I have consistently maintained that for this country to make progress, Nigeria must cease to function as a crime scene and be repositioned for genuine development.

This entrenched corruption – persistent and deeply rooted – must be nipped in the bud if there is to be any meaningful turnaround.

How else can we explain the distressing revelations by BudgIT, which uncovered a staggering ₦7 trillion in questionable projects inserted into the 2025 national budget? I am convinced that this figure represents only a fraction of the actual amount misappropriated. These findings are deeply troubling and confirm my long-held position that we have turned our country into a crime scene. We must urgently and aggressively combat corruption, misappropriation, and fiscal recklessness in order to manage our resources effectively and efficiently and invest in critical areas of development: health, education, and lifting our people out of poverty.

The ₦7 trillion uncovered as fraudulently inserted into the 2025 budget is even greater than the combined allocations to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, and the Ministry of Agriculture – ministries that are fundamental to national development.

To be precise:
•The Ministry of Education was allocated ₦3.52 trillion,
•The Ministry of Health received ₦2.48 trillion,
•The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was allocated ₦260 billion, and
•The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security received ₦636.08 billion.

Combined, these four ministries were allocated ₦6.896 trillion—an already inflated amount—yet still less than the ₦7 trillion dubiously inserted into the budget.

That ₦7 trillion figure is even more than the ₦6.1 trillion allocated to national security—at a time when Nigeria is among the most terrorised nations in the world.

This brazen impunity by our leaders is precisely why the country cannot invest adequately in education—hence the existence of nearly 20 million out-of-school children. It is the same corruption that has crippled primary healthcare, resulting in alarming levels of malnourished children. We face widespread hunger, yet our leaders neglect agricultural investment due to persistent mismanagement and lack of accountability. The same disregard affects our capacity to fund national security effectively, or to support Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which are vital to national growth.

These glaring acts of corruption reinforce my position: Nigeria has been reduced to a crime scene.

We must confront this corruption, misappropriation, and fiscal recklessness with unwavering resolve. Our national resources must be transparently managed and strategically invested in key sectors—health, education, and poverty alleviation—to secure a better future for our people. We must turn this nation around.

A new Nigeria is POssible.

– PO

Disclaimer: 

The opinions and views expressed in this write-up are entirely those of the Writer(s). They do not reflect the opinions and views of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or any of its employees. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area, or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures, and videos are obtained from the public domain.

May I plead your indulgence sir, to write and advise you on the present political realities in Nigeria. Considering the way you operate, I am sure that your stockpile of intellectual surrogates is limitless, hence you may not have time to read and heed to the advice of a political lightweight like me.

Sir, I supported you in 2011 before the PDP presidential primary election of that electoral cycle. I did that based on the principle of equity and fair play. However, you lost the ticket to incumbent President Jonathan. The President strode to victory in the general election. A very big political lesson was obvious from Jonathan’s victory: the North cannot win a presidential election against a Southern incumbent that has the support of the entire South.

Before the 2015 presidential election, you pulled out of the PDP to join the APC. That was your second political goal of the 4th Republic. Your first goal was your battle against Obasanjo, a confirmed “Walking Illegality” of extreme pedigree. You contested the APC ticket and lost to Buhari at Teslim Balogun Stadium. Buhari went on to win the general election and another obvious political lesson was learned: a Northern challenge against a Southern incumbent can only succeed with the backing of at least one political zone from the South. I hope I’m making sense to you, Sir.

Then we arrived quickly at the 2019 presidential election. You were well prepared for the challenge. In fact, the entire Southern wing of the PDP conceded the ticket to Northern Nigeria. If you recall, sir, you assembled us at POLA (Political Academy), a political think tank established by Sen. Gbenga Daniel, located in Shagamu, Ogun State. You arrived with Mr. Peter Gregory Obi and declared your intention to run for the 2019 presidential election. We all supported you and backed you all the way to the congress venue in Port Harcourt. Tambuwal, solidly backed by then Gov. Nyesom Wike mounted an unprecedented challenge and was at the verge of defeating you until that early morning intervention led by Gen. Mohammed Gasau, who flew into Port Harcourt that primary election morning. Eventually, you lost the general election.

Your Excellency, the story of 2023 is still very fresh in our collective memory. Your refusal to allow the South to secure the PDP ticket is the bane of the political opposition in Nigeria today. A divided opposition made it easy for the Emilokan Enterprise to snatch and run with the votes.

Sir, while I acknowledge your individual right to contest the 2027 presidential election, my admonition to you is: that statesmanship entails giving up on your individual interest in pursuit of the public good. You have an opportunity to support a trusted, serious, and capacity-imbued candidate in the person of Peter Obi to defeat the Emilokan Enterprise. I expect you, sir, to write your name in gold by heeding my advice and retire in glory from politics after Peter Obi’s victory in 2027.

Sir, there’s no Northern presidential candidate that is capable of defeating the Emilokan Enterprise, including you. If Peter Obi is not on the ballot, Tinubu will sweep the entire Southern Nigeria. He will win at least 4 States in the North Central and record significant votes up North. That will be enough to deliver Aso Rock to him.

However, with you and Northern support, Peter Obi will win the 11 States of South East and South South, mount a good challenge in parts of South West, win at least 3 States in the North Central, and mount a good challenge in the core North. This will deliver victory to Peter Obi and deliver Nigerians from the grip of the Emilokan Enterprise.

Your Excellency, time beckons on you to leave a lasting legacy to generations unborn.

Yours truly,

Sir. Kelechi Jeff Eme, The Cicero of Mbaitoli.

Disclaimer: 

The opinions and views expressed in this write-up are entirely those of the Writer(s). They do not reflect the opinions and views of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or any of its employees. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area, or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures, and videos are obtained from the public domain.

The Shakeup: A Storm in Geneva’s Ivory Tower

When the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced its seismic leadership overhaul last week, retaining only four senior officials, including Nigeria’s Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, it was more than bureaucratic reshuffling. It was a tacit admission: the ship of global health is adrift in a tempest of its own making. Dr. Ihekweazu, the epidemiologist-poet who once danced between outbreaks of Lassa fever and vaccine diplomacy in Nigeria, now ascends to the helm of WHO’s largest division: Health Emergencies. His promotion is both a battlefield promotion and a metaphor, a son of Africa tasked with salvaging an institution that has, for decades, treated the continent as a Petri dish for paternalism.

But to understand why this moment matters, we must first autopsy how WHO, conceived as humanity’s shield against disease, became a lightning rod for distrust, accused of morphing from healer to harvester in the shadows of power.

A Noble Genesis, A Faustian Detour

Born in 1948 from the ashes of World War II, WHO’s founding creed was Biblical in its ambition: “The attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.” For decades, it was the secular Vatican of public health, eradicating smallpox, taming polio, and drafting the playbook for pandemic response. But like Icarus flying too close to geopolitical suns, the WHO’s wings began melting in the 21st century.

The 2009 H1N1 “pandemic” marked a turning point. WHO declared a Phase 6 emergency, triggering vaccine contracts worth billions, only for the outbreak to fizzle into a seasonal flu. Critics accused it of crying wolf, with European parliamentarians alleging pharmaceutical industry collusion. The term “pharmocracy” entered the lexicon: governance by pill-makers.

Then came Ebola in 2014. WHO’s delayed response, described by its own review committee as a “systemic failure”, allowed the virus to ravage West Africa, exposing the agency’s paralysis between donor whims and ground truths. But it was COVID-19 that shattered the facade. Under Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO oscillated between praising China’s “transparency” and pleading for viral samples Beijing withheld. Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s pandemic face, became both hero and villain, a symbol of expert authority to some, of overreach to others. Conspiracy theorists, smelling blood, recast WHO as a “global killer,” alleging lockdowns were less about health than control.

The Fauci Factor: Science or Scientism?

To blame Fauci alone is to miss the forest for the spike protein. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) director’s decades-long influence on global health, via funding ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and advocacy for gain-of-function research, became grist for the mill of distrust. When WHO parroted China’s early dismissal of lab-leak theories, critics saw not science but submission. The agency’s credibility, already haemorrhaging from opioid crises handled with kid gloves and sugary drink lobbies watered down, now flatlined in the court of public opinion.

This is the rubble Dr. Ihekweazu inherits. His department, the Health Emergencies Programme, controls 80% of WHO’s $7 billion budget, a war chest often spent fighting political fires as much as viral ones.

Dr. Ihekweazu: A Bridge Between Worlds

Here lies the irony: the man now charged with rehabilitating WHO’s emergency arm cut his teeth in Nigeria’s trenches. As founder of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Ihekweazu battled outbreaks with duct-tape budgets and grassroots ingenuity. When Lassa fever struck, he didn’t just deploy labs; he enlisted village chiefs as epidemiologists. When COVID hit, he rejected lockdown dogmas, insisting: “You can’t ask a man who earns $2 a day to stay home.”

His approach embodies what WHO has long lacked: contextual intelligence. While Geneva debated viral taxonomy, Dr. Ihekweazu mapped how diseases travel, not just through bodies, but through markets, mistrust, and colonial memory. His rise signals a quiet coup: the Global South demanding a seat at the table it has always stocked with data and bodies.

The Hypocrisy Matrix: How WHO Lost Its Way

WHO’s derailment stems from three original sins:

1. The Donor Trap: 80% of its budget is earmarked by donors (read: Western governments and Gates Foundation), turning it into a contractor rather than a commander.

2. The Technocrat’s Hubris: Prioritising metrics (vaccination counts, case tallies) over ecosystems (poverty, inequality), the very “social determinants of health” it claims to champion.

3. Allegiance to Political Winds: From downplaying Taiwan’s COVID success to appease China, to soft-pedalling U.S. opioid makers, the WHO too often kneels where it should needle.

The result? A 2021 Lancet Commission verdict: “WHO is underpowered, underfunded, and over-politicised.”

A Path to Redemption: From Geneva to the Grassroots

For WHO to resurge, Dr. Ihekweazu must channel his Lagos days into Geneva’s marble halls:

– Decolonise Data: Partner with local healers, not just Harvard epidemiologists.

– Financial Detox: Demand UN member states fund the WHO through mandatory contributions, not charity.

– Transparency Tribunal: Publicise every meeting with pharma execs; ban directors from post-tenure industry roles.

– Vaccine Justice: Make mRNA tech open-source, Africa’s 1.3 billion people deserve hubs, not handouts.

Finally: The Germ of Hope

The WHO shakeup is more than personnel chess; it’s a referendum on whether global health can rediscover its soul. Dr. Ihekweazu, straddling Nigeria’s chaos and Geneva’s order, embodies the tension between reform and replication. As plagues old (cholera) and new (Disease X) loom, humanity needs a WHO that heals, not hedges. The alternative? A world where health is a luxury for the wired, and the rest pray to survive the cure. WHO stands at a clinic crossroads: Will it remain a pharmacy for the powerful, or become the people’s hospital? The prescription starts with Dr. Ihekweazu’s scalpel, cutting out the rot, stitch by stitch.

NzeIkayMedia ✍️

Disclaimer: 

The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures and videos are gotten from the public domain.

Mr. President, please, read this, it isn’t from your enemy, not from your opposition. Mr. President, this is not just a letter. It’s a cry of the people. A nation on the brink needs leadership, not silence. Is Nigeria still worth fighting for?”

Sir, this isn’t from your opposition. It’s not from a political enemy. It’s from a citizen,tired, exhausted, but still hopeful. Still daring to believe that Nigeria can breathe again. Mr. President, this is not war. We are not your enemies. We are your responsibility. And right now, this nation is gasping for air under the weight of your policies.

Mr. President, we are not writing this to disrespect you. We are writing because we are slowly disappearing. We are not even angry anymore. Anger takes energy. And we’re too exhausted for that now. We are simply tired. Tired of adapting. Tired of surviving. Tired of clenching our teeth and pretending things are fine. Tired of being told to tighten belts that no longer exist. Tired of selling properties to pay school fees.Tired of eating once and calling it intermittent fasting. Tired of telling our children “next week” when we don’t even know if we’ll make it to next week. Our salaries die on the way to the market. A bag of rice now costs more than some people’s monthly income. A loaf of bread is a luxury item. We have become accountants of misery counting every naira like a funeral dirge. We are tired of juggling bills and prayers. We are tired of watching the rich get richer and the poor get forgotten. Of hearing politicians speak English while we speak hunger. Of prayers that now feel like unanswered phone calls to heaven.

Mr. President, this letter is not wrapped in protocol. It is not dressed in agbada or softened by political correctness. It is raw, like the streets. It is tired, like the people. It is urgent, like a mother’s scream in the night when her child is hungry and ill.It is a lamentation.A mirror.A record of what it feels like to be a Nigerian in this moment. We are not writing to attack you.We are writing because silence is starting to look like consent.And we do not consent to this version of Nigeria. You came to us with the chant of “Renewed Hope.” But sir, hope cannot survive on slogans. Hope is not a billboard or a retweet. Hope must feed. Hope must heal. Hope must carry us to the market and bring us back with something in our bags, not just dust and despair.

Mr. President, have you seen us lately? We are the ones calculating our budgets all night because the expenses don’t fit the salary. We are the ones walking to work under the sun because transport is now a luxury. We are the ones skipping meals, not because we’re fasting, but because we simply cannot afford to eat. The minimum wage is a national joke. The Naira is on life support. And every day, the headlines are a slap to the face of a suffering people another convoy, another celebration, another empty promise. Sir, this is not governance. This is survival of the political class at the expense of the governed. You promised change. We want to believe you. But belief is bleeding. We are not asking for miracles we are asking for leadership with eyes open and ears to the ground. We are asking for policies that make sense, not just to economists in glass offices, but to market women in Onitsha and civil servants in Yola. We are asking that you see us not just as votes, not just as statistics in your inauguration speech but as humans, Nigerians, exhausted but still believing.

Mr. President, the streets are watching. The youth are no longer naive. The silent ones are beginning to speak. And when a people begin to cry in unison, even history listens. Let this not be another tragic chapter. Let it be the page where something changed for real. Not with fanfare. But with food in the pot. Light in the socket. Justice in the courts. And truth at the podium. Do not let power blind you. Do not let politics bury your purpose. And above all, do not let the cries of Nigerians become mere background noise in the villa. You came with the promise of “Renewed Hope.” That was your campaign anthem. But sir, what we received instead is renewed hardship, renewed hunger, renewed hopelessness. Yes, subsidy was removed. Yes, the naira was floated. But what floated for you drowned the rest of us.

You say “be patient.” But patience requires the belief that something better is coming. What is coming, Mr. President? What’s coming for the widow in Aba who can’t afford her blood pressure medication? What’s coming for the teacher who hasn’t been paid in months? What’s coming for the Uber driver who now sleeps in his car because he can’t afford both fuel and rent? Have you been to the market lately? Have you asked what ¦ 10,000 can buy? Do you know what it’s like to negotiate with a bus driver when your entire transport fare is sitting in your palm? Have you ever stood in front of your children, empty-handed, and lied that you already ate? This is not about opposition politics. It is about daily pain. Pain that doesn’t make it to the news. Pain that doesn’t trend on social media. Pain that we wear like skin. We are not asking for miracles. We are asking for common sense. For intentional leadership. For policies that consider the man on the street, not just the men in suits. You govern a country of over 200 million people, but it often feels like your government is for 200 elites and their inner circle. We’re not here to insult you. We’re here to beg or visibility. To remind you that leadership is not about convoy length or photo ops. It’s about who eats. Who lives. Who breathes.

Because sir, Nigeria is not breathing. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Schools are underfunded. Security is inconsistent. Inflation is unchecked. And everywhere you turn, there’s a quiet desperation in the eyes of the people. We have become a nation of survival experts. Of resilient ghosts. Of dreamers turned skeptics. Of prayer warriors who now wonder if heaven has blocked Nigeria’s number. We say “e go better,” but deep down, many are starting to believe it won’t. That belief is dangerous. It kills nations long before bullets do.

Mr. President, we are not enemies. We are citizens. We are the ones who wave flags at independence parades and sing the anthem with cracked voices. We are the ones who keep this country afloat teachers, nurses, farmers, traders, students, civil servants. We are the ones you swore to serve. Serve us! Hear us! See us! We are the heartbeat of the country. And right now, that heart is skipping beats. This country is bleeding. From Kaduna to Enugu, from Zamfara to Bayelsa. And while citizens ration food, the headlines speak of billions approved, new appointments, luxury vehicles, and government retreats. We’re not even asking for luxury. We’re asking for dignity. We are asking that people don’t have to choose between feeding their children and paying rent.

That a young Nigerian doesn’t have to gamble his life in the desert or on the Mediterranean Sea to believe in a future. That a mother doesn’t have to watch her child die from a treatable illness because the public hospital has no doctors, no drugs, and no light. Do you hear us, sir? The students. The artisans. The civil servants. The market women. The nurses. The job seekers. The forgotten. The silent majority that is now simply trying to exist. Please don’t say we should keep hope alive if you’re going to keep killing the conditions that sustain it. History has its pen out. The world is watching. Nigerians are watching too,not with excitement anymore, but with a tired gaze and heavy hearts. This letter is not political. It is personal. Because we all know someone who’s had to beg for school fees. Someone who’s left the country. Someone who’s been kidnapped. Someone who’s died because the system failed. We know them. We love them. We are them.

Mr. President, this isn’t just about your legacy. This is about the people you govern. And we are saying with one voice: Let Nigeria breathe again! Let the children dream again! Let the markets live again! Let salaries mean something again. Because salaries die on the way to the market. Hope, that fragile thread keeping us together, is thinning fast. Do you know what it feels like to check the price of food before saying yes to your child’s request? To buy fuel in 2-litre jerrycans like contraband? To go to work and still beg to survive? This is not a call for pity. It is a call for perspective. You have the power to change the direction of this country. The question is do you have the will? We are not asking for the impossible. We are asking for policies rooted in reality. For roads that are drivable. For power that doesn’t disappear every hour. For minimum wage that can buy minimum dignity. For hospitals that don’t look like waiting rooms for death. We are asking that when the people cry, their government doesn’t turn up the music.

Let dignity return! Govern with empathy. Act with urgency. Lead like you truly understand that power is borrowed. That time is limited. That pain ignored eventually erupts. This is not a threat. It’s a truth. We are still Nigerian. Still hopeful. But we are no longer blind. And if you truly meant “Renewed Hope,” then now is the time to prove it. Not tomorrow. Not after another summit. Not after another crisis. Now! Because people are not just losing faith. They are losing everything. This open letter is the most painful thing I’ve written about Nigeria. Mr. President, please read it. Even if your aides won’t let you feel us this is us.”

Sincerely, a Citizen with a Voice. And a Breaking Heart. We are tired, Because this tiredness is not just emotional,it is national Mr.President. This is not the kind of tiredness that sleep can fix. We are tired in our minds. Our spirits. Our wallets. Our bodies. Our dreams. Please let this tiredness matter.

Yours sincerely, Stephanie Sewuese Shaakaa, Daughter. Mother. Citizen. Voice from the valley. Email: shaakaastephanie@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: 

The opinions and views expressed in this write-up are entirely those of the Writer(s). They do not reflect the opinions and views of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or any of its employees. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures and videos are gotten from the public domain.

After more than fifty years of the nationalisation of the ownership and management of liquid minerals, particularly oil, and gas, it is time to change the policy and revert to the principle of derivation to stop the mismanagement, lack of accountability, lack of transparency, massive exploitation and embezzlement of the oil wealth. Nationalisation of mineral resources has been an abject failure since oil and gas are nationalised while solid minerals are not subjected to the same stringent standard of nationalisation in violation of the decrees, acts, and laws that Nigerian authorities have passed. 

It should be recalled that during the First Republic (1960 -1966), the principle of derivation was the principal means of owning, controlling, and managing mineral resources in the country. This meant that each region had the constitutional authority to explore and manage its resources and share a percentage of the revenue generated with the national government. As a result, the regions were able to utilise the wealth generated from their natural resources for the infrastructural and economic development of their regions. 

Perhaps, as an instrument of war to deprive Biafran authorities from gaining financially from the oil wealth as well to secure the oil wealth for the prosecution of the Nigerian civil war, the military regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon initiated a policy change and nationalized the ownership and management of mineral resources, particularly oil and gas in the country. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and subsequent military regimes and civilian administrations followed suit with the policy of nationalisation. As a result, various regimes passed the following decrees and or acts: (1) The Oil in Navigable Waters Act of 1968; (2) The Petroleum Act of 1969; (3) The Oil Pipelines Act of 1969; (4) The Associated Gas Reinjection Act of 1969; (5)The Offshore Oil Revenue Decree of 1971; (6) The Petroleum Production and Distribution Act of 1975; (7) The establishment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation on April 1, 1977 to control, regulate and manage petroleum and gas production in Nigeria; (8) The Exclusive Economic Zone Act of 1978; and (9) The Land Use Act of 1978. 

Most of these decrees were passed during the military regimes of Gen. Yakubu Gowon and Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo. The inhabitants of the Niger Delta/South-South and some sections of the Southeast zones lost ownership, control, and management of oil and gas in their zones as the Federal Government assumed total ownership, control, and management of the two major resources. The inhabitants of the oil region tolerated the change as far as the intention was to ensure the effective and efficient management of the resources as well as support the development and modernization of the infrastructure and the economy across the board without discrimination or favoritism. 

Perhaps, to ensure even-handedness and equity, the military under the caretaker regime of Lt. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar enacted the 1999 Constitution, which nationalised all minerals in the country. The constitution vested the ownership and control of Nigeria’s mineral resources in the Federal Government. Additionally, the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act of 2007 was enacted to replace the Minerals and Mining Act #34 of 1999. It vested the ownership and control of solid minerals in the Federal Government. With this act, Nigeria completely nationalised the ownership and control of all minerals in the country. One of the conditions of this act is that “No person shall search for or exploit mineral resources in Nigeria or divert or exploit or impound water for mining except as provided in this act” (https://www.lawnigeria.com/LFN/N/Nigerian-Minerals-and-Mining-Act.php). 

Based on the principle of nationalisation, all minerals in the country are supposed to be owned, controlled, and managed exclusively by the Federal Government of Nigeria with no exception. However, the operationalisation or functionalization of total national ownership by the Federal Government has been problematic, resulting in massive exploitation, marginalization, deprivation, and discrimination against the nationalities in the oil region. Why? 

Because, while petroleum and gas are nationalised to the extent of rendering the rightful owners of the resources helpless and poor, solid minerals are not. As a result, individuals and cooperatives have been allowed by the Federal Government to mine solid minerals for decades without the authorities taking any decisive action to stop them. Evidently, individuals are allowed to mine solid minerals and earn income to take care of their families and enrich themselves in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Bornu, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nssarawa, Niger, Oyo, Osun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara states (Isenyo, 2016, April 7) while the citizens in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo, and Rivers State cannot explore and refine oil to earn income to take care of their families and enrich themselves. 

As part of the double standard in nationalising mineral ownership in Nigeria, not until March 2024 did the Federal Government announce a plan to inaugurate mining marshals to combat the illegal mining of solid minerals in Nigeria (Idoko, 2024, March 2). On the other hand, the Federal Government deployed the Nigerian military in 2002 to secure the oil region for oil exploration. Thus, the Niger Delta/South-South is under military occupation while the solid minerals regions are not under military occupation. Even in 2025, the mining marshal’s plan has not been activated for private mining of solid minerals. 

Likewise, the wealth generated through oil and gas exploration from the Niger Delta/South-South has been primarily responsible for the infrastructural enhancement of Lagos, the development of Abuja from the ground up, the construction of major roads and railway lines in other parts of the country, the financial pipeline for maintaining and sustaining the national government, 36 states, and the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja for about five decades now. 

While Nigerians are told that all minerals belong to the Federal Government, most oil blocks are privatised and owned by highly connected individuals from the non-oil-producing regions, while the owners of the oil wealth are left to scramble to pick the crumbs (Eguzozie, 2021, August 2). This is why tension is always high in the oil region as the ethnic groups compete for the crumbs left behind by the looters who feast insatiably on the oil wealth. Even the Nigerian masses do not benefit from the oil wealth, contrary to the expectation that nationalisation would result in effective management of the oil wealth to the benefit of the entire country. 

In addition, most of the private wealth accumulated by individuals in Nigeria is generated from the oil and gas resources from the Niger Delta/South-South. They do so through the ownership of oil blocks, contracts, oil blending refineries, fuel imports, and the domination of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), and oil and gas companies. The sad part of the oil and gas business in Nigeria is that most of these privileged Nigerians who have commandeered the oil industry are from the non-oil-producing regions, while most Nigerians from the oil-producing region wallow in extreme poverty, neglect, and dehumanisation. 

Nigerians are told that oil and gas are national resources, yet a substantial part of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) has been privatised to the advantage of the few and the disadvantage of most Nigerians. The NNPCL, controlled by an invisible cabal, seems more powerful than the Federal Government to the extent that it does what it wants without accountability and transparency in its operations. 

While the Niger Delta/South-South lays the golden egg that maintains and sustains Nigeria, the region is utterly neglected in national infrastructural development and modernization projects. Hence, the East-West Road, the major transportation artery in the oil region, has been neglected by the Federal Government for decades. As a result, it is a death trap for the citizens of the oil region, especially during the rainy season when some sections of the road become impassable. While the oil region is neglected in infrastructural development, Nigeria spends the oil wealth massively on the infrastructural development of other regions and expects the citizens in the oil region to keep quiet, suffer, and smile in silence. 

All the major government agencies responsible for controlling, regulating, and managing oil and gas resources in Nigeria are dominated by Nigerians from the non-oil-producing regions. Most of the high-level positions in these agencies and corporations are held by Nigerians from the non-oil-producing regions. As a result, only a few individuals from the oil region gain employment in the oil industry, even though the industry is located in their region. 

All the major oil companies have their headquarters outside the oil region. This means that they pay taxes for their operations elsewhere and not to the oil-producing states. Thus, the Niger Delta/South-South is treated like a colony of Nigeria and not as part of Nigeria. Nigeria’s ruling elites exploit the resources of the region for the accumulation of their private wealth, the infrastructural development and modernization of their regions, and creating businesses in their regions to generate wealth while utterly neglecting the oil region. 

Since 1957 when commercially viable oil exploration began in Oloibiri in Bayelsa State and continuing up to the present day, Nigeria has never embarked on any measurable environmental cleaning operation of the massive oil pollution and gas flaring that have devastated the Niger Delta/South-South zone. Pollution has destroyed farmlands and fishing waters, thereby devastating the traditional economic activities of the people of the oil region. 

Additionally, the massive environmental pollution has led to the emergence of devastating medical conditions that afflict people with incurable diseases. The Federal Government seems unconcerned about the special health care needs of the inhabitants of the oil region as they bear the brunt of toxic chemicals generated by oil and gas operations. Due to gross negligence and corruption, even the Ogoni clean-up that the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) recommended is done haphazardly and disinterestedly. The only thing national decision-makers seem to care about is increasing the quantity of oil production to increase the wealth generated to offset foreign debts incurred through reckless borrowing and spending. 

The Federal Government militarily occupies the Niger Niger/South-South like a colonial power by stationing the Joint Task Force Operation Restore Hope (JTF) to prevent individuals from engaging in the refining of oil while the Federal Government is not interested in creating a JTF to prevent individuals from illegal mining of solid minerals. 

Indeed, the reckless exploitation of oil and gas in the oil region is an existential threat to the survival of the people of the Niger Delta/South-South. Therefore, the Federal Government should take the following steps to remedy the situation: 

1. Nationalise solid minerals the way oil and gas are nationalised. 

2. Establish the Nigerian National Solid Minerals Corporation (NNSMC) to carry out effective ownership, control, and management of solid minerals in the way oil and gas are owned, controlled, and managed through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL). 

3. The Board of Directors of the NNSMCL must come from the six zones of the country. 

4. Establish a military Joint Task Force (JTF) to stop illegal mining of solid minerals the way illegal refiners are prevented from doing so in the Niger Delta/South-South. 

5. Revenue generated from the mining of solid minerals must go directly into the Federation Account. 

6. The funds must be shared in the way the oil wealth is shared through the Federation Account to the Federal Government, states, local governments, and the Federal Capital Territory. 

7. The Federal Government must set up a proactive pollution-cleaning program to clean the oil region. 

If these steps are not taken to nationalise solid minerals, then Nigeria must denationalise petroleum and gas. This means that the citizens of the oil region should be able to explore and refine petroleum the way Nigerians mine gold and other solid minerals. In other words, failure to operationalize the nationalization of solid minerals should result in automatic denationalization of oil and gas in the Niger Delta//South-South. This further means that if the Federal Government continues to look the other way and allows individuals and cooperatives to mine solid minerals, then the indigenes of the oil region should be allowed to explore and refine petroleum and gas. 

Indeed, Nigeria must stop the double standard in controlling, regulating, and managing mineral resources in the country. The double standard creates the impression that the oil region is a colony because the inhabitants of the region are not power-wielding groups in Nigeria and, hence deserve to be exploited and deprived of their natural rights to make use of resources in their territory while solid minerals are mostly found in the regions of the power-wielding groups, hence, the citizens of those regions can mine and create individual and family wealth from solid minerals exploration. 

NzeIkayMedia ✍️

Disclaimer: 

The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area, or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures, and videos are obtained from the public domain.

A seismic geopolitical maneuver is reportedly unfolding in Nigeria, with French and British interests allegedly conspiring to destabilize President Bola Tinubu’s government and install a Fulani-led administration by 2027. This clandestine strategy, purportedly designed to reclaim waning European influence in West Africa, hinges on leveraging regional unrest, jihadist networks, and Tinubu’s eroded trust with Western powers.

Tinubu’s Fall from Grace
Once hailed as a key ally, Tinubu’s refusal to spearhead a French-backed military intervention in Niger—despite initial pledges—reportedly cost him Western favor. His subsequent diplomatic overtures to France and Britain, including an unproductive visit to Paris and London, allegedly confirmed his exclusion from their revised agenda. Sources claim European powers now view Tinubu as a liability, pivoting instead to orchestrate his ouster through orchestrated chaos.

The Fulani Gambit
Central to the alleged plot is the exploitation of Fulani militant networks. According to intelligence leaks, French and British operatives have allegedly greenlit a campaign to escalate insecurity via jihadist factions and herdsmen-linked violence. The goal? Render Tinubu’s government untenable, mirroring the public disillusionment that toppled former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. Recent kidnappings and attacks, once dismissed as random, are now framed as calculated steps to destabilize Nigeria ahead of the 2027 polls.

ECOWAS as a Pawn
Should a Fulani-aligned leader ascend, plans allegedly include weaponizing ECOWAS to wage war against Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad—nations that expelled French forces post-Russian intervention. France, desperate to regain access to Sahelian resources, and Britain, wary of losing its Nigerian stronghold, reportedly see a pliant Fulani presidency as their conduit.

A Region on the Brink
The fallout could extend beyond Nigeria’s borders. Analysts warn that a European-backed Fulani takeover might ignite not only domestic strife but also cross-border conflicts, destabilizing West Africa further. France’s hunger for resource control and Britain’s fear of replicating France’s Sahelian decline are cited as twin motivators.

Tinubu’s Dilemma and a Proposed Escape Route
With trust fractured, Tinubu faces mounting pressure to recalibrate. Some insiders urge reconciliation with Nigeria’s Southeast, including the release of detained separatist leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to counterbalance Fulani-Western alliances. Yet, skepticism abounds: can regional appeasement offset a shadow war backed by foreign intelligence?

Whispers in the Halls of Power
While these claims circulate among Nigeria’s elite, they remain unverified—a tapestry of conjecture and unnamed sources. Top officials reportedly acknowledge the rumors but lack actionable proof. For ordinary citizens, the narrative underscores a chilling reality: Nigeria’s sovereignty may again be collateral in a global power play.

As 2027 looms, the nation watches, waits, and wonders: will external machinations dictate its fate, or can Tinubu outmaneuver the storm? One truth is clear—the stakes for West Africa have never been higher.

NzeIkayMedia ✍️

Disclaimer: 

The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of materials herein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever of the Publisher (Nze Ikay Media) or its employees concerning the legal status of any country, its authority, area or territory or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. Equally, the sketches, images, pictures and videos are gotten from the public domain.