Dele Momodu writes a desperate letter to Pres. Buhari...he sounds a little disappointed in the new govt

Ovation publisher and staunch Buhari supporter, Dele Momodu, yesterday wrote a desperate open letter to the president where he expressed a little disappointment over the government of APC in the last four weeks. (I think there are are more desperate and ruthless politicians in this new government, it's definitely a Change from what we had previously). Anyway, read Momodu's memo 1st published on Thisday below..

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Rihanna and footballer Karim Benzema spotted out together...again

Rihanna, who was spotted having dinner with Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema in New York last week, was spotted leaving an LA night club with him again last night. He's a cuter...but I wish she'd stick with Drake. More photos after the cut...

Photo credit: I screengrabbed from TMZ Sports video

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Presidency dismisses rumours on Buhari’s delayed relocation to Aso Villa

The Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to president Buhari, Shehu Garba released a statement yesterday describing as false, reports being circulated online that the reason Nigeria's new president hasn't relocated to Aso Villa was because he was advised by a Senegalese spiritualist not to do so for now. In the statement, Shehu said the report was embarrassing to say the least. He said the president is a Muslim who believes his fate belongs to God.

"The so-called spiritual cleansing of the Aso Rock Villa by Senegalese marabouts before President Buhari moves into the villa is the figment of the imagination of rumour mongers." He said

Shehu said renovation works at the villa was mostly the reason pres. Buhari hasn't moved to the Villa.

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Boko Haram: African Military Chiefs meet in Abuja

The Chief of Defence staff of Nigeria, Cameron, Chad, Niger Republic as well as heads of Intelligence and Security Agencies of the African countries met in Abuja today to discuss the successful operation of the modified version of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the fight against Boko Haram in the region. More photos from the meeting after the cut...

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Boko Haram: African Military Chiefs meet in Abuja

The Chief of Defence staff of Nigeria, Cameron, Chad, Niger Republic as well as heads of Intelligence and Security Agencies of the African countries met in Abuja today to discuss the successful operation of the modified version of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the fight against Boko Haram in the region. More photos from the meeting after the cut...

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Photo: Lionel Messi chills with his family after champions league win

The Barcelona star shared this photo of himself with his son and his parents on instagram, showing him enjoying some well-deserved family time after helping his club secure the Champions League trophy in Berlin on Saturday June 6th.

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Soldiers in gun battle with Boko Haram suspects in Kaduna

A soldier was feared killed in the early hours of Monday during a gun battle between the military and two Boko Haram suspects at Ungwan Keke-B, near Danbushiya suburb in Chikun Local Government area of Kaduna, residents of the area reported on Monday morning.

Witnesses who pleaded anonymity said the suspects, two brothers, moved to the area and lived in a rented apartment three years ago.

“We never knew that they are Boko Haram people.

“We just sighted a team of military personnel cordon the house, then gun shots filled the air at about 11:56 p.m. which led to their escape and the killing of one soldier after several hours of shooting.

According to witnesses, although the two Boko Haram suspects, whose names could not be ascertained, escaped, their wives were arrested by the security operatives after the gun battle that left their building shattered.

“One of the suspect got married to his wife who is from Bauchi eight days ago and brought her to Kaduna. Two of the wives have been taken away by the soldiers,” the witnesses said.

The Village Head of Keke B, Suleiman Mohammed, ‎who confirmed the incident to journalists said he started hearing gun shots at about 1 a.m.

“The team of security operatives later announced that the neighbours should all come out of their houses and ordered them to leave the area,” he said.

The house was completely deserted, there were blood stains on the floor, but the security operatives had left the area when a  correspondent left the vicinity Monday morning.

Efforts to reach the Deputy Director Army Public Relation  of the 1 Army Division Kaduna, Abdul Usman, failed as his phone lines were unavailable. He is yet to respond to a text message sent to him.

The Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria has caused the death of over 20,000 people with hundreds of thousands still displaced mainly in the north-eastern states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.

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BREAKING: APC Crisis: Governors call emergency meeting as Osinbajo meets Reps-elect

Governors of the All Progressives Congress, APC, have called an emergency meeting to seek ways of reuniting the ruling party that is threatened by a major crisis over the choice of new leaders for the Senate and the House of Representatives.

It was confirmed at the national secretariat of the APC that the meeting was called by the chairman of the APC governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha.

A source at the secretariat said the meeting would hold by 5p.m. Monday at the Imo state governors lodge in Asokoro Abuja.

The source said the meeting would discuss how to find a solution to the crisis generated by the election of a new Senate President and Speaker.

The APC had conducted a mock election to elect candidate for the two offices on Saturday and Messrs. Ahmed Lawan from Yobe and Femi Gbajabiamila were elected as Senate President and Speaker of the House respectively.

However, the two main challengers to the posts, Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara, who are also members of the party, boycotted the election and rejected its outcome.

They also vowed to defy the party and seek for the mandate of their colleagues in an election billed for Tuesday.

The APC national secretary, Mai Mala Buni had on Sunday issued a statement urging Messrs. Saraki and Dogara to abide by the decision of the party.

The two contenders rejected the plea by the party leadership and vowed to challenge the party’s candidates on Tuesday.

Osinbanjo meets with Reps elect

Meanwhile, it was understood that after several failed attempts by the party leadership to persuade Messrs Saraki and Dogara to drop their ambitions, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has decided to wade into the matter.

One of the lawmakers loyal to Mr. Dogara confirmed that the Vice President had invited all members to a meeting, even as he said they would boycott it.

“We received text messages from the party informing us of a meeting with the Vice President today; however, we see no difference between the Vice President and those trying to impose leaders on the House of Representatives, so we would not be attending,” he said.

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Nigerian govt. schools reject students displaced by Boko Haram over “academic documents”

Government schools in Abuja are turning away hundreds of students displaced by Boko Haram from northern Nigeria, denying them education on the grounds that they are unable to produce the appropriate documents they failed to grab as they fled the rampaging terrorists.

The FCT government secondary schools are demanding the originals of age declaration, birth certificate, testimonials, transfer certificate from the last school and junior school leaving certificate before the displaced students can be given admission.

Denied education, these students have resorted to odd jobs to fill their time and make ends meet. No papers, no education.

Back in December 2014, Jeremiah Andrew, 17, and many others ran to Abuja for safety, fleeing repeated Boko Haram attacks in the northeast states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

Jeremiah said he fled his village – Gwoza, Borno state – with his uncle when the terrorists attacked.

“When the attack started, we had to run and the only place we found was under a tree,” he said. “We stayed there for days, till we spotted a bus. I and my uncle ran to it and joined (the passengers) to Abuja.”

Jeremiah said he was in senior secondary school when they fled. He is now a carpenter in Waru, an Abuja suburb popular with displaced persons.

Jeremiah, now a carpenter, was rejected by a secondary school.

When he arrived Abuja, he tried to continue his education at the Apo Government Secondary School, but he was turned away by the authorities because he could not produce the documents the school demanded.

“I can’t go back to Gwoza to get those credentials,” he said. “Now I’m a carpenter. I make furniture.”

A displaced mother of seven, Mary Paul, has two of her kids out of secondary school due to the rejections. She told PREMIUM TIMES that the registrar at the Apo Government Secondary asked parents affected by the insurgency to go back to their states to get the credentials before their kids can be admitted.

“When we got to the school the registrar said I should go and get the original age declaration, birth certificate and junior school leaving certificate before they can admitted into the school,” she said.

“When we were all running for our dear life, when would we even remember to get documents? Some of us could not even carry our clothes let alone certificates.”

Mrs. Paul’s story cuts across many IDP camps in Abuja.

In Waru, many school age kids loiter around the community. The girls turn to hairdressing while the boys become Okada riders.

Rules are rules

PREMIUM TIMES visited three schools in the FCT – Government Secondary School, Apo resettlement, Junior Secondary School, Jikwoyi and Government Secondary School, Karu – and found the claims of the displaced persons to be true.

The documents demanded by the school authorities were indeed a prerequisite for any of the IDP students to be admitted into a class. That condition could not be waived, the schools said.

The vice principal in charge of admissions at the Government Secondary School Apo told PREMIUM TIMES that it was rather unfortunate that the IDPs were affected by the insurgency but they had to bring the “necessary’ documents”.

“They need to get the original of their birth certificate, junior leaving certificate, age declaration, testimonial, and transfer certificate, or they should go to court to get the papers,” the vice principal, who refused giving his name, said.

The Education Resource Centre in Abuja, in charge of all government secondary schools in the city, confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES the decision to keep IDP students away from school is backed by the authorities and inspired by the government’s inability to differentiate IDPs from regular admission cheats.

“In a case where they cannot provide those documents, then we ask them go back to the state and get a letter from the Ministry of Education to give to us here, and based on that we give them the admission,” Ramatu Ibrahim, the director of the centre told PREMIUM TIMES.

She explained that the reasons for demanding such documents was because a lot of people have hidden under the umbrella of IDP to seek admission into government schools.

“Unfair and unfortunate”

Some members of the civil society have condemned the government embargo on school admission for kids who are willing to go to school after they were displaced by Boko Haram.

They blamed the government for the unfortunate attack by Boko Haram terrorists in the Northeast Nigeria, noting that the government had failed to provide security for its country.

Shola Okpodu, group managing director of School Hunters, told PREMIUM TIMES that the government is exposing the kids to grave danger by denying them education.

“Not giving them an opportunity to go to school simply means they may end up as miscreants, they may end up discouraged, this is like creating more thieves,” Mrs. Okpodu said. “I see no reason why those kids should be stopped from attending schools. Some of them, from my experience are going through depression. They are traumatised. So how do you expect them to go back to that same place they ran away from (to pick up documents).”

Mrs Okpodu argued that it was inconsiderate and unfair for the government to place such demands on the displaced school children.

A youth advocate, Samson Itodo, described the situation as “pathetic and unacceptable”.

He explained that if the children affected by the insurgency show interest in going to school and the government is giving them reason not to, then it should be condemned.

“If the government is asking them to go back to the state to get a letter from the Ministry of Education, are they willing to give them transportation fare?” he asked. “Will the government guarantee the safety of their lives?”

He argued that it was the government’s responsibility to identify each IDP and ensure they are properly attended to, rather than traumatise them.

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Photos: Ramsey Noah, Monalisa Chinda at Desmond Elliot's inauguration

The actor is officially a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and some of his colleagues came out to celebrate with him. Another photo after the cut...

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Photo: Nigerian student solves 30-year-old maths equation & breaks academic record at Japanese university

A Nigerian student named Ufot Ekong (pictured above) solved a 30 year old maths equation and broke academic record at Japanese university and he did it while working two jobs to pay his way!

Independent UK reports 

A Nigerian student has broken a 30-year-old maths equation and achieved the highest grades at a university in Japan for 50 years.

Ufot Ekong, who studied at Tokai University in Tokyo, achieved a first class degree in electrical engineering and scored the best marks at the university since 1965, the Flotilla Magazine reported.

He began his success early at the university, solving a 30-year-old maths equation in his first semester.

Throughout his university career Mr Ekong has won six awards for academic excellence. The brilliant mathematician worked two jobs alongside his studies to pay his way as a student.

Mr Ekong also speaks English, French, Japanese and Yoruba and won a Japanese language award for foreigners. He is currently working for Nissan and already has two patents for electronic car design to his name.

Tokai University is a prestigious private university based in the Japanese capital, which was founded in 1924. It is focused on the sciences and technology and roughly 60 per cent of all students are enrolled in these schools.

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Huge 52nd birthday bash announced for TB Joshua in South Africa

A huge birthday celebration is set to be held in South Africa on Friday 12th June as Prophet TB Joshua turns 52. An announcement posted on Joshua’s official Facebook page revealed that award-winning US Gospel Artist Vashawn Mitchell would be among those performing at the event.

The Nigerian cleric’s popularity in Southern Africa has shown no signs of waning, despite the tragic building collapse that claimed the lives of 84 South Africans in his church last year.

 Indeed, family members of those who lost their lives and survivors of the incident are among those organising the celebration for Joshua, alongside ‘The SCOAN Family in Southern Africa’.

Joshua has uncannily not appeared in public since his crusade in Mexico last month. It was announced on his Christian network Emmanuel TV yesterday that the cleric had arrived back in Nigeria over a week ago but was “waiting for God's command on what to do next”.

Speculations are rife that Joshua may soon be leaving Nigerian shores on a more permanent basis, fuelled further by the message yesterday which stipulated no birthday celebration would be held within Nigeria.

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Photo: Nassarawa gov adopts 6 years old disabled boy

Nassarawa state governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura yesterday June 7th adopted a 6yr old physically challenged boy named Samaila Dantani, promising to sponsor the young boy from primary to tertiary institution. The governor came across the boy during his inspection of a flooded area along Jos road in Lafia, the Nassarawa state capital. Young Samila was living in the Akurba area with his parents who are taking refuge there following communal clash in their village, Ashangwa.

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Organizations Urge the President to Reinterpret Helms Amendment and Aid Nigerian Refugees

Catholics for Choice in partnership with the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) launched a campaign last week in response to more than 200 girls raped and impregnated by Boko Haram members, urging President Obama to reinterpret the Helms Amendment to include abortion care.

via Andrea

Over 400 women and children who were kidnapped by Boko Haram were returned earlier this year, many of whom are pregnant as the result of rape. Organizations hoping to aid these women are calling on President Obama to sign an interpretation of Helms that could allow for foreign assistance in providing abortion care. The law currently says, “No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.”  However, as abortion in the instance of rape, incest, or life endangerment is not a method of family planning or birth control, Catholics for Choice and CHANGE are urging the President to sign into effect an interpretation of Helms that would allow the girls in Nigeria, some of whom are very young, to access what could be life-saving abortion care.

While the Nigerian government has made abortion illegal except in the case of life endangerment, Nigerian officials signed the Maputo Protocol which demands “the right to abortion in cases of rape, incest, or where pregnancy would pose a danger to the woman’s physical health, mental health, or life.” Even so, there has not been U.S. pressure on the Nigerian government to act in accordance with the Maputo Protocol and allow for abortion in cases of war rape.

Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe, domestic program director at Catholics for Choice said in a press conference on Friday, “This policy is a disgrace to who we are as Americans… The Obama administration knows this—Catholics for Choice and our partners have spent six and a half years pleading, prodding, but to no avail.”

Other organizations have been struggling to get the President’s attention as well. Last year, Rev. Harry Knox, CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, stated that the Helms Amendment, “… has been misused to deny compassionate abortion care to women and girls who face a pregnancy that results from rape.” He also said it was the United States’ “moral imperative” to provide abortion care.

The schoolgirls raped and impregnated by Boko Haram are running out of time to access safe abortions. Bea Arthur, a therapist and activist who often works with victims of sexual violence, warns of the long-lasting effectsthat denying a victim of violence can have.  “Telling someone they can’t have a choice extends that trauma and denies them their own humanity, integrity, and basic human self-respect,” she says. Studies also indicate that women who are impregnated as a result of rape and bear children are especially vulnerable to mental health issues such as depression and post-traumatic stress. There is also a strong likelihood of these women experiencing severe negative psychological consequences from facing stigma or isolation within their communities.

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Why Ribadu Was Poisoned, Obasanjo Reveals

Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has said that the ex-

chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, was once poisoned in the course of his duties as anti-corruption czar..

Obasanjo disclosed this at an international forum on Third Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He also revealed that Ribadu created enemies for him because of the ruthlessness with which he carried out his responsibilities of tackling corruption in Nigeria.

Obasanjo, who spoke from the floor following a presentation on Illicit Financial Flow and Governance of Natural Resources made by Ribadu, affirmed that he had known from experience that the fight against corruption attracts a lot of enemies.

The former president declared that he has no fear of anyone still living in Nigeria, adding, “it is rather them that fear me.”

Saying that Ribadu took on a lot of highly connected persons in his fight against corruption, Obasanjo said that the former anti-corruption chief was once poisoned, causing a scare among concerned quarters.

“It was a matter of life and death,” the former president said, though further details of the incident were not given.

Obasanjo said that once Ribadu was appointed, he gave him a free hand and that Ribadu investigated him, his late wife and several persons close to him at that time.

He also narrated a story of how a serving minister, who was his senior in secondary school, was indicted and prosecuted by the EFCC, adding that when the minister was found wanting, “there was no issue of seniority again.”

On leadership,

Obasanjo, who is also the chairperson of the Tana Forum, re-echoed Ribadu’s submission that at the centre of anti-corruption fight there was the need for willing political leadership at the highest level.

He, however, added that the leader also needs relevant legislations to work with, narrating his experience with the bill establishing ICPC which, he said, was whittled down by lawmakers, who felt they could be victims of the law.

In his remarks, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, thanked Ribadu for his presentation, which, he said, highlighted many good things about Nigeria different from what is portrayed in the media.

In his presentation, Ribadu offered measures African countries can take to tackle illicit financial flow and repatriate money already illegally taken out of the African countries.

He said that what Africa needs is honest and committed leaders who will set examples with themselves by eschewing corruption and close avenues of illicit financial flow.

According to him, it is the seriousness and commitment showed by the political leadership that will convince other foreign countries to work with them towards recovering looted monies stashed abroad.

Ribadu also emphasised the need for concerted effort among countries and a synergy between law enforcement agencies so that looters could be caught.

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NLC lambasts David Mark-led Senate; says 46 Bills passed in 10 minutes ‘reckless’

The outgoing Senate led by David Mark, has come under heavy lashing by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, which described the Senate’s unprecedented passage of 46 bills in 10 minutes last Wednesday as a “reckless path to lawmaking”.

The 46 Bills had earlier been passed by the House of Representatives and transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.

In a rare move, the Senators on Wednesday set aside all known law making protocols to get the Bills passed into law, as they came under pressure to leave behind an impressive record of performance with the 7th Assembly session coming to a close.

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Ita Enang, (APC-Akwa Ibom North-East), led the lawmakers to invoke Order 79 (1) (b) of the Senate Standing Order 2011 (as amended) to adopt a special procedure on pending Bills for concurrence.

The Senate Standing Orders authorised the passage of the Bills without the draft laws having to pass the first, second and third readings on the floor of the Senate, while the concurred Bills were reproduced and circulated to all Senators before final passage.

The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, on Monday expressed “profound shock and disappointment at the action of the National Assembly”, saying the Senate’s passage of 46 Bills “without legislation” in ten minutes was “competing for the Guinness Book of Records for legislative infamy.”

Some of the Bills are the Office of the Nigerian Financial Ombudsman Bill, 2015; Institute of Chartered Trustees of Nigeria Bill, 2015; Nigerian Bank for Commerce and Industry Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015; Federal Saving Bank Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015 and People’s Bank of Nigeria Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015.

The Senate also passed Federal Audit Commission Bill, 2015; Treasury Management Bill, 2015; Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and Investment, Securities (Amendment) Bill, 2015 Loan (State Development) Act (Repeal) Bill, 2015; Chartered Institute of Statisticians of Nigeria Bill, 2015 and Nigerian Metallurgical Industry Bill, 2015.

The National Assembly was criticised for spending over N600 billion in four years in passing only about 106 within the period.

Members of the House of Representatives, Mr. Wabba said, also took their turn the next day to pass 14 Bills transmitted by the Senate, without following the regular legislative procedures.

“Whoever advised our lawmakers to take this reckless path to law making has only succeeded in putting an indelible dent on whatever achievements that the 7th session of the National Assembly wished to be ascribed to it,” the NLC president said.

By this singular action, Mr. Wabba said the lawmakers not only displayed gross disdain for the philosophy of law making in a democratic setting, but have also exposed their manifest lack of interest in and commitment to the wellbeing of Nigerians.

Apart from ridiculing themselves, he said the Senators have unfortunately embarrassed the country in the eyes of the civilised global community.

By abridging the law making process and skipping the first, second and third reading process and public hearing on the Bills, he said the lawmakers denied Nigerians the opportunity to interrogate their desirability or otherwise of these bills.

With the manner the Bills were passed, the NLC urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to sign them into law, rather he should return them to the incoming National Assembly to be subjected to proper legislative procedures.

The NLC President called on the incoming 8th legislature to ensure that they departed from the opaque ways of the previous, particularly in being prudent, accountable, transparent and more effective in their legislative and oversight functions.

Specifically, he said it would be in the public interest if the huge resources committed to lawmakers’ welfare and other pecks of office, were reviewed drastically downward and re-directed to more demanding areas of the economy in line with current economic realities in the overall interest of all.

He promised to meet with the leaderships of both chambers of the 8th National Assembly in due course once they are put in place, to further engage them on these and other issues of national interest.

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Gunmen kill Nigerian businessman in South Africa

A Nigerian businessman based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mr Emmanuel Onyekaozuru, 50, was killed on Sunday by gunmen. The President of Nigeria Union in South Africa, Mr Ikechukwu Anyene, on Monday told newsmen in Pretoria, South Africa, that Onyekaozuru was shot by two gunmen.
‘’ The union has received a report that a Nigerian businessman, Emmanuel Onyekaozuru, was shot in his business premises at 9.00 p.m. yesterday (June 7). ‘’ The report said that the gunmen shot the deceased and escaped in a car.
‘’ The incident has been reported to the police and the Nigerian Consul General in South Africa,’’ he said. Anyene said that the union would work with the consul general and the police to ensure that justice was done in the case.
‘’ Mr Onyekaozuru is the only son of his parents. He is married with three children. ‘’ He is an indigene of Abatete in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State,’’ he said.
Anyene also said that the gunmen did not remove anything from the business premises of the deceased. ‘’This is one death too many and we are not happy that a Nigerian has been killed,’’ he said.

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Empowering Our Youths through Sports and Entertainment

Guest Columnist: Ben MurrayBruce

  In a country of 175 million people where over 100 million people are youths, the most important ministry is not the ministry of finance or the ministry of petroleum.  It is the ministry of youths!

Nigeria has spent decades living off the minerals under her ground, especially oil, and we as a nation have forgotten that the most valuable resource we have are our people and especially our youth.

Nigeria is still operating under a colonial era mentality whereby minerals, raw materials and cash crops are regarded as assets and people are regarded as liabilities.

This is why Nigerian leaders misunderstand the term employment. Employment refers to being occupied. It involves utilizing ones mental and physical energies in a rewarding manner.

In practical terms, it is impossible to immediately provide paid employment for all our youths in the short term.
There is a law of process involved in achieving that aim.

However, we can and we should provide our youths other activities through which they can positively employ their mental and physical energies.

Sports is one of those activities. We have stadia that lie fallow all over Nigeria. Until recently, the national stadium in Abuja was overgrown with weeds as are other stadia.

The ministry of youths should collaborate with the ministry of sports to throw them open and encourage youths to utilize the facilities.
Our stadia and sports facilities should not only be used to host the very occasional football games. They should be used to positively employ the minds and bodies of our youth in positive activities.

With only a small amount of money we can keep these facilities running and available to our youth. The devil finds work for idle hands. If we keep
Our youths positively employed, they will not be armed robbers, Boko Haram terrorist or area boys.
And Nigeria as a country has been making efforts to make one people out of many people. Unity has been a recurring challenge as many Nigerians cling to primordial and regional sentiments over national sentiments.

What can unite a country better than sports? Who can unite a country better than youths?
Nigeria is at its most united state when we are playing a game of soccer against another country or competing in an athletic meet with other nations.
Since we know that, let us use sports and games to both unite the nation and redirect the energy of our youth towards something positive.

Nigeria needs to prioritize the ministry of youths. Quality brains should be appointed and employed as minister, Permanent Secretary and directors. These should be people with ideas, who know the value of recreation as a means of engendering productivity in our young people.

President Muhammadu Buhari has repeatedly said he wants to create employment for our youth.
We can create employment through sports.

The ministry of sports must remake itself from being a ministry of football to a ministry that impacts Nigeria.
As a former Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority, I know that sophisticated cameras, that can shoot underwater and in high altitudes, were bought for the 2003 All Africa Games in Abuja. There were others that were also bought for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship (U-20 World Cup) which held in Nigeria.

NTA has cameras and equipment that can be used to cover every Olympic sport. NTA also has outside broadcasting vans.
We do not have to limit ourselves to going to the Olympics and the All Africa Games every four years.

We can institute a national sporting event to occupy our youths and also identify talents. In the past we used to have Mobil Track and Field events every year, but ever since ExxonMobil pulled out in 2011, we have not been able to replicate a national track and field event of such a magnitude.

The ministry of sports has all that is required to revive that event even without private sponsorship. As a matter of fact, if you revive it, the private sponsors will come.

Nigeria can project her greatness via sport, but we are short changing ourselves if we do not invest in sports as a way to channel the creative energies of our youths into positive ventures.

As a child, I idolized Dick Tiger, the first African to win an international boxing title when won the world middleweight boxing championship in 1962.

Dick Tiger was discovered when a British prize fighter came to Nigeria and offered anyone who could knock him out the sum of three guineas. Of course an unknown young man named Richard Ihetu (Dick Tiger’s real name) knocked him out and the rest is history.

If that Briton did not come to Nigeria, Richard Ihetu would never have become Dick Tiger.
I cannot help but wonder how many Dick Tigers we are missing out on every year.

And even in football, the one sport that we have concentrated on, we are not maximizing the opportunities that professional football brings to a country.

In England in 2013, 32% of the population were actively engaged in one way or the other with the English Premiership League. The League itself made a revenue of over £3 Billion in 2013 (that is money the EPL made for itself alone). In 2012, 900,000 foreign fans came to England to attend Barclays Premier League matches and spent £706 Million. 1.5 Billion people watch the English Premiership League worldwide. They buy merchandise from Britain, keeping the British people employed and prosperous. Britain made over £2 Billion in the 2013 by selling overseas broadcasting rights to the EPL.

As an example of how the EPL contributes to job growth, in 2011, when Swansea City was promoted to the EPL, that promotion led to 295  new full time jobs being created in the small town of Swansea, and the promotion attracted tourists who spent £8.13 million in Swansea in that season.

In short, sports and especially football, can generate jobs and boost our Gross Domestic Product if developed.
What is wrong if the President personally goes to watch matches in the Nigeria Premier League? What is wrong if he directs his ministers to do likewise?
Imagine the impact on the popularity and acceptability of the Nigeria Premier League if the public sees the President and top Nigerians at their matches rather than at British Matches? British Prime Minister,  David Cameron does it, German Chsncellor, Angela Merkel, does it. Why can’t our leaders do it?

It will boost the popularity of the league which will attract sponsors which will attract big broadcasters which will make it international which  will attract foreign investments which will create JOBS!

Our youths need jobs and because we are not creating enough job opportunities for them, they are terrorizing us all over the country.
We have to be creative with ideas to lift Nigeria out of the doldrums and launch her into orbit as one of the world’s economic power houses.

Even if we start out now with a plan to compete with the West and the Asian Tigers in the area of technology and manufacturing, it will take us at least one generation to make any meaningful impact, if at all.
But we have areas of comparative advantage as a nation and if we focus on those areas, we can reach and surpass what has been done in the West and Asia.

One of the areas where we have a comparative advantage is in the motion picture industry.
Nollywood is now the third largest movie industry in the world. The industry has been driven by the raw talent of the Nigerian youth and the grit of largely Idumota based marketers and their international chain.

Nollywood is a youth driven industry. When you support Nollywood, you are giving Nigerian youths an escape that gives them hope and helps them cope with the duality challenges of being a youth in a nation like Nigeria.

Government may think that Nollywood is just entertainment, but they will be very wrong if we think that. No one buys into your industrial and manufacturing complex except they first buy your culture.

Western governments understand this which is why President Obama got personally involved when North Korea threatened Sony Pictures over the movie ‘The Interview’.

Culture projection is the first vital step in winning the hearts and minds of a people. It has been done since time immemorial.
It is the reason the British always sent in their missionaries that propagated their particular Christian denomination in the areas they wanted to colonize. After selling their culture, they then sent in their merchants.

It is the reason Nigerian youths are so crazy about European Premiership Football. We first of all fall in love with European Football and next we start going to Europe on holiday to spend our hard earned cash.

Michael Jackson was the first black artist to be played on MTV and when White America fell in love with him, they bought into Black culture and because they bought into Black culture, Black cultural icons like Jayz, Dr. Dre and P Diddy took it to the next level and became business mogul selling products of black origin to first White America, then the rest of the world. Now, Apple has made Dr. Dre a billionaire by buying ‘Beats by Dr. Dre’ for $3 billion.

What the Buhari administration ought to do, if it is truly interested in creating jobs, is to continue the unprecedented support that industry enjoyed during the Jonathan years.

No other administration in Nigeria’s history supported Nollywood as much as the Jonathan administration. He gave them a grant of 3 Billion Naira to develop capacity and he encouraged them with his presence at their industry wide events.
This helped Nollywood shoot quality movies that can be entered in for international film competitions like the Academy Awards, the Cannes Film Festival and the Montreal Film Festival.

The more visibility Nolywood gets, the more the image of the average Nigerian is rehabilitated. The more the image of Nigeria is rehabilitated, the more the world buys into Nigerian brands like Glo, UBA, Dangote Cement etc.

Going forward, whoever President Buhari appoints as minister of culture has to work with the President’s protocol people to include Nollywood icons in his entourage when he travels abroad. The minister of Sports has to do the same with sports stars and our international athletes. This will help transfer some of the goodwill and credibility these icons have amassed on both the President and the country.

We just had President Buhari’s inauguration and look who the US sent-John Kerry (the US Secretary of State) and Akeem Olajuwon!
The US was not being sentimental when they chose Akeem. No! He is a US citizen and a well loved sports icon. They know that if he is seen in their official delegation, those who see him will associate the warmth and goodwill they feel for him with America.

If those people are government officials, which they are likely to be, then they become more likely to tilt Nigerian foreign policy towards America.

If they are business leaders, they are more likely to award contracts to American companies and buy American products.
If they are ordinary Nigerians, they are more likely to want to spend their holidays and their hard earned money in America and on American products.

Do we see the multiplier effect?
And finally, together with the minister of information, the minister of culture should be a custodian of our national culture and historical records.

We do not document our leaders and their highs and lows and their successes and failures and as George Santayana said “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”!

That is why we keep repeating the sake mistakes over and over again as a nation.
Nigerians may be surprised to note that if you want to get accurate records of the Nigerian Civil War, of Supreme Military Council activities of leaders that were deposed (eg Buhari’s first regime), of defining moments of Nigeria’s history, you have to go to either the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC or the British ITV.   
What does that say of us as a nation and as a people?

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