By Prof Mike Ozekhome

The silence before the gong

When a great Iroko falls, it does not do so quietly. It thunders in the forest.

I was sipping coffee that morning as the world was yet wrapped in its festive linen. Eid al-Adha, the celebration of obedience and the commemoration of Abraham (Ibrahim)’ willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to God’s command, had brought families together under canopies of roasted ram, plenty food, laughter and spiritual rejuvenation. And then a friend called me to announce, “Justice Mohammed LawalUwais has passed on.” The words staggered out of my phone like a wounded gazelle. For a moment, I thought it was a mistake. Not because Justice Uwais was too young to die. No. After all, life expectancy in Nigeria is only 61.2 for men and 62.6 for women, all below the global average of 73.3.So while the acclaimed Jurist was not too young to die, he was certainly too good to die. Just like that. My humble submission.

Justice Uwais had exited the stage quietly without pomp and without pageantry just days shy of turning 89. So his was surely a long life, certainly, outpacing that of the average Nigerian male. Yet, no arithmetic can capture the fullness of a life lived in rigour and relevance such as that of Uwais. As the Hausa would say: “Mutuwa ba ta da rana”, meaning that ‘death does not have a fixed day’. But his felt symbolically placed, almost divinely arranged.

To die during the sacred season of Eid al-Adha when souls are softened, when the air is filled with remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice was itself a testament to Uwais’ fulfilled life. It was a sign that suggested he had made peace with his maker and thus the time when Almighty Allah had chosen the hour to welcome back a faithful servant.

AND TRULY, WAS HE NOT A STEWARD?

This man, who walked into the Supreme Court at a mere 43, not merely young but burning with judicial fire, would sit on the bench for decades. By 1995, he had become the Chief Justice of Nigeria. He held that seat, the very apex of Nigerian justice, for 11 formidable years, the second-longest tenure in the nation’s apex history, following the 14 years spent by the longest serving CJN, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola ( 1958-1972). Uwais was not just a judge. He was the Judge; a Judge’s Judge. Uwais did not just jump into the seat of the CJN. He had pupilaged, servingpatiently under 5 whole CJNs- Hon. Justices Darnley Alexander; Atanda Fatayi- Williams; George SodeindeSowemo; Ayo Gabriel Irikefe; and Mohammed Bello.

In the ancient Ashanti kingdoms of West Africa, elders would say, “When the drumbeat changes, the dance must also change.” It is the same adage in my Uvhanolanguage in Etsako, Edo State. And Justice Uwaiscame drumming a new rhythm into the judiciary. Law was not for theatrics. Law to him, was a sacred text, precise, divine, unyielding. A thing to be revered, not wielded like a cudgel. He did not just apply laws. He understood their soul. Calm with penetrating eyes and sharp wit, Uwais was a pleasure to appear before at the apex court. And I did so many times. He would never harass nor talk down on a Counsel, not even junior ones. His humility and respect for the Bar were legendary.

There was a certain meticulousness to his rulings, an almost surgical devotion to jurisprudence. He would dance between the lines of legislation, looking out for justice, with a clarity and erudition that reminded one of sunlight on steel. And he had the rare gift of seeing the implications, not just the letter, but the heartbeat of the law. With him, a lawyer could easily know the outcome of his case based on available precedents. He saw law as the handmaid with which justice is delivered (Bello v AG, Oyo State (19686) 5 NWLR 820 (SC); (1986) CLR 12(b)( SC).

And when he spoke, the courtroom held its breath. This was no ordinary Jurist. This was the son of the Chief Alkali and later Waziri of Zaria emirate. Nobility ran through his veins, but humility shaped his demeanourand persona.

He often quoted legendary Justice Samson Uwaifo(JSC)’s memorable words at his valedictory speech, “A corrupt judge is more harmful to society than a man who runs amok with a dagger in a crowded street. The latter can be restrained physically, but a corrupt judge deliberately destroys the moral foundation of society and causes incalculable distress to individuals through abusing his office, while still being referred to as honourable.” And this was not some offhand remark. It was a creed for him. He lived it. Believed it. Fought for it. It was not a speech given to hyperbole. It was truth wrapped in fire.

For a Judge is not just a man in robes. A Judge is the final arbiter in the face of injustice. He sits between God and his fellow beings. A corrupt judge does not merely break laws. He breaks people. He breaks morals. He breaks society. He breaks the future. Justice Uwais, thankfully, did none of these.

THE JUDGE WHO SAW TOMORROW

In the vast drama of Nigerian politics, an ever-rolling masquerade of power and promises, one name will never be forgotten: Mohammed Lawal Uwais. Why? Because after retirement, when he could have retreated into quiet gardens to write memoirs, he chose instead to lead a silent revolution.

President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had called upon him to chair the Presidential Committee on Electoral Reforms. It was in 2007, and Nigeria’s democracy was haemorrhaging. Elections that brought in Yar’Adua as president had been marred by fraud, violence and brazen manipulation. And like the prophet who warns his people not out of anger but out of love, the now late Justice Uwais stepped forward and accepted the challenge.

The committee’s recommendations were not timid revisions. They were seismic. Audacious. Brave. Revolutionary.

They proposed unbundling of INEC and to emerge from its stable, three brand-new commissions to handle Electoral Offences, Constituency Delimitation, and Political Party Registration. These were responsibilities hitherto buried within INEC, that sacred cow of electoral hopes, but which has serially dashed Nigeria’s hopes.

The boldest recommendation perhaps? That the head of INEC should no longer be appointed by the President, but by the Judiciary.

It was a direct shot at the veins of partisanship, to remove it from Executive control of the president. Unsurprisingly, the corridors of power shuddered. The result? Yar’Adua rejected it. Others danced around it. But Justice Uwais stood his ground, steady as a Baobab tree.

“Let justice be done though the heavens fall,” the old Romans said. And Justice Uwais would certainly have agreed.

In time, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan did something unexpected: he dusted off the unedited Uwais Report and sent it, unaltered to the National Assembly. A rare moment of political courage. It was as though the ghost of the law had whispered in his ear: “Do not fear. Do right.” But the battle raged. Senators balked. “Separation of powers!”, they cried. “Letting the judiciary appoint INEC chair compromises neutrality!”, they argued. Asif appointment by the President was not itself the greatest show of partially.

Justice Uwais watched. He did not yell. He did not rage. He let the report speak. For true men of wisdom do not throw stones. They plant seeds. And watch them grow. Today, even though the report saw little fragments implemented, its endearing impact remains undeniable. It has ever since shaped national discourse and conversation on electoral matters. It was a case of “res ipsa loquitur”. It framed new expectations. It was not just a document, it was a mirror through which we were to see ourselves during elections. And Nigeria saw herself in her full nakedness, watts and all, perhaps for the first time, without her make-belief makeup.

OF DUST, LEGACIES AND THE QUIET ROAD HOME

The Holy Qur’an says in Surah Al-Baqarah(2:286): “Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear.” And surely, Allah knew what He was doing when He burdened Justice Uwais with the weight of the Nigerian judiciary. Not all men can sit on the edge of power and not be seduced by the corrosive power of power. Uwais was not. Not all men can dwell among the many rogues within the larger society and still remain robed in white. Uwais was.

UWAIS’ TENDER FEET

Justice Uwais’s formative years set the stage for his distinguished career. Born in Zaria on the 12th of June, 1936, he was raised in a family with strong roots in education and leadership. In 1950, Uwais advanced to Zaria Middle School and later attended the prestigious Barewa College in Zaria.

His legal journey took him to the Institute of Administration at Ahmadu Bello University, followed by studies in England, where he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1963 and admitted to the Nigerian Bar on January 17, 1964.

In 1973, Justice Uwais was appointed Acting Judge of the High Courts of North Central, Benue-Plateau, and North Eastern States of Nigeria. His judicial career continued its upward trajectory as he became a substantive Judge in 1974; briefly served as the Chief Judge of Kaduna State in 1976, and was elevated to the Federal Court of Appeal in 1977. At just 43, he became a member of Nigeria’s Supreme Court, where he served for 27 years and his legal acumen shone. As at today, no Justice of the Supreme Court has ever spent, close to the over 3 decades he served.

A SUPREME BAPTISM OF FIRE

Still very fresh at the court, Uwais was invited by the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice AtandaFatai-Willlams to join the panel that decided the appeal which today is a cause célèbre. This was because Justice George S. Sowemimo who later became a CJN himself declined to be part of the panel. His excuse was that he convicted Awolowo in the 1960’s in the then Western Region. Uniquely, Uwais also holds the honour of being the first Alumnus of the Nigerian Law School to have occupied the exalted position of CJNand the first Chief Justice of Nigeria to retire at 70.

As Chief Justice of Nigeria, Uwais was known for his professionalism, impartiality, and dedication to the rule of law. He was instrumental in reshaping the Nigerian judiciary and strengthening public confidence in the justice system. His efforts to establish a full complement of 16 Justices of the Supreme Court, which improved the court’s ability to manage cases efficiently, were pivotal. He also introduced new court sitting arrangements, which included special sittings at the beginning of the legal year and the swearing-in of new Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

EVEN AFTER RETIRING, UWAIS’S COMMITMENT TO NATIONAL PROGRESS DID NOT WANE

Even after retiring, Uwais’s commitment to national progress did not wane.

In 2002, he expanded the political space by allowing the registration of new political parties, an act that electrified democratic possibilities. He served as Chairman of the Federal Judicial Service Commission from 1999 to 2006, the very engine room of Nigeria’s legal bureaucracy. And in all these years, he remained untouched by scandal. Untouched by corruption.Unmoved by politics. But unyielding in character and dignity. And then came 6th June, 2025, and he breathes his final breath. But let no one say he died. Say instead he went home.

The African proverbs tell us that when a lion dies, the forest mourns for seven days. For Justice Uwais, the forest may mourn for seventy. They say in Yoruba lands, “Eni ba ku, ki a ma fi oro e se eré.” meaning ‘When a man dies, his name should not become a joke’. Let his deeds speak. Let the winds echo his memory. Let the heavens blaze forth his legacy.

Forever, Uwais’ deeds are engraved in rulings and judgements; in judicial and political reforms; in the minds of generations of Nigerian lawyers who studied his judgements the way others study scripture. And for the skeptics, the cynics who say one man cannot change a nation, I offer Justice Uwais.

He did not make speeches on podiums. He simply wrote judgements. He signed reports. He told truth to power in long lonely corridors. He was a light. Incandescent. Not flamboyant, but persistent.

HE WAS A LIGHT INCANDESCENT; NOT FLAMBOYANT, BUT PRESENT

An illuminating light in a country too often plunged into judicial darkness. While Uwais was a Judge’s Judge, he has now returned to his maker, the JUDGE OF ALL JUDGES. The One before whom robes, bibs,collars, studs and gavels are meaningless, and only sincerity and nobility stand. Sir, you served your nation faithfully with every fibre in you. Now, rest in perfect peace, unburdened by Nigeria ‘s spirally problems.May Allah forgive your earthly sins and grant you Al-Jannah Firdausi. Amin.

Ozekhome is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights activist

By Sonny Aragba-Akpore

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sustainable development by 2030 is being threatened.

Reasons?Carbon emissions are on the rise and May further increase thereby reducing the speed of development as the problem had to be addressed and threats removed to gain momentum in the growth of ICT.

Inspite of the manifest progress recorded so far in the efforts to bridge the digital divide especially in connecting the unconnected 2.6B population that is offline,carbon emissions remain a drawback.

Global ICT regulator,the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is worried and says so in clear terms that unless urgent remedies are put in place,ICT sustainable development may remain a pipe dream.

The ITU is particularly worried about the place of Artificial Intelligence (AI) despite its beauty in the growth of the sector.

“Advances in digital innovation — especially Artificial Intelligence (AI) are driving up energy consumption and global emissions,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “While more must be done to shrink the tech sector’s footprint, the latest Greening Digital Companies report shows that industry understands the challenge — and that continued progress depends on sustaining momentum together.”

In Geneva,Switzerland the ITU released a report On June 5,2025,saying the

“tech sector carbon emissions continued their rise in recent years, fueled by rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and data infrastructure”citing Greening Digital Companies 2025 report.

The report, produced by the ITU and the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA), tracks the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy use, and climate commitments of 200 leading digital companies as of 2023, the most recent year for which full data is available.

While the yearly report calls on digital companies to address their growing environmental footprint, it also indicates encouraging progress.

Worldwide, more companies had set emissions targets, sourced renewable energy and aligned with science-based frameworks.

According to the latest edition of the report, electricity consumption by data centres— which power AI development and deployment, among other uses — increased by 12 per cent each year from 2017 to 2023, four times faster than global electricity growth.

Four leading AI-focused companies alone saw their operational emissions increase in the reporting period by 150 per cent on average since 2020. This rise in energy that is either produced or purchased – known as Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions – underscores the urgent need to manage AI’s environmental impact.

In total, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions reported by the 166 digital companies covered by the report contributed 0.8 per cent of all global energy-related emissions in 2023.

The 164 digital companies that reported electricity consumption accounted for 2.1 per cent of global electricity use, at 581 terawatt-hours (TWh), with 10 companies responsible for half of this total.

“Digital companies have the tools and influence to lead the global climate transition, but progress must be measured not only by ambition, but by credible action,” said Lourdes O. Montenegro, Director of Research and Digitisation at WBA. “This report provides a clear signal to the international community: more companies are stepping up, but emissions and electricity use continues to rise.”

“The Greening Digital Companies report has become a vital tool in tracking the climate footprint of the tech sector,” said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. “Despite the progress made, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, confirming that​​ the need for digital companies to adopt science-aligned, transparent, and accountable climate strategies has never been greater. ITU’s work in monitoring the environmental impact of the sector is a crucial step towards achieving a sustainable digital transformation.”
ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau is working with regulators, statisticians, academics, and industry experts to define indicators that support national GHG monitoring and data-driven action through the Expert Group on Telecommunication/ICT Indicators.

As the COP30 UN climate conference approaches, ITU’s Green Digital Action aims to ensure that updated climate pledges and adaptation plans will fully reflect the complete impacts of digital technologies.

Although emissions continued their rise, Greening Digital Companies 2025 highlights steps taken by many tech firms that suggest a strengthening of transparency and accountability.
Eight companies scored above 90 per cent in the report’s climate commitment assessment on data disclosure, targets and performance. This is up from just three in last year’s report.
“For the first time, the report includes data on companies’ progress toward meeting climate targets and realizing stated net-zero ambitions. Almost half of the companies assessed had committed to achieving net-zero emissions, with 41 firms targeting 2050 and 51 aiming for earlier deadlines.” the report stated.

Other trends among the 200 digital companies featured in the report include:
Renewable energy adoption where 23 companies operated on 100 per cent renewable energy in 2023, up from 16 in 2022.
On dedicated climate reporting,49 companies released standalone climate reports, signaling greater transparency.
Scope 3 consideration highlighted the number of companies publishing targets on indirect emissions from supply chains and product use rose from 73 to 110, showing increasing awareness of industry impacts.

A call for bold, collaborative and immediate action highlights how the tech sector can ensure long-term digital sustainability, according to the joint ITU-WBA report and recommends that companies:
.Strengthen data verification, target ambition and climate reporting, including by publishing climate transition action plans.;
.Disclose the full environmental footprint of their AI operations.;
.Foster cross-sector collaboration among tech firms, energy producers and environmental advocates, alongside industry initiatives to drive accelerated digital decarbonization and
Keep accelerating renewable energy adoption.

Industry reports indicate that
“two months after its release in November 2022, OpenAI’s ChatGPT had 100 million active users, and suddenly tech corporations were racing to offer the public more “generative A.I.” Pundits compared the new technology’s impact to the Internet, or electrification, or the Industrial Revolution — or the discovery of fire.

“Time will sort hype from reality, but one consequence of the explosion of artificial intelligence is clear: this technology’s environmental footprint is large and growing.”

A.I. use is directly responsible for carbon emissions from non-renewable electricity and for the consumption of millions of gallons of fresh water, and it indirectly boosts impacts from building and maintaining the power-hungry equipment on which A.I. runs. As tech companies seek to embed high-intensity A.I. into everything from resume-writing to kidney transplant medicine and from choosing dog food to climate modeling, they cite many ways A.I. could help reduce humanity’s environmental footprint. But legislators, regulators, activists, and international organizations now want to make sure the benefits aren’t outweighed by A.I.’s mounting hazards.

“The development of the next generation of A.I. tools cannot come at the expense of the health of our planet,” Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey (D) said last week in Washington, after he and other senators and representatives introduced a bill that would require the federal government to assess A.I.’s current environmental footprint and develop a standardized system for reporting future impacts. Similarly, the European Union’s “A.I. Act,” approved by member states last week, will require “high-risk A.I. systems” (which include the powerful “foundation models” that power ChatGPT and similar A.I.s) to report their energy consumption, resource use, and other impacts throughout their systems’ lifecycle. The EU law takes effect next year.
In September 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was agreed at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. This new framework for international cooperation to promote sustainable development between 2015 and 2030 is composed of 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 Targets. The new agenda, which succeeds the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), was defined through a Member State-led process with broad participation from major groups and civil society stakeholders.
In March 2015, at its 46th session, the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) created an Inter-agency and Expert Group on SDGs (IAEG-SDGs), composed of Member States and including regional and international agencies as observers, to provide a proposal of a global indicator framework (and associated global and universal indicators).
In March 2016, at its 47th session, the UNSC agreed on the global indicator framework, which will help monitor progress, identify challenges, and guide policy makers. The data for the 132 indicators included in this framework will be an essential part in the ambitious plan to eliminate poverty and hunger, protect the planet, combat inequalities and build peaceful, just and inclusive societies over the next 15 years. The data will also provide the basis for a yearly UN progress report.
The Commission agreed that this framework would be a practical starting point and that the indicators included in the framework would require further technical refinements.

By Tunde Olusunle

It is the period of “midterm” assessment by Nigeria’s politicians and public officers inaugurated into four-year offices as stipulated by the Nigerian constitution as enunciated in 1999. The first quarter of every quadrennial, every four years that is, is usually the regular electoral season when presidential, gubernatorial, national and state elections, are all held. A midterm review in our electoral circumstances therefore relates to elections held within the stipulated season in 2023. In the course of the continuing evolution of Nigeria’s 26-year old Fourth Republic, judicial adjudication in contentious gubernatorial polls in select states, have precipitated “off cycle” elections in eight states. These are: Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun states. The trend is more noticed in Nigeria’s South where seven states are involved.

Thursday May 29, 2025, Nigerians were awakened by the broadcast of President Bola Tinubu. He highlighted the achievements of his administration within the “first half” of his four-year mandate, 2023 – 2025. Governors of 28 states who were equally elected during the window of the scheduled cycle of national polls in 2023, have also been tendering their spreadsheets before their electors. Senators and Members of the House of Representatives have not been left behind in stewardship accountability. The probing eyes of their people, whose ears have been apprised of the volume of resources made available to them by the state, has triggered renewed expectations in service delivery, across the land. They therefore want to hear from the mouths of their ambassadors in the bicameral national parliament.

I’ve regularly interrogated the endeavours of federal legislators, including some from Kogi State. Indeed, Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe and Austin Akobundu, both from Abia State, feature amongst my subjects, same way as Leke Abejide and Dickson Tarkighir, Members Representing Yagba and Makurdi/Guma federal constituencies in Kogi and Benue states. I am from Kogi, the “confluence state” where Nigeria’s two largest rivers, the Niger and Benue are conjoined. I therefore have residual knowledge of the state. Developments across the state, my senatorial district and my federal constituency, expectedly are of prime importance to me. I should note here, that my post – National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) working life began as a schoolteacher in a primordial rural community, *Ponyan,* in my local government area, Yagba East, within my present day federal constituency. In the course of my career in journalism, I was recalled on a number of occasions, to avail my state, Kogi State, of my experiences.

I was privileged to serve in the administrations of Prince Abubakar Audu, (of evergreen memory); Colonel Paul Omeruo and Colonel Bzigu Afakirya, (who, sadly, is no longer with us). I toured Kogi State, severally and serially, around and about with my various Principals. Every new chief executive desired speedy acquaintance with his people to filter their challenges and needs. This was usually with a view to providing speedy, spontaneous succour and remediation, which could be provided or executed within the limits of available resources at the time. State budgets those good old were not like today’s dizzying 10-digit billions, nay the scarier trillions. We travelled, with Audu, Omeruo and Afakirya, majorly by road. We equally crossed the River Niger with pontoons in instances, notably between Lokoja the state capital and Shintaku in Bassa local government area in Kogi East. We toured all the 21 local government areas in the state again and again and again. You will be correct to say that I know the state like the “lines on the palms of my hands,” deriving from the age old Yoruba proverb.

Saturday June 7, 2025, the Senator representing Kogi West District, Sunday Karimi, took his turn at the lectern, in the spirit of representational report. The venue was the Kogi State Secretariat of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, (NUJ), which hosted him in Lokoja. Karimi had with him generous quantities of a 20-page commemorative newspaper, *The Crusader,* with the cover page lead headline: *Sunday Steve Karimi: A Two-Year Harvest of Achievements.* The tabloid, copies of which were freely distributed to his audience, captured his multisectoral endeavours in words and visuals, as verifiable testament to impactful performance. He received applause from his listeners some of whom were either direct beneficiaries of his initiatives, or who could attest to the genuineness of his claims.

Karimi in recent months has sought to advance the argument for the establishment of a federal university in the Okun-speaking area of his catchment. Advocacy for the upgrading of the *College of Agriculture Kabba,* affiliated to the Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria, to the status of a university, has been on the front burner of parliamentary discourse over time and season. Successive federal parliamentarians from Okunland have repeatedly foregrounded the quest and
Karimi has since joined in the push. To be sure, Member Representing Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu federal constituency between 2011 and 2023, Tajudeen Yusuf, once ensured the passage of the Bill by the “Green Chambers.” Other Okun-blooded representatives, notably Salman Idris, successor to Yusuf; Leke Abejide, second-term representative of Yagba federal constituency, and Biodun Faleke, representing the Ikeja, (in Lagos State) federal constituency, are also on the case. More recently, they collaborated to ensure the passage of the same Bill by the House of Representatives, in 2024.

Karimi’s immediate predecessor in the Senate, Smart Adeyemi, a three-term Senator, advanced the Bill to the third reading, during his sojourn in the ninth assembly. Dino Melaye before him, progressed the same document to the phase of its second reading. The Bill has also profited from the enthusiasm of Okun elements in the bureaucracy of the National Assembly. Whenever it is eventually birthed, it could well be designated a *Federal University of Agriculture,* just like those in Abeokuta, Akure, Makurdi, Ishiagu, Umuahia, and so on. Such calibration of the envisioned university, will fast-track Nigeria’s food sufficiency and food security desires, given the sheer expanse of arable land in Kogi State. At the same time, Karimi believes that Egbe, his hometown, where the old *Sudan Interior Misson, (SIM)* built a hospital which once served as a referral facility, can be stepped up into a *Federal University of Medicine and Medical Sciences.* Given the unquenchable thirst of Karimi’s constituents and people from adjoining states for university education, both universities will be well served by applicants and students.

In a gesture which shocked his listeners at his media interface, Karimi spoke of his plans to further ameliorate the blood pressures of parents struggling to meet up with the school fees of their children and wards. Recalling bursary scheme which he initiated in 2024, Karimi said the programme will be sustained this year, and would indeed be extended to the other senatorial zones. According to him, “Last year, I made N100m available for the 85 electoral wards in Kogi West, which provided bursaries of N100,000 each to 1000 recipients.” Continuing, Karimi said: “We are expanding the scope henceforth. We will be making available N139m to Kogi West this year, in response to the applause and appreciation which greeted the experimental disbursement. We have 96 wards across the nine local government areas in Kogi East and my office will be making available the sum of N100m to be disbursed evenly at N100,000 per student. There are 57 wards in Kogi Central and my office will be availing that zone N61m, to be appropriated along the lines of our existing template. He summed up that the expansion of his direct philanthropy by way of bursary awards to students in tertiary institutions this year would cost N300m.

Karimi equally wants to help temper the challenges encountered by Nigerian youths, in finding centres where to participate in the recently instituted *Computer Based Tests, (CBT),* by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB). He believes the present arrangement which prescribes CBT centres for his people in other senatorial zones or neighbouring states is not good enough. He is active in the renovation of the archival library of his alma mater, *Titcombe College,* Egbe for this purpose and has procured 275 laptops. Alumni of the iconic institution include literary giants like Emeritus Olu Obafemi, and the much younger sadly departed Pius Adesanmi who was Obafemi’s student at the University of Ilorin. He is equally providing a 30Kva solar powered inverter; securing the library; internet connectivity and installation of a 45Kva diesel-powered generator, to activate the centre. Karimi is equally upgrading the water system of Titcombe College to make for improved learning conditions for youths in his district. He tells you that his intervention in giving a face-lift to his old school, will cost him close to N200m.

Beyond these figures, however, is the conscientiousness of Sunday Karimi in helping to build the educational capacities of his people as the key to unlocking a promising future. He has intentionally differed from the style of some of his colleagues, in his chosen approach to empowering his folks. The social media regularly features politicians in parts of the country who prefer to sit on the balconies of their country homes, flipping currency notes to people in their premises who scrounge and scramble to pick up the monies. Such crass display of vainglorious opulence, such weaponisation of poverty. The automobile garages of many such parliamentarians and public officers overflow with current, exotic, expensive vehicles they may never ride in several years, maybe a lifetime. Yet, the roads to their communities look like prototypes out of Somalia or South Sudan.

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