Chop life crew
Nigerian governors are spending billions on refreshments
Good morning, Big Brains. We should start sending condolences to each other whenever this rubbish grid falls because it makes no sense. I can’t believe that Nigeria has turned me into a girl who knows how to service her generator. This isn’t the girlhood of my dreams.
- Margaret
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Reading time ~ 3 mins
Let’s get into today’s edition:
Lawmakers are spending billions on refreshments in Yobe state
Tinubu’s new education minister isn’t a fan of the 18-year admission age limit
The Big Deal
Lawmakers are spending billions on refreshments in Yobe state
We need Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State to come outside because we have questions. Nigerians have been cutting more costs in 2024 than they typically would, but Buni seems to have something against being financially responsible.
A new analysis of Yobe’s 2024 budget shows that, in just nine months, the state spent ₦2.6 billion on “honorarium and refreshments”— a fancy way of describing the allowance the state pays lawmakers to sit in meetings. The craziest part is that Yobe’s internally generated revenue (IGR) during those nine months was ₦8.1 billion in total. If math isn’t your forte, this means the state pretty much spent 32% of its total earnings on lawmakers.
Governor Buni also approved another sum of ₦1.2 billion for the building of luxury chalets. When you add this to what was spent on lawmakers, you’ll notice it amounts to 47% of Yobe’s revenue.
Why is this a big deal?
This isn’t just a big deal; it’s a big problem for the people of Yobe, whose governor would rather spend 47% of state revenue on refreshments and fancy chalets than on the basic needs of his people.
While the governor kept funds flowing for soft life expenses, he ignored essential areas like education and healthcare. The state’s Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), which funds school-related schemes, received nothing for capital projects. Yobe’s Water Corporation received ₦1.4 billion, a meagre amount compared to what the state spent on refreshments and allowances for lawmakers. To make everything worse, only ₦379.5 million was allocated for primary healthcare within this period.
Let’s paint a statistical picture of why this is a problem. – In March, data from The Cable Index showed that Yobe was third in the list of Nigerian states with the highest number of out-of-school children. It revealed also, that about 62.9% of children aged 6–15 in the state are not enrolled in any school. The state also ranks high on the list of Nigeria’s poorest states.
The 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) done by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) shows that over 52% of the women and girls in Yobe State have to walk long distances to get water. Additionally, 60% of children in the state don’t have access to clean drinking water, which leaves them vulnerable to water-borne diseases and malnutrition.
Despite making ₦8.1 billion in state revenue, the state prioritised luxury over providing basic amenities for its most vulnerable people.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve witnessed this kind of mess in 2024. Earlier this year, Open Nigerian States, a public resource that helps Nigerians access government-related data, released a report showing that 30 governors spent ₦968.64 billion on refreshments in the first three months of 2024.
You know a country is in deep shit when its governors start forming chop life crew and leave citizens to starve.
Tinubu’s new education minister isn’t a fan of the 18-year admission age limit
In August, Nigeria's former Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, announced that underage students would no longer be allowed to take the secondary school leaving exams conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO). He made this decision because "They're too young to understand what the whole university education is all about.”
If you hated the former minister's age limit policy, you could argue that the universe hated it too because he was one of the five ministers sacked in October. The new minister of education, Dr Tunji Alausa, doesn’t seem to be a fan of his predecessor’s policy either because he reversed the age limit on Tuesday, November 5.
While global education trends show that fixing 18 as the standard age for admission isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the former minister did not create a soft landing for students and parents who would have been affected by the policy– this was the basis of many Nigerians’ criticisms and anger.
But the new minister has clarified that he’s closing that chapter and thinking ahead. Alausa mentioned that the federal government plans to team up with private sector players to help students develop practical skills while still in school. He also added that universities of agriculture will be set up to practice commercial farming, as part of a strategy to solve Nigeria’s food insecurity problem.
This Week’s Big Question
“If you could be guaranteed success at just one thing in life, what would you choose?”
Love’s response - “It might sound somehow, but my goal is to be so good at my work that people can’t do without me. You know those people who are so skilled that they become hard to let go of? That’s exactly what I’m aiming for.”
You can also share your response here, and if it’s as interesting as Love’s, we’ll feature it in the next edition.
The Big Picks
UK Parliament To Debate World’s First ‘Smoke-Free Generation’ Bill: On Tuesday, the UK introduced a groundbreaking law in Parliament that’s supposed to mark the beginning of the country’s first “smoke-free generation.” This move is part of a major initiative to phase out smoking for future generations.
Court Strikes Out Suit Against #EndBadGovernance Protesters: A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the case against detained #EndBadGovernance protesters.
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