*By Tunde Olusunle*

A short video clip trended on the social media a few days ago. The narrator who was probably driving his automobile, drew attention to the truck ahead of him. According to his narration, he desired to commute from Egbe, the major southernmost community in Yagba West local government area in the Okun-Yoruba part of Kogi State, to the neighbouring Kwara State. Locals in Egbe, however, had warned him about the crimson activities of faceless criminals in the names of Fulani herdsmen and rampaging marauders on the highway. He thus sought help from a pin-down truck manned by uniformed and armed security personnel, to lead him to safety within the territory of Kwara State, ostensibly for a fee. The truck could be seen in the video, piloting his car. This 50-second video clip summarises the security situation in Okunland today.

Hitherto, Okunland across its several hamlets, communities and towns, was an idyllic island of serenity, calm and civility. Farmers, hunters, teachers, civil servants in the employ of the state and local government authorities, as well as retirees, peopled the villages and homesteads. After a hard day’s work, home folks congregated beneath wide-spread leafy canopies of abutting trees. They played *ayo olopon,* known by the name “mancala,” and draught, *awon oro-oro* games, as they wound down from the day’s preoccupations. Liquid soothers included *emu fun fun* and *oguro,* both variants of palmwine. But for the mischief of headstrong goats, people harboured no fears about possible trespassing of their abodes. While conducting his doctoral thesis at the University of Ilorin which birthed the *facekuerade* performance theory, my friend and brother, Sunnie Ododo, relocated from his cosy home in Ilorin, to Kabba, and stayed for weeks. Such was the allure of Okunland.

Sadly, at no point in the history of the Okun-Yoruba people of Kogi State has the question of security been as worrying as it has been in recent weeks and months. Call it “one day, one disaster” and you will not be wrong. From the hitherto innocuous *Oyo Iwa* community in the northernmost extremes of Okunland, in Lokoja local government area, to *Egbe* in Yagba West, the southernmost community in the zone, Okunland has been encircled and buffeted by faceless marauders. There are unsavoury narratives from across the six Okun local government areas, namely: Lokoja, Kabba-Bunu; Ijumu; Mopamuro; Yagba East and Yagba West. Forests and woodlands in the area which share similar vegetation with Yorubaland in the South West, have been infiltrated by Fulani herdsmen, deadly bandits and cold-blooded kidnappers. These days, they have become as emboldened as to venture into communities fully armed with weapons, roam around and take with them their preferred victims, including the vulnerable and elderly.

Okunland has been flung into perpetual fear and gripping despair. The local economy of the people predominantly powered by subsistence agriculture, petty trading, returns on artisanal preoccupations, and so on, has been paralysed. Armed gangs stipulate impossible ransoms on families and communities, which in turn are forced to dispose of prized assets, notably livestock, parcels of land and residential homes, to meet up with ransom deadlines. Callously, certain cells of outlaws receive sweatily-sourced ransoms some enabled by crowd-funding, and still proceed to annihilate their victims. They unwittingly plunge families and communities into double agony.

Disturbed by these developments, Okun people on different platforms are galvanising panaceas to address this scourge. The *Okun Development Association, (ODA)* which is the umbrella body of all Okun bodies and groups had a one-day Security Summit in Kabba, Friday March 28, 2025. President of the ODA, Ambassador Rotimi Akenson, convened the summit which was robustly attended by respected technocrats, royals and government appointees at the state and local levels, from across all six Okun-speaking LGAs. These included serving Commissioners; the State Security Adviser and prominent traditional rulers. Proceedings were moderated by no less a professional than former Director-General of the National Institute for Security Studies, Abuja, (NISS), William Toyin Akanle, PhD, mni.

The summit resolved among others, that: A well-funded community policing structure is a panacea for addressing security challenges in Okunland; and that the establishment of community-based Security Trust Fund, (STF) in Okunland is inevitable. It noted that sharing credible information with security operatives is key, since security is everyone’s business. The Summit also suggested that proper profiling of settlers in our communities is important, just as it posited the adoption of technology-driven security models. The congregation recommended that job creation, economic empowerment, and social interventions are essential in reducing the proclivity of our youths towards crime, while asserting the need for incentives, motivation and morale-boosting for Okun vigilantes and hunters. A high-powered implementation committee to facilitate the actualization of these proposals has been emplaced. Akanle is the Chairman, while Femi Oloruntoba, who retired as a Director from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) is the Secretary. Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, in the Presidency; Attorney Tunde Irukera, immediate past Executive Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC) and the multitasking Okun businessman, Yinka Braimoh are on board.

Equally agonised by the relentless rampaging of nondescript outlaws across Okunland, is the *Okun Development Initiative, (ODI),* a strident advocacy group. The organisation has scheduled a pan-Okun Unity Summit, for Friday May 30 and Saturday May 31, 2025. ODI which is altruistically complementing the precedence of ODA, has as National Coordinator, Olusuyi Otitoju, a former Commissioner representating Kogi State in the Federal Public Complaints Commission, (PCC). The theme of the forthcoming summit is: *Okun Unity: The Power of One Voice, the Strength of Many Hands.* The converge aims to bring together Okun sons and daughters, who have been torn apart by the acidity which has tinctured Okun politics in recent times. This fact is captured by the overarching focus of the forthcoming event, which aims to engage with Okun brothers and sisters to band together as one, since disparate broomsticks, cannot be deployed for sweeping.

Instructively, the forthcoming ODI Summit will be the second time the group is rallying Okun people together to deliberate on issues germane to the wellbeing of the people and the area. Between November 24 and November 26, 2016, ODI staged its premiere Okun-centred public event with the theme: *Breaking the Bonds of Underdevelopment in Okunland.* It focused on the security, unity and development of Okunland and was richly graced by the cream of Okun elite in business, bureaucracy, academia, media, politics, industry, not forgetting elder statesmen from the area. As far back as its 2016, ODI had drawn attention to the imperative for the security of lives and property in the sub-zone, which has transmogrified into a veritable hydra. Despite the near 10-year lacuna between its premiere and the proposed coming together, it is noteworthy that the ODI recognises the importance of constant engagement in the march towards the fruition of the dreams and aspirations of the Okun nation.

The second edition of the ODI Summit which will be chaired by General Funso Owonibi, (rtd), will have Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, as Special Guest of Honour. Serving federal parliamentarians from Okunland, notably Sunday Karimi, Senator Representing Kogi West; Leke Abejide, Member Representing Yagba federal constituency, and his counterpart, Idris Salman, Representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu, are expected at the programme. Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Lokoja, (FUL), Professor Yemi Akinwumi will be the Guest Speaker, while the *Obaro of Kabba* who chairs the Okun Traditional Council, Oba Solomon Dele Owoniyi is the Royal Father of the event. To underscore the harmonious relationship between the ODA and the ODI, President of the ODA, Ambassador Rotimi Akenson will be Father of the Day at the ODI Summit. Long-serving Kogi State Commissioner for Finance, Ashiru Idris, FCA, chairs the planning committee.

It is noteworthy that the people of Okunland across associations and groups are propelling action concurrently and simultaneously on the insecurity plague in the area. This clearly attests to the severity of the security situation in that part of Nigeria. Equally worthy of note is the fact that irrespective of political inclination, leaders and representatives of the zone appreciate the imperative for coordinated action to stem the current tide and potential slide into chaos. To this end, they are supporting and featuring prominently in the activities and programmes of various Okun groupings, for the collective good of an erstwhile oasis of therapeutic peace and quiet.

*Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), is an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Abuja*

By Smolette Shittu-Alamu

Dr, Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina is a PhD holder in Agricultural Economics. He has very intimidating credentials as a globally respected technocrat and scholar. Since the year 2015 he has been the President of the Africa Development Bank (AFDB) the monetary institution based in Abidjan, Cote D’ivoire.

He was re-elected for the same post in 2020 and would complete his second and final term as president AFDB this September. This very respected former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development did serve as a professional technocrat in government and in politics under the Goodluck Ebele Johnathan’s presidency from 2011 to 2015. It was from that post that he went on to serve as president of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB).

Before reaching the global renown and heights he has attained in life as well as the commanding level he has reached today in the global world, the then young little boy had known life as the son of a poor farmer. Therefore he has known the pains of not to have in life. Although he is from Ogun State, he was born and raised in Ibadan like a typical peasant farmer’s child .

Young Akinwumi attended not a high sounding school names such as Kings College nor Igbobi College; not CMS Grammar School nor St Gregory’s, but the modest Baptist High School in Ejigbo the present day Osun State. At the then University of Ife where he later on studied Agricultural Economics, he was too brilliant and too diligent a lad not to have grabbed the First Class Honours result. Oh yes he did get that.

Thus Adesina became the first ever student in the history of Unife now Obafemi Awolowo University to be awarded first class in Agricultural Economics in 1981. From Purdue University in the United States of America, Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina bagged the MSc degree in 1985, and the PhD in 1988. His thesis won the Outstanding PhD Thesis Award in 1988.

That same year Akinwumi Adesina won the Rockefeller Foundation’s Social Sciences Fellowship. This award was what launched him into international career as an Africa and Development Expert.
Before becoming a federal minister in Nigeria he had always shown himself to be a firm believer in private sector-led growth for nations especially in the developing world.

He was Vice President in-charge of Policy and Partnership at the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). In that capacity he had several bold and innovative policies and finance initiatives that leveraged over 4 billion dollars in Bank finance commitments to the African sector .

He equally served as Associate Director and Regional Director for the Southern Africa Office of the Rockefeller Foundation.
lndeed, we are merely speaking about a Nigerian intellectual who has written about seventy scholarly publications and who as a Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for only four years (2011-2015) radically changed the perception of the Agric value chain in Nigeria from subsistence to a viable business that attracted 5.6 billion dollars into private sector investment.

The Electronic Wallet system he introduced as Minister, reached some 15 million farmers throughout this country. The system dramatically transformed the levels of farmers in Nigeria. The project succeeded in ending 40 years of corruption in the fertilizer business in Nigeria. By the twist of two fingers, local farmers readily got provided with subsidized farm inputs via their mobile phones.

This is a bold reform but which has had to be carelessly abandoned somehow when he left office. As President of AfDB since 2015 ,he launched the transformation of human lives on the African continent, via his Hi fives programme namely Light up Africa,Ttransform Africa, Power the Continent, Feed Africa and Integrate the Continent’s people so as to save the continent from itsself as an economically backward landmass but which ironically is the richest in the world.

Now to the purpose of this write-up.
Very recently, this highly professional Agric Economist who is the sitting president of the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) spoke out the truth to the Nigerian situation when he drew a comparison between the Nigerian people of 1960 at independence and their counterparts he finds on the streets 65 years later.

The conclusion Adesina drew was that Nigerians are worse off today then they were in 1960. Somehow this Adesina view has not gone down well with presidential spokesmen in the Villa

In a swift response to what the facts present and Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has only echoed , the presidential megaphone led by Bayo Onanuga who is Special Adviser to the President on lnformation and Strategic Communication condemns the Adesina position and blames him for basing his conclusion on what he calls “figures that do not align with available data.” Onanuga went on to say that ” no objective observer can claim that Nigeria has not made progress since 1960″.

But seriously speaking is Onanuga right? No he is not. In fact he can’t be right. This is because having plenty of money in one’s pocket does not translate into wealth. Or does it?. If the common man fed his family with five or even ten naira in a month in the 1960 years but does so with five hundred thousand naira in a month today, 65 years later would we say such a man has progressed?

Bayo Onanuga went on to say that “even as the nation awaits the NBS’s recaliberation of our GDP, we can comfortably say without contradiction that it is at least 50 times if not 100 times more than it was at independence”. lf our GDP is 100 times more than what it was in 1960 how has that helped us we may ask? We ask.

The presidential aide also accused the AfDB boss of “speaking like a politician in the mould to Peter Obi but did not do due diligence before making his unverifiable statement”. Habba, Bayo Onanuga.Will an Agricultural Economist like the AfDB boss make an unverifiable statement? Will he? Should he? Will he not do due diligence before he talks about his own country’s. Does he not readily see the result of government initiatives and policies in the people?

Let us be more frank and factual.As President of AfDB can Dr.Adesina truly be said to be some one who does not have economic indices of all African nations at his finger tips?

We may not be experts in Economic matters even as Onanuga wants us to believe. We can give it to him that GDP per capita is not the only criterion we can use to determine whether people live better now than they did in the past. All the same our little understanding of basic Economics tells us it is a poor tool for assessing the living standard of our people. Is GDP per capita not always silent on whether we as Nigerians enjoy better access to health care, education and transportation such as rail, and air now than we did in 1960 65 years back.

Yes Nigeria today has more primary schools, secondary schools, tertiary institutions than she had in 1960. We have more road networks , medical facilities, phone lines accessibility etc. But with a population leap from 45 million in 1960 to the nearly 230 million in 2025, has our population not shot up to about 5 times in 65 years? Is this not a problem? Have our facilities this exponential increase in population growth causes not rendered useless and inaccessible all the imaginary gains?

Yes every Tom Dick or Harry has access to phones but have the available facilities translated into effective service provision? The answer is a big No. 65 years on, electricity supply to our homes remains on by which band you belong to. A B C or D. Is this something we must be proud of? Does this happen in the developed climes?

Today 65 years after independence, our school system can not contain all our children of school-going age. It is a known fact that 2,000 students in our higher institutions do receive learning in halls meant to sit just about 500 people at a go! The students when they come out can’t access jobs for years and so have to japa in the end.

There is insecurity in the land. Everywhere there is strife, there is disappointment hunger,thirst, frustration and killings. No where is safe today.Yet in 1960 to the 1980 years one could travel the length and breadth of our country without blinking an eye.We had factories that produced or assembled cars,produced batteries brake pads and tyres. Food was very available.

We lived a life of being our brother’s keeper. The poor could eat and did not have to beg nor play tricks to live. Are we not worse at 65 years ago? We all are, except those in the corridors of political power and Yahoo Yahoo practitioners.

The presidency’s rather dismissive reaction to Dr Akinwumi Adesina’s very clear statement of fact is rather worrisome. We conclude by stating that Dr Adesina is right; but the presidency’s reaction is very wrong. Ethics as moral principles show how people should conduct themselves in social affairs.

Ethics ensure the imposition of obligations on us as public functionaries to refrain from doing or saying whatever things are wrong. Our Presidential Aides must learn to study and develop ethical standards. They must try to live up to reasonable and solidly based conducts.

They must refrain from being often time economical with the truth.They will do this by accepting to stand by the truth always
and be able able to stand on the side of the people they have been invited to serve.

Smolette Adetoyese Shittu-Alamu
Osogbo.Former Director of news osun state broadcasting corporation

By Tunde Olusunle

He turned 70 on Monday May 5, 2025. A thanksgiving service and celebration of the landmark, however, have been scheduled for early June 2025, in Benin City, capital of Edo State, his birthplace. The city is a peculiar cosmopolis steeped in very rich history, confounding myth, even curious mysticism. For those of us who come several decades down the calendar of time with him, his latter day appellations and honorifics are novel to us. The job mobility of my parents precipitated the relocation of our family from Kaduna, capital of the primordial “North Central State,” to Benin City, capitol of the old “Midwestern State,” back in 1972. My father headed the Kaduna branch of “Livestock Feeds Ltd,” which was then a subsidiary of the primordial “Pfizer Nigeria Ltd.” My mother was a nurse and midwife in the employ of the “North Central State Health Management Board.” Our first address was at “Second East Circular Road,” Benin City.

As our family grew, we sought bigger residential facility in the “New Benin District” at the time. Mid-1975, we moved over to “Eresoyen Street,” adjoining “Oziegbe Street” into a property owned by the Uzamere family. The world was a much better place, the Uzameres received us not as lessees of their property, but as extensions of the clan. For *Iye,* Madam Izegbuwa Lucy Uzamere, matriarch of their dynasty, my siblings and I, were as well her children. *Iye’s* eldest child, Osaheni Uzamere, seasoned administrator and subsequently attorney was the head of the family. He took to me specifically because he was an alumnus of the revered Immaculate Conception College, (ICC), Benin City, where I also had my secondary school education. The Uzamere family was predominantly populated by boys. Albert, the youngest of *Iye’s* children was my direct contemporary. We proceeded apace in our various secondary schools. Immediately above Albert was George, who was next to Ehigie.

Long settled out there in the United States of America, (USA), was Ehigie’s immediate elder brother, John, (now of blessed memory). Humphrey and Wellington, half brothers to Ehigie were regularly around. Ehigie was something like the unofficial “head boy” within that space. We all deferred to him which culminated in our christening him *Bro Ehigie.* Despite our sociocultural diversities, Ehigie Uzamere showed leadership amongst us the boys in the house. He was interested in our academic performances and regularly sought updates about our tests and examinations. He would usually call for our answer sheets and report cards. He spotted my proficiency in English language and Literature-in-English and would admonish us on knowledge-sharing. Bro Ehigie soon joined John Uzamere in the US and swore to convince my parents to allow me join him once he was settled. To be sure, he secured admission for me at the State University of New York, (SUNY), not too long after, on the strength of my academic transcripts. I later posted a Division One performance with distinctions in the West African School Certificate Examination, (WASCE) O’Level which I wrote at age 15. My parents feared I was too young to live out of their sight, all by myself at that age, if I was allowed to go abroad.

Ehigie Uzamere visited home fairly often. From his luggage whenever he came, we gleaned the albums of new and current foreign musical releases. My first physical and auditory encounters with the works of many foreign artists those good old days were from Bro Ehigie’s collections. These include releases by *Ray Parker Jnr;* *Diana Ross; Al Hudson and One Way;* *Sugarhill Gang;* *Bill Summers and Summers Heat;* *Brothers Johnson,* “Stomp;” *Prince,* “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” *Michael Jackson’s* “Off the Wall” and so on. Usually when he holidayed in Benin City, he was hosted to a few gigs by his friends. We the younger troupe would dress our best and tag along with him. My parents were ultra-strict with the rules, especially those years when one was still a precocious early teen. Bro Ehigie’s name, however, could avail you some latitude.

In 1980, my family relocated to Ilorin in Kwara State. After several years in the “diaspora” within the Nigerian context, my parents thought we should gravitate homewards. Telephony was not anywhere as sophisticated as it is today, but somehow, I kept in touch with Benin City. Across the road from the Uzamere’s, were the Ehigators, a family very close to ours. Osabuohien Ehigiator, (may his soul rest in peace) was my very good friend and schoolmate. Through him and members of his family, I was able to stay in touch with our mutual friends in Benin City. After qualifying as an architect in the US, Ehigie Uzamere went against the grain. Whereas many Nigerians who had the opportunity of foreign sojourn opted to stay back in the countries where they schooled, Uzamere returned home. He believed he could contribute to the development of his home country, despite the privilege of dual citizenship.

He underwent the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) with the Bendel Development and Property Authority, (BPDA), which retained his services upon the completion of the exercise. Not too long after, he opted for self-employment and established a chain of private firms with interests in architecture and building; procurement; medical and pharmaceutical hardware; water processing and broadcasting. He ventured into politics and was elected Senator representing Edo South in 2007, and reelected for a second term in 2011. He made history as the first parliamentarian to be elected on the platforms of two different political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria, (ACN), in Edo State. During his stint in the federal parliament, he helped reposition his senatorial district at the core of national politics. No more the sidelining, the intentional marginalisation of Edo South in the national scheme.

Working with amenable political leaders from his catchment, he galvanised support for the appointment of one of his constituents as Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin. It was the very first time in the life of the institution. He equally anchored the recognition of one of his own as Chief Executive of the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, (NIFOR), which is domiciled in his senatorial district. In all of these, Uzamere remains renowned for his politics of civility. Not for him the lawlessness, thuggery and violence which typify our politics in parts. You needed to experience his connectedness with the grassroots, the way he was adulated one of those days he picked me up from the airport in Benin City. He is known by a large percentage of the commuter operators in the place and seamlessly code-switched to *Bini* language as he engaged with them. Don’t be surprised when Ehigie Uzamere and I converse in particular ways in pidgin English. We have peculiar expressions understood only by initiates.

Uzamere’s greatest source of joy, happiness and fulfilment is his beautiful family. He has been married to his very homely wife, Iriagbonse Irowa, for 43 years. The union has been blessed by God with many children and grandchildren. He has a pet name for each of his children even as he eternally dotes on his grandchildren. He never misses any opportunity to have his family congregate under one roof, in his homes, in Benin City, Abuja or Atlanta, especially during festivities. He would spontaneously set up photo shoots for his grandchildren. Contentment and gratitude are typically writ large on his visage. You get the feeling that he would most happily build an expansive palace, bordered by the same perimeters so he could wake up each morning and tour each family unit to see just how everyone is faring.

Uzamere’s loyalty to friendship is phenomenal. In rain or sunshine, he sticks with you. Despite suspicions of the serial subversions of popular will by the nation’s foremost electoral midwife in the 2019 and 2023 presidential elections, he has stuck with his preferred candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, through thick and thin. When he is not on Atiku’s entourage, Uzamere would be on the delegation to receive Atiku at the airport, irrespective of the time of the day. He is not given to prevarication, he’s never on the fence on issues. He takes a position and stays with it. He will remind you that at his age and stature as an elder statesman, it is far too late for him to play the chameleon.

I savoured a meal of home-made rice for dinner with him on one of my visits. It came, wrapped in green leaves, restating Uzamere’s uncommon earthiness, despite his established cosmopolitanism. As I ran out of stew for my meal, he simply picked up my serving of the rice and moved the content into the stew. He remarked in pidgin English: *When soup no plenty again, just transfer the food inside the soup bowl,* he lectured me with an accompanying smile. Uzamere is in the constant business of self-development. He once told me, not too long ago, that he had registered for a masters degree in business administration. I asked why he went back to school. He reminded that former President Olusegun Obasanjo who I worked with, returned to the classroom after being the nation’s leader for two terms, in his 70s.

This is celebrating with a longstanding brother, Ehigie Edobor Uzamere, as he joins the privileged ranks of septuagenarians and wishing him many more years in good health.

*Tunde Olusunle, PhD, Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), is an Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Abuja*