Author: Hassan Gimba

THERE is this hullabaloo that has enveloped the country, with debates all over, in some instances threatening to degenerate into fisticuffs. It is all about the Tax Reform Bills. Even though, after all is said and done, it may end up as an issue that signifies nothing but being blown out of proportion, it made me recall Macbeth’s speech in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In his speech, he surmised that there is no meaning or purpose in life. Understandably, with his wife dead and armies marching against him, he came face to face with the transience of life. He visualised his…

THE North and its leaders seem happiest and satisfied when led by the nose. As in every election cycle, vote seekers would come and put a black liquid in a syrup bottle and, with fanfare, tell you they have gotten “crude oil” so we can re-elect them or that they should elect leaders based on tribe or religion. Because we have become so allocation-dependent, sheer laziness has become our lot because of the easy money that the monthly allocation has become to us. Our brains have frozen in time. We lack the imagination, the initiative, and the drive for enterprise,…

THE topic on everybody’s, well, almost everybody’s, lips now is tax reform. Everybody has become an expert, so everyone is discussing it: the experts, the neophytes, and even those who do not give a hoot. Nigerians love to talk, dissipate energy, joke about it, and then move on as if nothing happened. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu knows his countrymen well; perhaps that is why he never loses sleep over our vituperations; he gets what he wants when he wants it. In faraway France, he promised to continue with his policies without losing focus. Did you not see that barely a…

“Money doesn’t change men; it merely unmasks them. If a man is naturally selfish, arrogant, or greedy, the money brings that out; that’s all.” – Henry Ford. LAST week, while extending our birthday wishes to the Governor of Yobe State, we underscored his honourable character and concluded by asserting that this was but one facet of what makes him a truly admirable leader, promising to substantiate this claim with further examples. Let us, however, not dwell on his commendable efforts in reforming and repositioning Yobe’s education sector since declaring a state of emergency on it upon assuming office on 29…

LAST week, while the battle against a new security threat, the Lakurawa, and a £25,000 marriage were shaping national discourse amidst excruciating economic difficulties, an extraordinary gentleman with qualities Nigeria could greatly benefit from celebrated his birthday. Honourable Mai Mala Buni, the Governor of Yobe State, turned 57 last Tuesday. Relatively young, God has entrusted him with leadership. If it were a fairy tale, his story might have begun with: “Once upon a time, in the not-so-sleepy village of Buni Gari, a child of destiny was born to the industrious family of Alhaji Bukar and Hajiya Khadija.” Born on 19th…

THE national grid collapsed three times last month and twice this month. This year, it has collapsed at least 11 times. This underscores our long-standing struggle to have a consistent power supply, even if not for the whole nation, at least for those fortunate enough to have access to the few megawatts produced by the so-called “Giant of Africa.” While last week, Niger Republic was able to add no fewer than 18 megawatts to its national grid in just four months, Nigeria, with an installed capacity of 16,348MW, achieved only 5,313 megawatts as of September this year. Our travails with…

WHEN ideas, statements, or policies emanating from one source are opposed to one another, conflicting or inconsistent, then we have contradictions. I want to start this with something that has been bothering me for years. It made me propose that it be featured on the cover of Leadership Friday in 2016 when I was promoted from its editor to managing editor (content). I was so peeved by it, but my then Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr Cletus Akwaya (now publisher of Daily Asset), overruled me. I was concerned by the contradiction in our educational system. A student may get eight…

SEVERAL people, including Nigerian leaders, have said that democracy, as a form of government, has no better alternative. And why not, if democracy is all about a system of government in which the governed freely participate in electing their representatives? Nigeria has had a go at practising democracy even before its independence from Britain. From independence, we practised it fully for six years, though it was the Westminster system, bequeathed to us by the colonisers. It got its name from the central London area hosting the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Westminster model, which Nigeria started with, is a…

MY recent visit to the holy city was the second time I was there, courtesy of the benevolence of Honourable Mai Mala Buni, the governor of my state, Yobe. The first was when I was practically wheeled there as a result of a debilitating illness that required first-class medical treatment. The recent visit was for a follow-up treatment, and happily, my doctors attested to my improved health condition. The governor has made it a state policy to provide free medical services to anyone who can come to Yobe State. To that end, he has upgraded the state health system to…

“The trade of governing has always been monopolised by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.” — Thomas Paine (1737-1809) LAST week, we examined how certain leaders tend to overlook their inadequacies while scrutinising the failings of others. We likened them to individuals whose cerebral configurations had been exchanged with those of donkeys upon their ascension to leadership. Consequently, one may never succeed in restoring their cognitive faculties, no matter how fervently one endeavours to reboot their senses. One such leader endeavoured to persuade his audience that Nyesom Wike’s appointment as a minister in an opposition party…

THERE is a phrase that has gained widespread currency across the world: “Physician, heal thyself.” Not many know it is a biblical proverb and a direct quote from Jesus (AS). He said, “You will surely say to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself’: do here in your country what we have heard was done in Capernaum.” This phrase is similar to another quote from Jesus in Matthew 7:3-5: “Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, ‘Let me take the…

FROM time to time, we try to give way to our readers to make their voices heard through their input. Well, it has been quite a while since we did that. We will start serialising such inputs. Nigeria and Presidential Democracy: Any Better Alternative? I enjoyed reading this. I wish it didn’t end. Sannu da kokari, Sir. I hope and pray that everyone who reads this, including our lawmakers and other segments that make up the government, brood over this. We are a people whose identity is being lost every day, while the new one we have borrowed is yet…

“This was a lynching. Make no mistake, this was state-sanctioned murder of an innocent Black man. Governor Parson had the responsibility to save a life, and he didn’t. When DNA evidence exonerates a man, capital punishment is not justice—it is murder. Trump, McConnell, and the conservative Supreme Court justices now have blood on their hands.” – NAACP President Derrick Johnson, reacting to the execution of Marcellus Williams. LAST week, an election for the Governor of Edo State took place. Winners and losers have since emerged. All political parties, especially the two giants—All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—sang…

IN a crowd, Chief Superintendent of Customs (CSC) Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada stands out—a towering figure whose presence commands attention. Tall and huge, he embodies a blend of formidable stature and gentle demeanour, demonstrating that one can be intimidating yet approachable. What captivates me most is how this gentle giant has seamlessly taken the reins of the service’s public relations from a lineage of exceptional officers. His challenge was substantial: following in the footsteps of remarkable PR managers like Alhaji Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, the current Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) is not a tea party. Adeniyi has significantly…

YES, we are at war! This much we said last week. But the curious and sad thing is that Nigerians don’t seem to know or don’t want to know, and our leaders don’t seem to care. Our security agencies, whose activities are akin to the movement of wavelengths, continue with the aura of “everything is all right” when the trajectory is low, only to chase after those fighting Nigeria when the trajectory shoots up. When they are at their lowest, it is the law-abiding citizen who gets the short end of their “might.” The real bad guys hold sway in…

I WAS supposed to continue my discourse on Yobe State, its creation, its leaders, and their styles. However, the sad news of last week has made me drop it for another time. We were hit with the sad news of the massacre of scores of people by Boko Haram in Mafa, a village in Tarmuwa local government area of Yobe State. Mafa is close to Shekau, the town that was unfortunate to be the birthplace of Abubakar Shekau, the notorious murderer in the name of religion. Surrounded in the mosque by the bandits just after the Asr (four o’clock) prayer,…

THIS week, Yobe State will become 33. On August 27, 1991, President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida sliced Yobe State out of the old Borno State, which was itself carved out of the North Eastern State that was hewed from the Northern Region. The IBB regime thought it better to situate its capital in Damaturu. The British chiselled this sleepy, hazy, whistle-stop settlement out of the Alagarno district as a colony in 1902 when they conquered the Bornu Empire. It was no more than a little big village. Yobe, then a largely agrarian state, has been lucky to have governors who, at…

This article was first published in December 2017 and repeated with minor changes a few times. I am repeating it because I find it very relevant and perhaps it may make us view Nigeria first over many of the things that pull us apart. Why should a citizen hail a leader today but wail tomorrow when a different leader does what he hailed yesterday? Or why should he wail today when just yesterday he was hailing a different person doing the same thing? HAILER and wailer are new terms in our political lexicon. Just as ‘men and women of timber…

This was first written on March 17, 2024, with a different headline. Perhaps we may still find it relevant in these trying times. LAST week, we read how the signs are not looking good for a nation like ours that wants to be reckoned with internationally. We concluded by asking the federal government to look at ways to reduce the cost of governance and the unimaginable take-home pay of political leaders and redirect the excess towards production. And we emphasised that we must become a productive nation that eats, drives and wears what it produces. We also urged anyone genuinely…

This was published on 10/05/2024, precisely five months ago. Was I clairvoyant? No, the signs were there for all to see. Did anybody give a hoot? Hmmmmn! Well, here is a repeat. I DO not want to believe that in a country of nearly 250 million people, I am the only one who thinks there is a gathering of ominous dark clouds over our dear country beginning in the North. I cannot afford that foolish and lazy thought even if I wanted to dream so, because it is that type of thinking that brought us to this sorry pass. Yes.…