Primitive loaning practice refers to the face-to-face personal loan service, where the money customers borrow is delivered to their door steps, while they can also remit back or make savings through the same process.

Globally, this process has now been digitalised with the help of technology.

With the impact of emerging technologies on national economies, loan service providers have developed digital platforms using progressive web applications to replicate the performance and speed of websites. Such applications can quickly be downloaded onto a mobile phone by subscribers.

Due to the technology’s link to a supporting website, the lender can provide the clients all of the necessary details about the loan agreement, repayments, and consent. As a result, customers can rest in the assurance that the application process adheres to all legal and compliance requirements.

Banks and other financial institutions in Nigeria charge different interest rates for lending to customers in various sectors of the economy. Many are unbearably and only a few are accessible. Because many bank loans are pegged at N100,000 (hundred thousand Naira) upward, people at the grassroots cannot access loans from a number of banks.

These rural dwellers are more comfortable with short-term loans that can easily be paid back without stress to lenders, who are usually family members or friends. Thus, the coming of online loan platforms suggested a level of economic ease to unsuspecting Nigerians at the outset.

Given the relief of having online loans providers reachable at the click of their smartphones, little did subscribers know that these same lifesaving loan apps could become grievous to their finances and wellbeing.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and other regulatory agencies had welcomed some of these platforms and service providers for closing the lending gap to consumers who would otherwise be unable to obtain conventional loans from traditional financial institutions. They platforms also eased the procedures for access to short time finance for many people.

In Nigeria, the high-interest rate demanded by many unregistered financing platforms is perpetrating the notion of loan sharking, which is highly disturbing, if not fraudulent and violating of the ethics of loan transactions. Various unscrupulous practices have been evolved to rip off customers through crazy interest rates that many are not well-informed about before getting into.

Many borrowers agree to the terms and conditions of these loan sharks, not knowing the difficult financial situation they might find themselves in subsequently. While some loan apps have tried to regulate their interest rates, others have posed as professional cybercriminals, extorting their clients and ridiculing their image when they are unable to pay back on time.

Of recent, the FCCPC raided the premises of seven Lagos-based unlicensed online loan platforms. Following this, the operational premises of GoCash, OKash, EasyCredit, Kashkash, Speedy Choice, Easy Moni, Sokoloan were shut down in the aftermath of the inter-agency monitoring exercise led by the Commission.

While some of the online lending operators have complained of huge losses as a result of some customers’ reluctance to pay back in relation to their agreements, many of these customers also consider the lenders as financial bullies who should be prosecuted.

In all this rumble, it is an abuse of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem to, first, have unlicensed loan apps freely operating over the years, and, second, for borrowers to be subjected to naming and shaming, with their privacy being violated in the name of loan recovery.

It is, therefore, expected that Nigeria, which boasts of the largest tech ecosystem in Africa, should have a centralised database of online financial institutions. Yet, several agencies have databases including the biometric information of citizens.

This means that citizens’ data and biometrics collected by various agencies like the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), among others, should be stored in a central database that could be accessed easily by appropriate authorities whenever the need arises. As such, third parties would only be able to access people’s data through the application of extant data protection and privacy laws.

Also, without a centralised database, a dubious customer can borrow on about 10 different loan platforms at the same time, thereby causing the online loan companies to incur huge losses.

The creation of the Central Database on Recovered Assets and the Central Criminal Justice Information System (CCJIS) to enhance transparency in the fight against corruption in the country should also be entrenched in the FinTech sector for both traditional and digital transactions.

The FCCPC and CBN regulation of interest rates on lending by online loan service providers is necessary, otherwise these companies would keep devising unprofessional means of extorting exorbitant interest rates through direct debit from their customer, which can be ultimately damaging.

In its determination to curb the excesses of some of these loan companies, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) imposed a penalty of N10 million on any online lending platform that acts on the level of data privacy invasion. But still many of them are operating in transgression of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).

The recent clampdown by the joint task force fronted by the FCCPC has reaffirmed the need to check and balance the activities of online loan apps.

Online vendors such as Apple and Google stores are urged by the Federal Government to shut down fraudulent online loan apps, but more definite measures need to be put in place to guard against future occurrences.

Online loan apps were developed to help people have access to immediate loans, easier and more convenient ways of getting money from the comfort of their homes, and with no hassles. In this regard, if properly regulated it will benefit the economy and society at large.

Therefore, NITDA, CBN, FCCPC, and other regulatory agencies should incorporate online loan companies with conventional banks as an affiliate to digital banking for immediate accessibility to short-term loans by customers. The licensed and recognised loan apps should operate based on guidelines provided by the relevant regulatory authorities.

This will also help NITDA to uphold its NDPR, the CBN to sustain checks on the interest rate, and FCCPC to ensure that customers no longer suffer harassment and privacy violations.

All things being equal, the digital financial system is vital for economic growth and national development.

Sambo writes from Abuja via zeenatsambo@yahoo.com

LAST week, I received the news that a childhood friend, Kenneth, was shot dead in the South-East and his vehicle taken away. The photo showed that he was shot in the forehead. News had it that he was shot in Awka-Etiti in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

When he was a teenager, Kenneth was brought to Nnewi from Nsukka by a relative of mine to be an apprentice in the motor spare parts sale. When he completed his apprenticeship, his boss settled him in line with the tradition of the apprenticeship among the Igbo people.

He set up his own business in the Nkwo Nnewi market near his former boss. He got an apartment in Nnewi not far from our home. He had spent more years in Nnewi than in his hometown. Even after he became his own boss, he continued to relate with us as a family friend. Last year, when we held the funeral ceremony of our father, he came and helped out.

That was the last time I saw him before I saw his photo lying on the ground with a hole in his forehead and blood all over his face. That deathly look on the face of Kenneth was traumatic. Certainly, his killers did not shoot to injure him or frighten him. They shot him point-blank to kill him.

That was how the life of a gentle guy who left his home as a child to learn a trade and change the course of his life was cut short. His wife has been widowed and his children made fatherless. It only required a bullet fired by someone who had no value for human life.

That is a sketch of what is going on in the South-East. Some callous men are on the loose, killing, burning and kidnapping. They have camps in different forests where they keep their kidnapped victims. Those killed are dropped in ditches in the forests. Those who came out alive tell tales of horror in such forests. The stench of decomposing human bodies is unbearable.

The police stations have been decimated and burned. The community vigilante groups that safeguard the communities have been cowed. Those who raise their voices have been silenced or their homes destroyed.

Moving around the South-East has become a risk because nobody knows when an attack will occur. Nobody even knows who may be shot dead or kidnapped or the criteria used to choose the victims. Some roads have been declared dangerous routes that should only be used at the risk of the motorist. Driving a big car is a risk. Looking like a big man or woman is a risk. Using a vehicle with a siren is a death sentence. Driving with security operatives is a risk. Using any vehicle that has a government number plate is a death sentence. Being in a vehicle on any street on any designated sit-at-home day is a huge risk.

Anarchy has descended on the South-East. Fear rules. Both those who support the violence and those who don’t are afraid to move around in the South-East. The mission of those behind this violence is to destroy or weaken any group or institution that has the power of coercion, so that they will stand as the only power to be feared and obeyed.

The reason the violence in the South-East is news is because that zone had been relatively peaceful until recent times. Wanton killings and arson were not common there.

Also in the North-West, the violence continued last week. The violence in Kaduna in the North-West of Nigeria was more than what happened in the South-East. Every two or three days, there was a report of between 10 and 50 killed in one community or the other, with many houses set ablaze. Because of the frequency of these attacks in Northern states like Kaduna, Zamfara, Benue, Plateau, Borno, reports of killings in the North no longer elicit outrage.

Last week, The Punch reported that no fewer than 1,545 persons were killed by terrorists within the first quarter of 2022 in Northern states like Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, etc. This was disclosed through a joint report by the Community of Practice against Mass Atrocities and the Joint Action Civil Society Committee under the aegis of Nigeria Mourns. The report added that at least 1,321 persons were abducted by the terrorists in the same first quarter of 2022.

Consequently, news of attacks in the North no longer gets the attention of most Nigerians. That could be part of the motivation for last week’s attack on the Abuja-Kaduna train. The terrorists had noticed that only members of the lower class were taking the risk of travelling by road between Kaduna and Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The attack on the train drew the required attention and outrage of Nigerians. In addition to the attention it drew, it also sent a message that no place was safe from the bandits. Just before the train attack, they had made an attempt at the airport in Kaduna. They did not succeed but they killed one person. They will continue to make attempts to attack an airport or aeroplane. Such an attack will attract international attention and strike deep fear into the hearts of the middle class and upper class in Nigeria, especially in the North, that no place is safe.

In recent times, different terror groups had attacked different military and police formations in the North. The message is to let the people know that the terrorists are more powerful than those who they expect to protect them. Once they achieve that, they will have no problems passing laws and getting the people to obey such laws, including paying them protection money or pizzo, as demanded by mafia groups.

The idea behind these attacks is the quest for power. Non-state actors want to be in power in their areas of control.

In the South-West, it is risky to travel by road or work on the farms. Kidnappers are operating on the highways and in the forests. In the South-South, all is not well too.

From virtually all parts of Nigeria, outlaws are flexing their muscles, taking actions that are clear messages that they want to weaken or destroy the government and be in control. Though officials of the Nigerian government make regular comments of “we are on top of the situation,” it is obvious that the security operatives are overwhelmed and overstretched. The regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) has no answer to the problem. He is just biding his time, waiting for May 29, 2023 to come so that he can hand over the anarchy to someone else. Whoever will succeed Buhari will be fighting fires from the first day in office.

Onwuka can be reached via Twitter: @BrandAzuka

About 11 months to elections, it is not too early to expect that by now those who aspire to be Nigeria’s president should be identified with their passion for some ideas.

With the announcement of the electoral time-table, the issues of the elections ought to be crystalizing by now. Elsewhere, political debates of issues in the build-up towards party primaries could be as vigorous as the debates among candidates. What is dominating discussions now in Nigeria, however, is the regional or ethnic origins and the religious affiliations of the aspirants seeking to fly their respective party flags. The current debates are about which region or zone should “produce” the candidates for the presidential election.

Well, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) cannot do more than officially setting the time-table. Unofficially, beyond the political parties democratic forces should push to the fore the issues of the elections to be addressed by politicians as aspirants. These issues would be more vigorously addressed later by candidates flying the party flags. The latter task is beyond the remit of INEC’s Chairman Professor Mahmoud Yakubu and his colleagues. That is why other unofficial institutions of democracy should pay attention to it.

For a nation grappling with a multi-dimensional crisis the content of politics should be fuller than what is currently on display. There are legion issues of the election beyond zoning of political offices which are not getting the required attention.

As concomitants with the big names on parade, big ideas should be contending in the public sphere to resolve the big issues plaguing this land.

Aspirants should not only be identified as northerners or southerners; they should also be identified as being in favour of greater kinetic approach to insecurity or in support of negotiation with terrorists or both approaches.

For clarity, the legitimacy of the present geo-political calculations is never in doubt. The reality of the challenges of nation-building has made the jostling for the Number One position by politicians from the various zones unavoidable in the circumstance. Such calculations have become a necessary subjective factor of national integration. It would, therefore, be sheer idealism to ignore the regional, zonal, ethnic, and religious considerations in the political evolution of Nigeria. The universal logic of diversity supports it.

However, the task for now and in the future is how to wean the polity off a narrow view of things and largely empty permutations of the ruling class.

Besides, the constituency of members of the political elite who could honestly claim to speak for Nigeria (and not regions or ethnic groups) is depressingly shrinking fast. At the other polar end, the political calculus of ethnicity and regionalism is increasingly being embraced by the majority of members of the political elite to fill the vacuum created their lack of rigorous ideas for development. Such is the nature of the dominant politics in the country. It is amazing that the political elite seems oblivious of the limitation of this sort of politics in the context of the developmental needs of the overwhelming majority of the people.

Yet, among other things it would take the factor a formidable popular-democratic force of Nigerian nationalists, who are politically relevant, to render regionalism and ethnicity irrelevant in elections. Unfortunately, that may not happen soon. But it is a possibility.

On the issue of national integration, the political elite is hardly consistent. Those who professed the primacy of “zoning” in the 2015 elections are today preaching “meritocracy.” It is even more problematic when ethnic and regional champions canvass “national interest” and “merit” when their opposite numbers in other zones insist on “power rotation.”

More fundamentally is the question: of what material significance is the “power rotation” to the poor people in each region or zone? Since 1999, there has been no evidence that the material condition of the majority of the people in the zone that “produced” a president has improved relative to the condition of the people of the zones “marginalised” by the dynamics of “power rotation.”

Whose power is it, anyway? Definitely it is not people power.

The crisis of governance ravaging the land is not in the least mitigated by “power rotation.” The condition of public education and healthcare delivery cannot be said to have improved in any zone or region better than the other because of “power rotation.” Yet the politicians invoke the name of the people as they insist on “power rotation.”

In other words, they substitute their class interests for the basic interests of the people. Out of false consciousness, some of the people line up behind the gladiators in their battle for “power rotation.”

If “power rotation” is actually in the interest of the people in a zone, the northwest zone ought to be the most secure and prosperous zone and Katsina state, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, ought to be the safest and most developed state. But is well known that this is not the case today just as the Obasanjo presidency did not put Ogun state on the top of the development league and the Jonathan presidency never transformed Bayelsa state. That is not to talk of the zones that “produced” these presidents.

Those who bang the table on the “equity and justice of power rotation,” do not talk about the socio-economic injustice inflicted daily on the poor people in all zones and regions and of all faiths.

Perhaps, part of the explanations for why things have remained the way they are in the last 23 years of Nigeria’s experiment with liberal democracy is that the last six presidential elections and most of the governorship elections were hardly fought on issues. Politicians aspired to positions largely because it was the turn of their zones. They got party tickets and as candidates they were mostly not associated with any concept of how to solve the problems of underdevelopment in a wholistic manner. The needed concept is deeper than the management of random and incongruous projects.

At the root of this malaise is the fact that political parties are not defined by the strategies of development on the basis of which they could mobilise the people. If a political party has an ideology informing its programmes and policies, any aspirant wishing to be its candidate in an election must first subscribe to that guiding ideology. The manifesto of a candidate must be in synchrony with the ideology of the party. Otherwise, a candidate has no business seeking the party ticket in the first place. That is why it is unhelpful to the nation’s political development that that the big and small parties alike have not been holding policy conferences in which members would debate the ideologies of their parties. Conventions are only held to choose party officers and then to nominate candidates for elections.

With the politics of ideas, debates would be better structured because the issues to be tackled would be clearly identified. There will also be greater harmony in the political process.

For instance, if some aspirants share the same passion about certain ideas to solve economic problems it would be more logical for one to step down for the other during contest than to invoke zonal or regional reasons. The propinquity of ideas about development is a more rational thing to give as a reason than geo-political concession during primaries.

At the party level it is also explicable for parties to form electoral alliances on the basis of ideological proximity. This would be a marked departure from the shenanigans of “a coalition of parties” endorsing a candidate at the eve of elections without giving solid reasons.

For example, if some parties have basically neo-liberal strategies on the economy, it would be justifiable for them to join forces to fight elections on the basis of policy harmonisation. At the opposite end, social democratic parties could also forge a basis for electoral cooperation because of similar programmes. Politicians involved in the efforts to coalesce for elections would be pushing some ideas and not just hankering for posts. During the Second Republic, the victorious Shehu Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN) called for the formation of a national government. Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) gave as a condition for participation the adoption of its programme on education, healthcare, job creation and rural development. This was, of course, not acceptable to the ruling party. But it showed that there was once principle in Nigeria’s politics.

It is time the issues of the 2023 elections were clearly defined. Beyond their ethnic or regional origins , aspirants and candidates should articulate their ideas to solve the problems.

Komolafe is Deputy Managing Director, THISDAY Newspapers, he is also a member of the Editorial Board of the newspaper

Once in a while providence provides us the privilege of convergence when the Christian season of reconciliation and the the Ramadan overlap. This year it comes as the country roils from much that has gone wrong. The smell of death chokes our breathing and the pangs of hunger and scourge of unemployment assails our dignity, as we write.

These terrible symptoms of our season of discontent all come because we choose lack of charity towards each other over love which both the Abrahamic faiths profess. And the season of Lent, as Ramadan, are tailor made for us to realize we can be reconciled one to the other. Ramadan Kareem.

My own shortcomings and misdeeds which scream for mercy make the story of the prodigal son one my favorite in quest for renewal and that of the Good Samaritan which reminds me that my neighbor need not live next door are eternally valuable in my search for meaning. My challenge has been how to take this from personal to community and political levels.

How can we be reconciled, rebuild trust and find common purpose for our country that elevates the common good of all and holds high, values like the dignity of the human person, and the benefits of human solidarity.

The Roman Pontiff, Francis, has recently reminded us all of the universal brotherhood of man. In Fratelli Tutti our shared humanity is fired up by the Pope’s heart of love which I find quite in alignment with that which I have read in the urgings to leaders by the founders of the Sokoto Caliphate. Some of these exhortations by Shehu Uthman Dan Fodio, Sultan Bello and others are nicely compiled in a book I received as a gift from their successor and current Sultan of Sokoto six years ago..

We are unable today to fly like the Eagle we were meant to be, as a country, or reach peak performance in areas we should be exemplars because cooperation is pushed back by matters of tribe, tongue, geography and faith. But if we be reconciled we can together break the yoke of backwardness and liberate our people from the crimes of hate which make death so menacingly a part of living in Nigeria in these times.

Surely we can learn from our peers of yesteryears who found the great escape from misery by focusing on a few key values,

In Singapore, a simple acronym captured it: MPH. Merit. Pragmatism. Honesty.

If we care to explore we will see how all of these are grossly absent or inadequate in Nigeria today.

In this age of the aristocracy of talent, in which Meritocracy shaped the modern world, as Adrian Woldrigde puts it in his recent book on the history of competence triumphing over the luck of the sperm source or other parochial consideration.

Our recent history with complaints about violations of the federal character principles, and fairness being breached, provides a terrain to seek reconciliation. A few simple choices signal needed beginnings. With a little steer of conscience and courage much hurt feelings can start a journey to being assuaged.

The many things that have drawn goal displacement in public service have come partly from uncertainty creeping into the consideration of the future of public officers this day’s sea of nepotism. The impact of this on policy implementation is huge and unwholesome. The lack of inclusion robs choice of the robustness of diversity of input.

A big mix of pragmatism and creativity is needed to lead through the turbulence of problems that assault us in these troubled times. But unfounded mutual suspicions make us distrust local talent and turn to less suitable sources of knowledge for solutions to nuanced local problems as the multilaterals in Washington.

My frequent turning to how Dr Mahathir Mohammed got Malaysia to be first out of the Asian financial crisis of 1997 by rejecting I MF prescription in preference for ideas of local talent.

Then there is honesty. Plain simple old fashioned integrity. We have so devalued honesty that the most egregious display of lack of character and dishonesty is explained away by ‘na politics naa’ Where politics is considered synonymous with dishonesty culture is on the verge of collapse. Unfortunately this is where we are but the truth is often scorned. Just check the results and if you are a true patriot the truth will speak to you.

We can be reconciled to one another. Our underperformance cannot be because this is the way we are. Consider how Nigerians are performing in merit based societies. If 70 percent of the black Doctors in the US are Nigerians and 4 percent of Nigerians there are PhD compared to 1 percent for total population it should indicate that we are an achieving society. It must be that factors in our environment impede achievement.

We desperately need leaders who know that though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand. We need a call to all to recall the essence of our African humanism. Ubuntu. I am because we are.

Somehow our politicians put having over being and consumption over production and this has caused us so much grief.

If our reconciliation in this season of penitence leads to the simple life and more emphasis on being rather than having we may find that we end up having more than we actually care for.

May God”s anger not be prolonged as the Prophet Joel interceded so that his mercy may rain upon us and Nigeria rise up again.

Utomi is a Political Economist and Citizen-politician

“Oro Ahmed yi nikan na ni o un ba mi leru”. (It is the issue of Ahmed that is giving me a lot of concern). That was the fear expressed by the late Alhaji Lam Adesina, a former governor of Oyo State, on the chances of the then governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in winning the gubernatorial election in 2003. Out of genuine concern, Alhaji Adesina, a great lover of Tinubu, was bothered that the Lagos State governor might not get a second term because of his repugnance to Obasanjo’s overtures and frolics.

That was at a time when all the other governors in the South-West, Chief Bisi Akande of Osun, Chief Adebayo Adefarati of Ondo, Otunba Niyi Adebayo of Ekiti, Akinrogun Segun Osoba of Ogun and Alhaji Lam Adesina himself were obeying the dictates and dancing to the falsehearted music of the then president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The governors were not alone in the travesty; they were goaded by the Pan Yoruba group, Afenifere ,under the leadership of late Pa Abraham Adesanya.

Obasanjo had, in the most deceitful manner, cajoled the governors and the Pan Yoruba group, Afenifere, in believing that he (Obasanjo) would be “soft” on them and make their victories eas,y insofar as they supported his election for a second term in office. The five governors fell for Obasanjo’s antics and openly worked for his second term in office. In fact, the promotion of Obasanjo’s second term bid took precedence over the campaigns of these governors and the National Assembly candidates in the build up to the general elections of 2003.

Despite the fact that we were in the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the opposition party, we campaigned vigorously for the second term of Olusegun Obasanjo and indirectly his Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates, who eventually defeated us. I was a victim as the AD candidate for House of Representatives in the Oluyole Federal Constituency.

With heavy music and beautiful lyrics, we introduced a new dimension, and new lexicon into our politics: we birthed the splitting of votes between Aremu Oke and Aremu Isale. Vote one for Aremu at the top (Obasanjo for president) and one for Aremu at the bottom (Alhaji Lam Adesina). But at the end of the day, General Obasanjo trounced us, with the deployment of all the tricks and antics you can think of.

But, in Lagos, Tinubu, in his wisdom, refused to follow either his fellow governors or Afenifere in supporting Obasanjo, and instead answered his own father’s name. He campaigned only for his party, the Alliance for Democracy. He asked voters to concentrate all their votes at the top, the space for AD on the ballot papers in all the elections.

As we were rollicking to the lovely melody of Aremu Oke and Aremu Isale in the South-West, from Ibadan to Saki, Ogbomosho, Tede, Idere and so on, particularly in Oyo State, the people of Lagos State were ‘eating to the top’ (won un j’eun s’oke). And in the real sense of it, they actually ate well and this is evident, till today, in the yarning gap in riches and wealth between the people of Lagos and those in other parts of Yoruba land.

Tinubu, using all in him: Wisdom, knowledge, smartness, boldness, exposure, contacts, etcetera, turned Lagos around within eight years. Bola Tinubu grew the economy, politics and sociology of Lagos and the stability being enjoyed in Lagos today is as a result of his right leadership. Lagos has become the model for virtually all developmental projects and ideas in Nigeria today.

From Fashola to Ambode to the incumbent Sanwo-Olu, Lagos has continued to progress steadily, while sadly, other states in the West are grappling to survive. Tinubu has established himself as the best and most dynamic leader and politician of this generation.

With the enormous powers of the Presidency, particularly under the leadership of Olusegun Obasanjo, who was touted to have possessed and exercised more powers than the American President during his time, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu still crushed Obasanjo in all aspects of governance. He challenged Obasanjo on legislative matters and won; he contested against Obasanjo’s position on the judiciary and made mincemeat of him; and in Obasanjo’s desperate bid to conquer Lagos State, along with other Yoruba States, Tinubu triumphed over Obasanjo and is still beating him till today.

For decades now, Nigeria’s major problem has been poor leadership. After the departure of the Balewas, Azikwes and Awolowos of this world, Nigeria has been largely unlucky with the sets of people that have been ruling us. All these past leaders that we are still praising till date did well because they were properly equipped for the positions they occupied and while serving they got the best persons for all the assignments.

Tinubu, in his time as governor of Lagos State, gathered the best brains in Lagos to improve the lots of the State socially, economically and politically. Tinubu, with his team of financial wizards, raised the internally generated revenue of Lagos from about N1 billion naira to over N20 billion when leaving office in 2007. In the socio-political scene, Tinubu took Lagos far ahead of other states in Nigeria, particularly in the South-West, when it became the centre of attraction virtually in all spheres. Ibadan that was the cynosure of political activities in the West was taken over by Lagos as major actors and leaders of Oyo State started running to Lagos for political directions and handouts.

I know that the children born during and after the governorship of Tinubu, Lam and others that are now of age to vote would not believe it that before the 1999 elections, Ibadan was of greater or of the same socio-political standing with Lagos. That Tinubu used to come to Ibadan for political advice and directions would appear to them as tales by the moonlight. But that is the truth. The story of Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that of a person who is naturally endowed to lead and who has been ceaselessly improving himself, and enabling people that would lead and make leadership functional, with profound results.

That the former governor of Lagos State was able to accomplish all these, including standing boldly with the Lagos people on the creation of local councils, was as a result of the ability of Tinubu to identify and engage the right people for the jobs at hand. Without knowing the incumbent vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Tinubu head-hunted him and made the Ogun State born legal luminary the Attorney General of Lagos State. Appointing with precision, Tinubu led Osinbajo to win the legal battle against the all-conquering Olusegun Obasanjo, who was then sitting as the president of Nigeria.

It is an open secret that the major problems of the country today border on the lack of adequate knowledge, right policies and directions. Thus, to solve the problems, Nigeria needs a person with adequate knowledge about Nigeria, her challenges and prospects. The country needs a person who knows Nigeria inside out and without any pretence or any primordial baggage.

Secondly, Nigeria needs a leader who is educated and versed in all aspects of life to formulate the right policies from the economy, education, health, employment, to security. A person who can get the best amongst us to engender insightful policies and programmes that would generate wealth and reasonable employment for our teeming youth. And thirdly, a person who is bold enough to look the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the likes in the face and declare that this is the best for my country and it is what I will do.

Certainly, Tinubu, more than any other Nigerian, is the most suitable for the job of being the next president. It is not about, I can do it. What Nigeria deserves now is I have done it before and I am ready, more mature, more experienced and obviously more prepared to do it again. It is not about I worked or learnt under Tinubu, as it is a well known fact that no one can do it as the original person, especially when the teacher is still alive, strong and willing. You can’t beat experience.

As I wish Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban of Borgu a happy 70th birthday, it is almost certain that he will celebrate his 71st birthday as the president-elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He possesses an uncanny ability to win against all odds as he did contrary to the fear lovingly expressed by the late Alhaji Lam Adesina on his chances of returning to the Lagos State Governor’s Office for a second term in 2003.

Olaosebikan, CEO, Midas Communications Ltd and former Chairman of Oluyole Local Government served as the Chief Press Secretary to the late former governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lam Adesina from 1999 to 2003.