Précis
Every week, I share a run-through of events that shaped politics and society, here and elsewhere. Enjoy!
The ship sailed on Nigerian waters this week. Erstwhile Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II is leading a laudable movement to help Africa achieve the UN’s SDG 2030 Agenda. An accomplished custodian of justice rejected twice on account of ‘state of origin’, assumes office as Chief Judge of Cross River. Perhaps the quest to defeat insurgency, kidnappings and sundry security issues in Nigeria get to pick up with the coming of new service chiefs, long months after calls for a change.
Here is the serving for the week:
SANUSI’S SDG CHALLENGE
Months after exiting the coveted Emir of Kano stool, His Highness Muhammad Sanusi II isn’t showing signs of slowing down on matters that enable quality education and community development. The HH Muhammad Sanusi II SDG Challenge is the latest effort in this sense. With support from Canada-based One Million Teachers, the initiative has picked its first set of 10 finalists. Selected from 225 applications submitted from different parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, the finalists pitched low-cost ideas that seek to drive Goal 4 and Goal 5 of the SDG 2030 Agenda — Quality Education and Gender Equality in local communities. For the effort, each finalist gets a $500 grant to provide educational solutions, training, mentorship and networking, under the program’s benefit pillars. In the HH Muhammadu Sanusi II SDG Challenge, Sub-Saharan Africa and the entire continent have found a worthy support system to push for the realisation of the critical sustainable development goals. Commendable.
ORIGIN VS CAPACITY
Do you remember Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem and how she almost lost the Court of Appeal president job, last year, to silly ethnoreligious games? Something similar played out in Cross River before dragging to an apogee on Thursday: the state’s lawmakers finally confirmed Akon Ikpeme as Chief Judge after rejecting her twice on the grounds of “state of origin”. The lawmakers should be ashamed that it took so long to get a new head for Cross River judiciary — the state has been without a substantive chief judge since January 2020. How this set of lawmakers ignored competence and messed up such a simple task is distasteful. And this is despite green lights from the National Judicial Council and Nigerian Bar Association validating Ikpeme’s capability. I hope the horrible state of origin question does not get to see the end of Nigeria. And that competence is always given due consideration, above everything else, at all times. Shameful.
THE NEW CHIEFS
Nothing prepares one for shock(s) from the Buhari Presidency. Critics (the group presidential spokesperson Femi Adesina fondly calls wailing wailers) spoke and wrote on the need for a leadership change and rethink of Nigeria’s security architecture, week in week out. But the government of the day would have none of that — a stance that endured until the January 26 announcement of new service chiefs. Why did it take forever to arrive here? Did the outgone high-ranking officers perform so well ordinary eyes could not see the success stories? The questions will keep popping as Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Staff; Major-General Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff; Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo, Chief of Naval Staff; and Air-Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao, Chief of Air Staff settle into the challenging, yet surmountable, task of keeping Nigeria safe, secure and united. Optimism.
