Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo
Nigeria’s Federal Government has declared Monday October 2nd 2023 as a public holiday in commemoration of the Nation’s 63rd independence celebration.
The exact Independence Day is always marked on October 1, but this year’s celebration falls on a Sunday, making government to declare Monday 2nd, a working day to mark it.
The Minister of Interior, Hon. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, while making the declaration in Abuja, congratulated all Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora.
Tunji-Ojo in a statement on Thursday signed by the Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Interior, Dr Oluwatoyin Akinlade
assured Nigerians of Government continued commitment to tackling challenges facing the country.
He said: “It is today a known fact that difficult Socio-Economic and Security challenges are global, and Nigeria is not isolated.”
The Minister however said that the Government is daily making efforts to confront these varied and numerous challenges with all the might available until respite comes our way.
Tunji-Ojo reiterated that the eminent position of Nigeria in the comity of nations and the greatness ahead of the country is achievable if we all work together in unity.
He further stated that our warm welcoming spirit and love as well as our unbounded human capital and the richness of our land makes Nigeria unarguably the leading black nation in the world being Africa’s pride and beacon of hope for the Renewed Hope of President Bola Tinubu.
The Minister while wishing the citizens a memorable independence celebration, recalled that our founding fathers, in spite of the differences in Faith, Tribe,Tongue, came together for Nigeria’s freedom which we enjoy today.
He assured that, this Administration through the Renew Hope Agenda will ensure a better Nigeria for all citizens, as a befitting tribute to our heroes past.
Michael Olugbode in Abuja
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1. Nigerians elected Tinubu to solve their problems, and not to plead subterfuge and excuse of global externalities.
2. So what, if the “socio-economic and security” challenges facing Nigerians are universal?! E.G., no thanks to the incompetence and corruption of the last 8 years under the APC, Nigeria is the only oil producing country in the world that is not presently smiling to the Bank in this inclement world economic weather. While the Saudi Arabian State oil company (Saudi Aramco) is declaring bumper profits on the backs of high earnings from crude oil sales, our own NNPCL’s balance sheet is returning zero, or negative, values. Meanwhile, in some oil producing States, citizens have been receiving tax rebates on account of oil windfall. Indications are that, had she been properly managed, Nigerians should have no business enduring the present levels of economic and security challenges; neither should they have to perpetually wait on “assurances”and “potentials” (which, for the past 8 years, and counting, have not translated into actual and impactful results on the ground).
3. Besides oil, solid minerals like Gold, which Nigeria has in abundance, have been selling at a premium on the world markets in recent times, a boom we have been unable to cash into. In 2021, Nigeria entered into a bizarre agreement with the UAE which requires THE UAE to check that all raw gold coming into her territory from Nigeria possesses a valid “certificate of exportation” issued by the Nigerian Government. According to Nigeria’s then minister of solid minerals, O. Adegbite, “huge quantities” of gold are illegally moved from Nigeria into the UAE, on a “daily basis”; and, as in incentive to track this gold, the UAE government will receive half of the value of any seizures of gold she makes (see: “FG collaborates with UAE to track huge illegal gold trade from Nigeria – Nairametrics by Chyke Olisah, nairametric online, 22/07/2021). Besides displaying our incompetence on the world stage, this queer agreement bleeds Nigeria of much needed forex.
4. The Federal Government has revealed that Nigeria loses $9 billion annually to illegal (solid mineral ) mining which is largely controlled by foreigners who are aided and abetted by “influential Nigerians”, who help cart out these minerals in private jets (see: “Illegal gold mining: Foreigners steal Nigeria’s wealth amid dwindling revenue, mounting debts” by Tunde Ajaja, Punch Nigeria online, 30/10/2021; “Nigeria plans to stop ‘$9 billion annual loss’ through proposed Kano gold market” by Felicia Dairo, premium times Nigeria online, 27/11/2021). Meanwhile, Nigeria's leaders claim that she is a sovereign entity that is in control of all the elements of sovereignty, namely, defence, security and economy.
Therefore, with all these avoidable haemorrhaging of resources , Nigeria should not be complaining about the effect of global externalities on our economy.