Ukraine long-range strikes into Russia won't be a game changer, U.S. says

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cautioned on Friday there was "no one capability" that would turn the war in Ukraine in Kyiv's favour after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the West to let his forces use its long-range weapons to strike Russia.

At a regular meeting of Ukraine's allies at Ramstein U.S. Air Base in Germany, Zelenskiy repeated his plea for Western nations to supply more long-range missiles and lift restrictions on using them to hit targets such as airfields inside Russia.

Austin said Washington and its allies would continue to give strong support to Ukraine in fighting Russia's invasion, announcing another $250 million in U.S. security assistance.

But, questioned by reporters, the Pentagon chief pushed back on the idea that allowing deep strikes inside Russia with Western weapons would be a game-changer.

He said Russia had already moved aircraft that launch glide bombs into Ukraine beyond the range of U.S.-supplied ATACM missiles.

"There's no one capability that will in and of itself be decisive in this campaign," Austin told reporters at the end of the meeting.

He also said Ukraine had capabilities of its own - such as drones - to hit targets inside Russia that were beyond the reach of ATACM and British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

"There are a lot of targets in Russia - big country, obviously," Austin said. "And there's a lot of capability that Ukraine has in terms of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and other things to address those targets."

Among other donations, Germany pledged to supply an additional 12 self-propelled howitzers to Kyiv, while Canada said it planned to send 80,840 surplus small unarmed air-to-surface rockets as well as 1,300 warheads in the coming months.

Zelenskiy made his first appearance at a Ramstein meeting at an important moment in the 2-1/2-year-old war.

Ukrainian forces have made a surprise offensive into Russia's Kursk region even as Russian forces focus on seizing the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, a logistics hub for Kyiv's war effort.

"We need to have this long-range capability not only on the occupied territory of Ukraine, but also on Russian territory, yes, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace," Zelenskiy said, in remarks that drew support from countries including Baltic nations Lithuania and Estonia.

'RED LINES'

Zelenskiy has long pushed back against allies who have supplied long-range weapons but told Kyiv they cannot use them deep inside Russia for fear of instigating a direct conflict between the West and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

In his remarks on Friday at Ramstein, Zelenskiy said: "Russia's attempts to draw red lines simply do not work."

The talks in Germany came as Americans prepare for a November presidential election that could have major implications for Ukraine. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, has promised to stand with Ukraine.

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, has vowed to resolve the Ukraine war immediately on taking office with possible peace talks that might require Kyiv to cede territory. Trump and many of his supporters are skeptical of the billions of dollars in aid Biden's administration has poured into Ukraine's war effort.

At Ramstein, Austin gave statistics on the toll the war has taken on Russian forces, estimating more than 350,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded. He said Ukrainian forces have sunk, destroyed, or damaged 32 Russian Navy vessels and pushed Russia's Black Sea Fleet further east.

Zelenskiy said that about 6,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded in Ukraine's Kursk offensive.

"Today we control an area of more than 1,300 square kilometres in the Kursk region and this includes 100 settlements," Zelenskiy said, adding that a large part of that territory was abandoned by Russian troops.

But Moscow has also been pounding cities across Ukraine with missiles and drones in some of its largest attacks since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,

"The number of air defence systems that have not yet been delivered is significant," Zelenskiy said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian losses: situation in Kursk Region

The Ukrainian armed forces lost up to 300 military personnel and 12 pieces of equipment over the day in the Kursk Region, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.

In total, the enemy has lost over 10,400 servicemen since fighting began in the region.

The Russian military repelled two attacks by enemy assault groups towards Matveyevka and Olgovka, and foiled Ukrainian attempts to attack three settlements.

TASS has gathered the key news about the unfolding situation.

Operation to neutralize Ukrainian forces

- Units of the battlegroup North, backed by army aviation and artillery fire, repelled two attacks by enemy assault groups towards the settlements of Matveyevka and Olgovka over the day.

- The Russian military also foiled Ukraine's attempts to attack Borki, Komarovka and Maryevka.

- Enemy accumulations of manpower and military hardware were struck near the settlements of Apanasovka, Borki, Vishnevka, Vnezapnoye, Gordeyevka, Kruglenkoye, Kazachya Loknya, Kositsa, Leonidovo, Martynovka, Malaya Loknya, Novoivanovka, Novaya Sorochina and Snagost in the Kursk Region.

- Russian jets struck Ukrainian reserves and armored vehicles in 15 settlements of the Sumy Region.

Ukraine's losses

- Over the day, Ukraine lost up to 300 servicemen and 12 armored vehicles, including two armored personnel carriers and 10 armored combat vehicles. Two artillery guns, a radar station and 14 vehicles were also destroyed.

- Since the beginning of hostilities, Ukraine’s losses have amounted to more than 10,400 troops, 81 tanks, 41 infantry fighting vehicles, 74 armored personnel carriers, 599 armored combat vehicles, 339 vehicles, 76 artillery pieces, 24 multiple rocket launchers, including seven M142 HIMARS and five US-made M270 MLRS, eight anti-aircraft missile launchers, two transport-loading vehicles, 19 electronic warfare stations, seven counter-battery radars, two air defense radars, eight pieces of engineering equipment, including two engineering demolition vehicles and a UR-77 demining unit.

Elections

- The Kursk Region Election Commission has decided to ban people from taking pictures or shooting video at polling stations, except for duly accredited media representatives, Chairwoman of the Regional Election Commission Tatyana Malakhova said.

- Kursk residents are coming to vote at polling stations during the regional election of the governor, despite the missile alerts heard in the city from time to time, Chairwoman of Precinct Election Commission (PEC) No. 3 Irina Altukhova told TASS.

Aid to residents

- People affected by the fighting have received payments of more than 1.3 billion rubles ($18 million), the Russian Emergencies Ministry’s press service told TASS.

Reuters/Tass

A Chinese company recently published a series of texts between its customer service and a woman who claimed her daughter had become pregnant after wearing underwear bought from the company.

The unnamed company made the allegations made by an alleged customer public as a warning that such stunts could put entrepreneurs out of business. Apparently, a woman claiming to have purchased underwear from the company on Taobao, one of China’s largest online retail platforms, contacted customer support to complain that her daughter had become pregnant after wearing a pair of brand-new underwear. Despite staff’s attempts to convince the disgruntled woman that such a thing wasn’t possible, she insisted that it was the only way her daughter could have gotten pregnant and demanded an explanation.

All attempts to convince the woman that her theory was physiologically impossible failed, so in the end customer service told her that its factory staff consisted exclusively of women and their boss had gotten a vasectomy, so the girl’s pregnancy had nothing to do with the company.

“My daughter is pregnant after wearing your underwear,” the woman wrote on a private messaging board, to which the company’s staff answered that “underwear cannot be used as a means of transmission of pregnancy”.

Fearing that the woman could go public with her own version of the story, the company decided to publish the messages between her and its customer service on social media so people could see just how nonsensical her claim was. Unsurprisingly, the post went viral, attracting lots of humorous comments and theories on how the woman’s daughter had become pregnant. Some were certain that the girl had feigned ignorance to avoid being scolded by her mother, while others came up with even wilder theories such as her getting pregnant after swimming in a public pool.

After the story went viral online, the CEO of the company posted on its official channels that he had tried contacting the woman directly to learn more about this bizarre problem, but after checking her phone number, he learned that she was an influencer who was likely hoping to draw more attention to herself by creating this strange scandal.

“I hate this kind of people,” the man wrote, accusing the woman of making up a story for attention and ignoring the risk of dealing a “devastating blow” to businesses such as his. Some people will actually believe such wild claims and the rumors they spread can actually get a factory shut down or put it out of business.

Oddity Central

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) on Thursday said it is not yet in its full market pricing of petrol.

The Executive Vice President, Downstream of the NNPC Ltd, Segun Adedapo, disclosed this while speaking on the ARISE TV morning show on Thursday.

“We are not at our full market pricing of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) yet, and that’s why the behaviour of PMS pricing in Nigeria cannot be compared to those markets where the prices are fully market-based,” he said.

In recent months, fuel scarcity hit major cities across Nigeria, with attendant effects on businesses and households. This has also prompted commercial bus drivers to increase their fares in major towns and cities, including the nation’s capital. As a result, black marketers have made brisk business selling to willing buyers at higher prices ranging from N1,000 to N1,200 and some, even higher.

On Tuesday, NNPC Ltd adjusted the pump price of petrol to N897 from N617 as motorists and commuters grumbled amid the uncertainty. Other independent stations have also adjusted their pump prices, in some instances above N900 per litre.

Speaking on Thursday, Adedapo said the current increase in petrol pump price does not reflect free market conditions.

“If you look in section 205 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), that’s the Act that gave birth to NNPC Limited, it tells you that petroleum prices or fuel prices were based on unrestricted free market conditions. And so, when you have a situation where fuel prices remain the same, that’s what is unusual. You won’t see that in other climes, where you have prices fixed for a long period.

“It’s actually supposed to move in consonance with changes and market conditions. During the summer months, prices are high because it’s a driving season, in the winter months, prices come down and things like that. So, that’s what the PIA provides for, prices should move with the seasons. You expect to see prices drop in those climes where petrol prices are market-based, but the opposite is our situation.

“And if you’re going to do a comparison, you want to check out the equivalent of those prices that you see in those climes and compare them to the prices here. You’ll find out that they’re still way higher than the prices we’re offering when you bring them to common currency,” he said.

He explained that the PIA provides for a free-market petrol pricing system where different players can source the product and sell at market-based prices.

“It should be a free market, unrestricted market-based conditions…what’s sustainable is the unrestricted free market pricing of PMS. That way, competition takes over, and Nigerians will get the best.

“Everyone will compete for market share, and the quality of service will improve. That feeling of entitlement by marketers or companies in the business will go away because they will compete against each other to serve consumers better,” he added.

Speaking further on what the state-owned oil company is doing to address the petrol scarcity in the country, he said the NNPC is working with all the marketers to resolve the issues.

“We are working with all of the marketers. You know we have almost a thousand stations around the country, but that’s not enough. We are working with all of the marketers, engaging with them to ensure that fuel stations open early and close late and make sure that there’s enough fuel in all of the stations.

“So, we are ensuring that deliveries are made to stations. We are doing our best to make sure that there are no diversions,” he added.

He noted that the exchange rate was impeding on the operations of the NNPC Ltd with the company experiencing challenges with foreign exchange liquidity.

“I can assure you that we have a good relationship with our suppliers, and as we speak, we don’t have a problem with the supplies coming in. Yes, we do have a challenge with payments, and that’s largely due to the fact that some FX illiquidity, it’s obvious, and that really is the challenge. As much as we are able to, we are making payments to them,” he said.

Supply

Adedapo said NNPC will supply a total of 17.6 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote Refinery between September and October.

He explained that the move is part of the federal government’s push to drive local production of petroleum products.

“We have supplied about 30 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery so far, and this month alone, we will be providing 6.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery in seven cargoes and in October.

“We will be providing another 11.3 million barrels of crude oil to Dangote refinery in 13 cargoes. So we are doing everything we can to make sure this situation abates as soon as possible,” he said.

PT

The Yoruba Council of Elders, YCE, Wednesday, told President Bola Tinubu, in an unmistakable term, that Nigerians are “suffering deeply” under his administration asking him to meet short term needs of the people before pursuing a long term vision.

The elders’ council through its Secretary General, Oladipo Oyewole, stressed that with millions of Nigerians

living without food, fuel and light, Tinubu needs to go back to drawing board and fashion out measures that will bring immediate comfort to the people.

YCE, in a statement, noted that it remains hopeful that Nigeria will have a turnaround.

“However, going by scanty information available on Government pursuits and activities, there is, presently, a lot of suffering in the land.”

“Be that as it may, we in YCE stand on our strong position that the interest of the masses to live a good life should be given full attention.”

“Without regular supply of electricity and with the official announcement of increase in the price of petroleum products (PMS), the current hardship cannot but increase in daily living by Nigerians”.

“The Federal Government ought to immediately pursue every avenue to make available to our people, the dividends of democracy. Not through distribution of palliatives (that does not seem to filter to the bottom) but by putting in place avenues to enhance proper and quality living through effective governance administration.

“Every Nigerian should be entitled to enjoy our common resources. Indeed, Nigerians are suffering deeply at this time….. no light, no fuel, no food.

“Mr. President should, without delay, go back to the drawing board to attend to the short term needs of Nigerians (the immediate needs of the people) whilst pursuing the long term vision of making Nigeria a better place for growth and for development”.

“As Elders, we demand immediate succour for the people to boost the welfare of Nigerians so that all can live in comfort and harmony. As far as this elders council is concerned, a lot of administrative work by Government is (absolutely) required for the masses of this country to live, stay alive as respectable and responsible people.”

The state of this nation today, YCE said, is a pill that has a bitter taste.

“The Administration of Tinubu should do something quickly to ensure proper steering of its intentions to establish and install better governance in Nigeria. Infact, the Presidency should do all possible to alleviate the suffering of all Nigerians immediately and without delay”.

Vanguard

PRESS RELEASE

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) officially confirms the selection of Chris Olufunmilola Okunowo and Morenikeji Okunowo as the new Asiwaju Onigbagbo Akile Ijebu and YEYE Asiwaju Onigbagbo Akile Ijebu  respectively.

Their selection and confirmation to the prestigious titles are subsequent to their proven track records in diverse areas of service to the Christian Community in Ijebuland and beyond.

No doubt, the distinguished couple possesses the qualities and traits required to hold these esteemed positions in the Christian Community of Ijebu land.

Moreover, their interpersonal relationship beyond border, leadership prowess and dedication have consistently played significant roles at improving the life of humanity and enhancing the cultural heritage, which earned them respect and admiration among their peers leading to Okunowo being honored with the title of  Bobasuwa II of Ijebuland  (the first Hereditary Chieftaincy Title in Ijebuland) by Oba S.K Adetona, the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland in particular and other Honorary Titles in Yorubaland in general.

The last holder of the this important title was the late founder of the First City Monument Bank, Subomi Balogun.

Signed:

Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN)

September 3, 2024

Israeli drone strike kills Palestinian gunmen amid more West Bank raids

Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants in the town of Tubas and in a nearby refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early on Thursday, the military said, as a major operation in the territory stretched into a second week.

The incidents took place during raids in different areas of the West Bank that have involved hundreds of soldiers, police and intelligence officers backed by helicopters, drones and armoured vehicles - the biggest Israeli military action in the territory in months.

In Tubas, a city in the north of the Jordan Valley where 10 people have been killed over the past week, hundreds of mourners joined the funeral procession, including dozens of armed men firing into the air.

The Israeli military said three drone strikes hit a militant cell that posed a threat to soldiers in Tubas, killing a number of individuals including Mohammad Zakaria Zubeidi, whom it described as a "significant terrorist" in the Jenin area.

Palestinian health officials said the strikes killed five people and wounded three. The five were claimed as members by the armed wing of the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad.

A heavily damaged car parked in a garage area was surrounded by blood stains where the men were killed in the strike.

A sixth Palestinian, identified as a 16 year-old by Palestinian health officials, was also killed in the area of Far'a, near Tubas, during an exchange of fire with Israeli security forces.

The military said he was armed with an explosive device but there was no claim from any of the militant groups that he was a member.

In the same operation around Far'a, the military said a drone strike hit a number of fighters who threw explosives and opened fire on security forces. However there were no reports of deaths in the incident from Palestinian authorities.

Israeli forces remained in Tulkarm on Thursday and in the flashpoint city of Jenin, historically one of the main centres of armed Palestinian groups in the West Bank.

The area was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, and Palestinians envisage it as part of an eventual state also including Gaza and East Jerusalem.

The nine-day operation has left a trail of burned and damaged houses in Jenin and more than 20 km of roadway dug up by armoured tractors in what the Israeli military says is a tactic needed to neutralize buried roadside bombs.

Water and electricity services have also been disrupted, while thousands of people have been ordered from their homes in parts of the city. Health authorities have also said ambulances have faced problems getting through Israeli cordons around the city's main hospital.

At least 39 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank during the operation, according to Palestinian health authorities. Most of those have been armed fighters but some uninvolved civilians have also been killed, including a 16-year-old girl. One Israeli soldier was also killed.

The West Bank has seen heightened unrest since the outbreak of the war between Israeli forces and Hamas in the Gaza Strip last October, with Israeli military actions, attacks by Palestinian militants on Israelis, and violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinian communities.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine could cause ‘global nuclear disaster’ – Putin

Ukrainian attacks on Russian nuclear power plants (NPP) could lead to a global disaster, President Vladimir Putin has warned. He suggested that Kiev think about what could happen if Moscow responded in kind.

Speaking at the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Thursday, Putin was asked to comment on what Moscow claims are regular Ukrainian raids on the Zaporozhye and Kursk NPPs, both located not far from the frontline.

“Those are very dangerous terrorist acts. One could only imagine what would happen if we responded in kind. What would happen to the whole part of Europe over there.”

Ukraine currently operates three of its own nuclear power plants, one in the south and two in the west of the country.

Russian troops captured the Zaporozhye NPP, the largest facility of this kind in Europe, in the early days of the conflict in 2022. After the entire region overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in the autumn of the same year, the facility was made state property.

As the front line lies not far from the plant, Moscow and Kiev have traded accusations about who is behind several attacks on the facility. The security situation at the plant is being monitored by an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission, which has so far refused to assign blame to either side.

Meanwhile, concerns about the security situation at the Kursk NPP arose in early August when Ukraine launched its largest-to-date cross-border incursion into Russia. According to Putin, Kiev has already tried to launch an attack on the plant, which reportedly involved drones. Russia’s deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky has warned that Western reluctance to rein in Kiev could trigger “a nuclear incident with tragic consequences for the whole of Europe.”

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Britain to send 650 air defence missiles to Ukraine in latest support

The British government said on Friday it would provide Ukraine with 650 lightweight multi-role missiles worth 162 million pounds ($213.13 million) to help protect the country from Russian drones and bombing.

Russia last week unleashed its largest air attack on Ukraine since the full-scale warbegan early in 2022. Ukraine has made repeated requests for more air defence support to defend itself from missile and drone attacks.

The new supply of missiles was announced as British defence minister John Healey attended the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an ad-hoc coalition of some 50 nations, at a U.S. air base in Germany.

The Ministry of Defence said, in keeping with the new government's commitment to speed deliveries of aid to Ukraine, the first batch of missiles announced on Friday were expected to arrive by the end of the year.

"This new commitment will give an important boost to Ukraine's air defences," Healey said in a statement.

The Ministry of Defence said the missiles made by Thales have a range of more than 6 kilometres (3.73 miles) and can be fired from a variety of platforms on land, sea, and air.

Last Monday, Russia fired more than 200 missiles and drones at Ukraine, killing seven people and striking energy facilities nationwide in what Kyiv called the war's "most massive" attack.

($1 = 0.7601 pounds)

RT/Reuters

When I was invited to Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in June, I didn’t know what to expect. I had not visited the place since 2005. Even though I had been to nearby Rivers and Delta States several times, Bayelsa didn’t cross my mind.

To make matters worse, the state was often in the news for the wrong reasons. Not that it was an exception, but press headlines seemed to suggest that if you wanted the most depressing news about intra-party wrangling, post-election disputes, or the scariest stuff about kidnapping and youth militancy, Bayelsa was the place to go.

Bayelsa, the home of Nigeria’s first president from the south-south and one of the jewels of Nigeria’s oil reserve, also appeared to be one of its most volatile spots.

I didn’t plan to go there. And as if to validate my lethargy, days before this visit, there was something in the news that Bayelsa was the leading state in the prevalence of monkeypox. I kept the news to myself to save my family from panic. It was now looking like a suicide mission.

To go or not?

Yet, if Yenagoa was Nigeria’s chaos capital, it didn’t show in the voice of Esueme Dan-Kikile, the general manager corporate affairs of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), who never once wavered in his commitment to me to read my book there.

When anxiety and prejudice nearly prevailed, I yielded to Dan-Kikile’s reassuring calmness and my nagging curiosity for adventure. 

After 19 years of mental pictures, mostly from unflattering news reports, I decided to face the demon. By a quirk of fate, I used the longer route – Warri to Yenagoa. What a trip this second missionary journey turned out to be!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, one travel mile is worth two thousand. Words sometimes fail to describe the joys and excitement of new faces, places, sounds, and smells of travel. 

Jonathan was “king”

The last time I visited, former President Goodluck Jonathan was governor. The state was nine years old, and there was only one road in and out of the capital. 

Bayelsa, located in southern Nigeria, edges the Atlantic Ocean. It was the hotbed of militancy by youths who, sometimes at the behest of politicians, took hostages for ransom and blew up oil and gas pipelines as bargaining chips. Its people are mostly fishermen and farmers whose environment and toils have been ruined for decades by oil spills and the ravages of gas flaring.

This visit felt different from when I landed at the airport in Warri, Delta State, for the three-and-a-half-hour drive to Yenagoa. 

The East-West Road

After over N350 billion and 18 years, the construction of the East-West Road, highway to the six states in the Niger Delta region and gateway to the East is still on. They say it would take nearly three times that amount, and God knows how long to finish. 

This was what Senate President Godswill Akpabio said four years ago when he was Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs – that the road, which NDDC was handling under his supervision, would cost about N1 trillion naira to complete.

Large portions of it were still impassable as of last week. Where you could drive freely for a mile or two, you had to look out for barricades and sand-filled drums at makeshift checkpoints where the security men and local youths appear to have agreed on a joint approach and a standard extortion formula. 

“Tollgate ahead, off the mic!”

If this sounds confusing, you haven’t heard the more confusing part. Extortion doesn’t only happen on the highway. Four years ago, just before Akpabio said the East-West Road might cost N1 trillion to finish, a “tollgate” was mounted for him inside Nigeria’s parliament in Abuja.

A joint session of Nigeria’s Senate and House of Representatives was conducting an audit of the NDDC, and the Commission had not completed the East-West Road after many years and billions of naira spent. As Akpabio proceeded to open the can of worms after hinting that the contracts for the road were awarded to companies belonging to his interlocutors, the committee chairman and current Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo interjected: “Off your mic! Honourable Minister, it’s OK, off the mic!”

That interjection became the national joke for killing any potentially embarrassing thing that should be said. Talking too much is against the convention at any tollgate – whether in Abuja or on the East-West Road. Off the mic, pay the toll, and move.

Akpabio, an accomplished toll collector, should have known the tradition. According to a NEITI report in 2013, the NDDC received about N400 billion between 2007 and 2011, which is almost one-quarter of its 20-year existence. If the Commission were a state with a revenue of N168 billion in 2011, for example, it would be the sixth highest earning in the country, displaced only by Lagos, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers. 

Yet, as the car taking me to Yenagoa drove by, the most prevalent evidence that the Commission is working on the East-West Road is the enormous square slabs, each engraved with its name erected shamelessly within every two kilometres or so. It would be a surprise if this work is finished in another 18 years, even if Nigeria robbed a Chinese bank for N1 trillion.

Waterfront and petrol queues

After nearly three hours of driving, we finally arrived in Yenagoa, turning off at the Yenagoa-Mbiama part of the East-West Road at Igbogini Junction onto Glory Drive. The driver said the new road was constructed last year. The one-road state capital had a new access road, which I later learned was the third.  

In Yenagoa, the makeshift food shops on wooden stilts at the waterfront at the end of Alamieyeseigha Road, just a stone’s throw from the imposing Content Board Tower, were great. The food, smell, neon lights, music, and the energy of the solicitous food vendors courting mostly young customers were hard to resist. 

The place reminded me of Tampa Bay in Florida – if, for a moment, from behind any of the wooden shacks, you looked far beyond the large waterweeds and abandoned wooden canoes at the shore to the Ocean just at the horizon. 

On our way to the venue of the book reading at Golden Tulip the next day, we saw long queues of vehicles snaking for miles from a nearby NNPC filling station where drivers were waiting to buy petrol. 

It’s heartbreaking that residents in this state, home of Oloibiri, where crude oil was first discovered in Nigeria and home to the country's fourth highest concentration of oil wells, must go through this to buy petrol. My driver said drivers unable to buy petrol the same day would leave their vehicles at the station and return the next day. They are used to it. I shook my head.

Read the book!

The book reading was electrifying. It was attended by a fine collection of students from four universities in the state with their teachers. Accomplished writers and professionals from other walks of life were present, too. The audience's enthusiasm and determination to seize the moment for their own good were remarkable. 

Dan-Kikile spoke from the heart about NCDMB’s passion for upskilling capacity at institutional and individual levels; the moderator, Doubra Timi-Wood of Channels TV, made the reading a shared moment of intimacy, and the audience loved it. 

The cure for my lethargy was facing my fears. I’m glad I did. 

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the new book Writing for Media and Monetising It.

Self-limiting beliefs challenge the possibility of achieving the Nigerian Dream, as outlined in my last article. I proposed that within four years, the government should build 20 million housing units to create immediate employment, generate income, and pass generational wealth to the masses. Simultaneously, we should construct a railway complex, starting with three East-West railways, to spur growth in heavy manufacturing—generating substantial income and employment across every economic sector. However, the same limiting mindset claims that President Bola Tinubu had no choice, due to foreign debts, but to cut real wages through devaluation and withdraw energy subsidies, a key input in our national production.

It is economic slavery when creditors hold a nation to ransom, preventing it from attaining basic elements of life such as housing, employment, and health. This becomes more alarming when this economic enslavement is perpetuated by those who physically and politically enslaved us. Nigeria, the largest source of slaves that built the Western economy, has never been repaid for these historic costs. Therefore, Nigeria has the moral capital, based on the exploitation of our people, to demand a five-year moratorium to restructure and double our economy for our own African Dream.

Tinubu should have declared a War on Poverty—since in times of war, debts are suspended—instead of succumbing to IMF/World Bank pressure to devalue the currency and cut subsidies, which only deepens our economic enslavement. He should have torn up the slave rulebook and engaged in economic and political restructuring. This would involve cutting imports, reducing the cost of governance, rescheduling debts, and engaging in a massive deficit-budgeting effort, similar to Roosevelt's 1933 New Deal, to build wealth and stimulate both consumer and production markets, thereby realizing the Nigerian Dream.

The true cost of the American Dream was African slavery, which built the American economy and cemented Western global economic hegemony. For the American Dream to be realized, the African Nightmare had to occur. The real cost of the African Dream is awakening from this nightmare. We freed ourselves from physical slavery on plantations in the Americas, culminating in the Haitian Revolution. After the end of transatlantic slavery, economic slavery shifted to Africa in the form of colonization, where we were divided into political plantations designed to produce crops and raw materials while serving as dumping grounds for colonists’ manufactured goods. Eventually, we awoke from colonization through decolonization, but economic slavery morphed into neocolonialism.

The question now is how to free ourselves from the remaining vestiges of economic slavery, which prevents us from achieving the African Dream of prosperity and freedom for the majority. Across Black nations in Africa and the Americas, just as plantation slaves had to pay for their freedom, debts are used to prevent our leaders from fulfilling social contracts to achieve global standards of housing, employment, and health—fundamental components of every free people’s pursuit of happiness and economic parity. This struggle differs from the fight to abolish slavery and decolonization. It is known as decoloniality.

While decolonization granted us pseudo-independence, colonialism's lingering effects persist in the form of coloniality of knowledge, power, being, and economics. These chains of economic slavery have led Tinubu and previous leaders since the 1970s to tighten the poverty trap on Nigerians. It was Yoruba, Igbo, and others who fought to end slavery, beginning with the Haitian Revolution of 1791. The likes of Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Obafemi Awolowo fought to end colonization. This generation must use our human and natural resources to end neocolonialism. However, unlike previous struggles against White colonial powers, this battle is against Black neocolonial leadership.

The coloniality of knowledge has miseducated our leaders, leading them to follow the dictates of Western banks—founded with the proceeds of our slavery and colonization—while labeling any deviation as socialism or communism. The coloniality of power ensures that only leaders who adhere to the 'free market' policies of foreign banks are allowed into the political spectrum. If they seek assistance from China or Russia, they are labeled as enemies. The coloniality of being disorients us from making rational political and economic decisions, while the coloniality of economics restricts us to producing raw materials and importing manufactured goods.

The coloniality of knowledge and power has made us believe that socialism and communism are permanently anti-Western political systems, rather than temporary phases necessary to restructure our colonial economic foundations. Neither the IMF, the World Bank, nor private investors undertake long-term, socially beneficial production. Nations like Russia and China, which did not rely on slavery, restructured their economies using command economies to channel collective resources into social housing, railways, and heavy industry.

Russia took too long to reopen its economy, unlike China, which after restructuring under Chairman Mao, reopened under Deng Xiaoping, leading to astronomical economic growth. Economic restructuring’s success depends on how quickly and efficiently it is conducted, followed by reopening the economy for normal business. This can only be achieved with a lean government and the Army.

The Army, specifically the Engineering Corps and the Defence Industries Corporation, is the only organization capable of managing this nationwide program efficiently. Regardless of ideology, every nation has involved its army in building its industrial military complex. While mercantilism built the slave economy, post-slavery Western nations turned to war and military subsidies (Military Keynesianism) to drive their most important economic sectors—cars, planes, and computing.

The first step is to drastically reduce our import bill, which comprises fuel and oil (33%), cars (21%), and food (10%). We need an emergency Army-led action to repair our refineries within 90 days, reducing the largest chunk of our imports. Simultaneously, we should cut vehicle imports and decree that all government tiers buy only Nigerian-produced cars. These import substitution techniques will not only free up foreign exchange but also provide massive employment, as local car assembly plants would need to scale production exponentially. Imports must be restricted during the phased economic restructuring to prevent inflation from money leaking into imports. Accelerated housing and railway development programs must be built with nearly 100% locally sourced materials, at the lowest cost, to generate the surplus value needed for debt settlement and growth.

Economic restructuring must be accompanied by political restructuring. While national infrastructure projects can only be built centrally, political restructuring should move away from the unitary government system—created to siphon resources for neocolonial purposes—towards decentralized governance. As the government builds the national grid of railways, devolution to states is essential to fuel the construction of feeder railways to every corner of the country. This will enable local development in industries like rail, electrical, and chemicals, while generating multiplier effects across other sectors like haulage. The surplus value gained from lowest-cost, rapid development will offset our debts and stimulate the economy.

** Justice J. Faloye, author of The Blackworld: Evolution to Revolution, President, ASHE Foundation Think Tank, is Afenifere National Publicity Secretary.

Renée Onque

Being cynical may seem harmless, or even safer than trusting others, but that’s far from the truth, according to Jamil Zaki, an associate professor of psychology at Stanford University. He is the author of the new book “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.”

Cynicism is “the belief that humanity in general is selfish, greedy and dishonest,” Zaki tells CNBC Make It, and it can be harmful for your health.

“Cynics tend to be more depressed [and] anxious. They suffer from more addiction. But it’s also physical. Cynics tend to suffer from more heart disease [and] more diabetes. They even die younger than non-cynics,” Zaki says.

If you’re worried that not being cynical means you’d be naïve, it’s important to know that the opposite of cynicism isn’t trusting just any and everyone, Zaki notes.

“Of course, there are benefits to not trusting people in lots of situations, but cynicism is deciding not to trust anybody. It’s a blanket theory about allpeople, and it’s very hard to understand how something like that could help us,” he says.

Here are three statements that Zaki says, if you agree with them, may indicate that you are a cynic. Plus, his advice he has for how to reverse cynicism and why it’s important to do so.

If you agree with these 3 statements, you might be a cynic

1. No one cares much what happens to you.
2. Most people dislike helping others.
3. Most people are honest chiefly through fear of getting caught.

“If you disagree with all three, you’re probably low in cynicism. If you agree with just one, you’re on the low- medium end—think medium- rare for a steak,” Zaki wrote in his book.

“If you agree with two, you’re on the medium- high end. And if you agree with all three, you might be a well- done cynic, with a bleak ‘theory of everyone.’”

In the 1950s, psychologists Walter Cook and Donald Medley came up with an assessmentthat included 50 statements, prompting teachers to indicate if they agreed or disagreed with them, in an attempt to identify good teachers. The three above statements are pulled from Cook and Medley’s list.

“The more a teacher agreed [with the statements], the worse their rapport with students,” Zaki wrote. “The more statements anyone agreed with, the more suspicious they were of friends, strangers, and family.”

3 practices to reverse cynicism and become more hopeful

“The first thing is to want to give [cynicism] up. If you do, then there’s a couple of things that you can try,” Zaki says.

To reverse cynicism and be more trusting of the good in people and positive outcomes:

• Stop glamorizing the idea of cynicism:“Being really negative doesn’t make you right, doesn’t make you wise, it doesn’t keep you safe, and it doesn’t make you moral,” Zaki says.
• Try to be more like a scientist: Search for evidence to prove, or disprove, the negative beliefs you have. “When you find yourself making blanket judgments about people or distrusting folks that you’ve just met, ask yourself, fact-check that impulse [and] say, ‘Why am I feeling that way?’”
• Give people a chance to show you who they are: This requires taking leaps of faith and calculated risks to learn what people are like before assuming how they are. “We underestimate how trustworthy, generous, friendly and open minded people are,” Zaki says. “That’s not to say there are not jerks out there. Of course there are, but the average person underestimates the average person.”

When you follow these practices, you can develop a sense of hope, Zaki says. It “turns out that hope is incredibly valuable for our health, and it’s especially important when we face adversity.”

Hopeful people with chronic illnesses experience less depression, students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who have hope tend to “tend to see their academic goals more clearly and pursue them more fiercely,” and hope is often at the center of social movements, he explains.

“Hope [is] not a sort of complacent, rosy feeling, but rather a yearning for something better that improves our health, strengthens our relationships and communities, and actually is a force for social change.”

CNBC