which the Nobel Laureate applied faction as a style, to paint a vivid picture of the politics of Chief Adegoke Adelabu, the minister’s grandfather. According to the book, the older Adelabu had been accused of mismanaging some funds that belonged to the Ibadan local council, but rather than mount a fierce defence, the politician simply drove his newly acquired car to the centre of Ibadan, Dugbe at the time, opened the doors widely and told his supporters to have a feel and see why he was the target of opposition’s attacks. That action, as recorded in Ibadan: The Penkelemes years, led to the song: Maako wo wana/Igunnu lo ni Tapa/Tapa loniigunnu/ Maako wo wana. His supporters were merely telling him that he should feel free to spend their money anyhow he liked because it was their own. You can be sure that even at this age, such a scene would draw pity and laughter at the same time.

But beyond jokes, contesting elections or winning a governorship seat goes beyond the age of the contest. In this clime, we have seen former Vice President Atiku Abubakar contesting for the presidency since 1993. He had been on the ballot in 2007, 2019, and 2023. He lost on each occasion. We also read the story of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, who failed many electoral contests and in almost all endeavours before finally getting the presidency. Rather than placing the hope of his gubernatorial contest on the Saki version of Emilokan, I believe that Adelabu, as I once advised in a statement, should know how to market his politics. He was given a glorious chance to shine in a badly mismanaged sector when President Tinubu made him the Minister of Power. His ambition, and that of any other minister or public office holders, who aspire to any other positions, should be based on the scorecard they have amassed on the current beat.

Rather than chorusing the Emilokan chant, Adelabu should be telling the people of Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo, Oke-Ogun, and Ibarapa how he has removed their towns and villages from the blinding darkness they had suffered in the hands of NEPA, PHCN, which they are still suffering in the hands of the Disco. He should be telling them how he intends to remove the apartheid policy he inflicted on Nigeria via the electricity BAND policy, and how he intends to make electricity supply available to all indigenes and residents of the state, as well as all Nigerians, regardless of their status in the society. If his contest is based on a verifiable performance chart, rather than an unbecoming entitlement mentality, many may wish to consider his quest. But a campaign that offers no developmental objective for the electorate, and is already marred by controversy among the youths over a N12 million largesse, deserves some rethink.