Headline

Opinion:COVID-19: The Pandemic That Changed Everything-Charles Otudor

Published

5 years ago

April 9, 2020

Editor

By Charles Otudor

Albert Camus once said, “Pestilence is so common, there have been as many plagues in the world as there have been wars, yet plagues and wars always find people equally unprepared. When war breaks out people say: ‘It won’t last, it’s too stupid.’

Looking at the recent statistics, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to expand. As at April 7, more than 175 countries and territories have reported cases of this plague, with over 1,374,964 confirmed cases globally of which 1,003,547 are active, 77,216 have died and about 294,201 are reported to have recovered, it seems that COVID-19 is here to stay longer and affect us deeper than what we were ready to accept.

This was far from what we expected or predicted, this is real.

Much is being said about the losses, the drama, the social and institutional frictions in countries with little to no preparation and global media has barely spoken about little else these days.

While the inevitable global slowdown that has followed is unquestionably a time to contemplate and look back, we should also stay receptive to the notion that progress comes from dire situations and from thinking about a problem with ever changing perspectives – put it another way, crises necessitate creative solutions.

And so we would be foolish not to look into opportunities in these unique times – mankind needs to push forward, especially when under such pressure.

Inventiveness, adaptation, and maybe even the instinct to protect and preserve ourselves, these collectively force us to recognize new opportunities – Beyond Coronavirus, what’s the path to the next normal?

How do we cater to the immediate economic aspects of companies’ and people’s livelihoods and invest in the preparedness to deal with similar events in the future?

What will it take to navigate this crisis, now that our traditional metrics and assumptions have been rendered irrelevant?

Worldwide now, foreign and domestic small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and multinational companies (MNCs) are suffering and in some extreme cases even shutting down.

Goods have been stranded at ports for weeks, hundreds of cities worldwide are in lockdown, civil and commercial transportation are experiencing cuts, delays, and cancellations like no other time.

Consumers are behaving erratically, resorting to panic shopping, or revising their entire values of material versus immaterial needs. Legislators are trying to catch up with daily events to accommodate needs, and there’s pain and strain on global supply chains.

However, several companies are not silently watching – they have adapted like chameleons to the situation and stretched their brand, reshuffled their production lines, and catered to new needs. In short, they have listened to the market and taken a risk or two, making COVID-19 the main propeller for new growth in some sectors and reviving dormant potential in others.

Even the judiciary system in China is going online – filings and hearings are increasingly digitized, which could enhance the speed of executing work and get rid of some of the backlog.

In the realm of productivity, we have seen a strong rise in cloud services for collaboration, solutions to minimize paperwork and physical contact, reimbursement apps and digital solutions for accounting, and the growth of contact-less devices for an infinite number of environments.

The Path To The Next Normal

Like Mckinsey & Company clearly stated, for some organizations, near-term survival is the only agenda item. Others are peering through the fog of uncertainty, thinking about how to position themselves once the crisis has passed and things return to normal.

The question is, ‘What will normal look like?’

While no one can say how long the crisis will last, what we find on the other side will not look like the normal of recent years.”

These words were written 11 years ago, amid the last global financial crisis.

They ring true today but if anything, understate the reality the world is currently facing.

It is increasingly clear our era will be defined by a fundamental schism: the period before COVID-19 and the new normal that will emerge in the post-viral era: the “next normal.” In this unprecedented new reality, we will witness a dramatic restructuring of the economic and social order in which business and society have traditionally operated.

And in the near future, we will see the beginning of discussion and debate about what the next normal could entail and how sharply its contours will diverge from those that previously shaped our lives.

The question being posed by brands across the public, private, and social sectors is: What will it take to navigate this crisis, now that our traditional metrics and assumptions have been rendered irrelevant?

More simply put, it’s our turn to answer a question that many of us once asked of our grandparents: What did you do during the war?

Our answer is a call to act across five stages, leading from the crisis of today to the next normal that will emerge after the battle against coronavirus has been won: Resolve, Resilience, Return, Reimagination, and Reform.

The duration of each stage will vary based on geographic and industry context, and institutions may find themselves operating in more than one stage simultaneously.

Collectively, these five stages represent the imperative of our time: the battle against COVID-19 is one that Brands today must win if we are to find an economically and socially viable path to the next normal.

Resolve

In almost all countries, crisis-response efforts are in full motion.

A large array of public-health interventions has been deployed.

Healthcare systems are— explicitly—on a war footing to increase their capacity of beds, supplies, and trained workers.

Efforts are under way to alleviate shortages of much-needed medical supplies.

Business-continuity and employee-safety plans have been escalated, with remote work established as the default operating mode. Many are dealing with acute slowdowns in their operations, while some seek to accelerate to meet demand in critical areas spanning food, household supplies, and paper goods. Educational institutions are moving online to provide ongoing learning opportunities as physical classrooms shut down. This is the stage on which brands are currently focused.

And yet, a toxic combination of inaction and paralysis remains, stemming choices that must be made: lockdown or not; isolation or quarantine; shut down the factory/business now or wait for an order from above. That is why we have called this first stage Resolve: the need to determine the scale, pace, and depth of action required at the state and business levels. As one CEO said: “I know what to do. I just need to decide whether those who need to act share my resolve to do so.”

Resilience

The pandemic has metastasized into a burgeoning crisis for the economy and financial system.

The acute pullback in economic activity, necessary to protect

public health, is simultaneously jeopardizing the economic well-being of citizens and institutions.

The rapid succession of liquidity and solvency challenges hitting multiple industries is proving resistant to the efforts of central banks and governments to keep the financial system functioning. A health crisis is turning into a financial crisis as uncertainty about the size, duration, and shape of the decline in GDP and employment undermines what remains of business confidence.

In the face of these challenges, resilience is a vital necessity.

Near-term issues of cash management for liquidity and solvency are clearly paramount. But soon afterward, businesses will need to act on broader resilience plans as the shock begins to upturn established industry structures, resetting competitive positions forever.

Much of the population will experience uncertainty and personal financial stress. Public-, private-, and social-sector leaders will need to make difficult “through cycle” decisions that balance economic and social sustainability, given that social cohesion is already under severe pressure from populism and other challenges that existed pre-coronavirus.

Return

Returning businesses to operational health after a severe shutdown is extremely challenging, as organizations globally will find returning to work a slow process.

Most industries will need to reactivate their entire supply chain, even as the differential scale and timing of the impact of coronavirus means that global supply chains face disruption in multiple geographies.

The weakest point in the chain will determine the success or otherwise of a return to rehiring, training, and attaining previous levels of workforce productivity. Leaders must therefore reassess their entire business system and plan for contingent actions in order to return their business to effective production at pace and at scale.

Compounding the challenge, winter will bring renewed crisis for many countries. Without a vaccine or effective prophylactic treatment, a rapid return to a rising spread of the virus is a genuine threat. In such a situation, government leaders may face an acutely painful “Sophie’s choice”: mitigating the resurgent risk to lives versus the risk to the population’s health that could follow another sharp economic pullback. Return may therefore require using the hoped-for—but by no means certain—temporary virus “cease-fire” over the Northern Hemisphere’s

summer months to expand testing and surveillance capabilities, health-system capacity, and vaccine and treatment development to deal with a second surge.

Re-imagination

A shock of this scale will create a discontinuous shift in the preferences and expectations of individuals as citizens, as employees, and as consumers.

These shifts and their impact on how we live, how we work, and how we use technology will emerge more clearly over the coming weeks and months.

Institutions that reinvent themselves to make the most of better insight and foresight, as preferences evolve, will disproportionally succeed.

Clearly, the online world of contactless commerce could be bolstered in ways that reshape consumer behavior forever. But other effects could prove even more significant as the pursuit of efficiency gives way to the requirement of resilience—the end of supply-chain globalization, for example, if production and sourcing move closer to the end user.

The crisis will reveal not just vulnerabilities but opportunities to improve the performance of businesses.

Leaders will need to reconsider which costs are truly fixed versus variable, as the shutting down of huge swaths of production sheds light on what is ultimately required versus nice to have.

Decisions about how far to flex operations without loss of efficiency will likewise be informed by the experience of closing down much of global production. Opportunities to push the envelope of technology adoption will be accelerated by rapid learning about what it takes to drive productivity when labor is unavailable.

The result: a stronger sense of what makes business more resilient to shocks, more productive, and better able to deliver to customers.

Reform

The world now has a much sharper definition of what constitutes a black-swan event.

This shock will likely give way to a desire to restrict some factors that helped make the coronavirus a global challenge, rather than a local issue to be managed.

Governments are likely to feel emboldened and supported by their citizens to take a more active role in shaping economic activity. Business leaders need to anticipate popularly supported changes to policies and regulations as

society seeks to avoid, mitigate, and preempt a future health crisis of the kind we are experiencing today.

Public-health approaches, in an interconnected and highly mobile world, must rethink the speed and global coordination with which they need to react.

Policies on critical healthcare infrastructure, strategic reserves of key supplies, and contingency production facilities for critical medical equipment will all need to be addressed.

Managers of the financial system and the economy, having learned from the economically induced failures of the last global financial crisis, must now contend with strengthening the system to withstand acute and global exogenous shocks, such as this pandemic’s impact. Educational institutions will need to consider modernizing to integrate classroom and distance learning. The list goes on.

The aftermath of the pandemic will also provide an opportunity to learn from a plethora of social innovations and experiments, ranging from working from home to large-scale surveillance. With this will come an understanding of which innovations, if adopted permanently, might provide substantial uplift to economic and social welfare—and which would ultimately inhibit the broader betterment of society, even if helpful in halting or limiting the spread of the virus.

Regardless of one’s economic philosophy, the global reach of this virus should now more than ever encourage continuous collaboration between individuals, and between the public and private sectors.

The workplace must not be static in the quest for the new normal.

How To Keep Your Company Aligned During The COVID-19

Imagine you are a tenured CEO of a utility company.

You have led your organization through national crises, natural disasters and extreme-weather events.

You have followed a playbook and moved to a “command and control” style to address the cascading effects of natural disasters. But now you’re dealing with COVID-19, a crisis unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. There is no coronavirus playbook.

That utility CEO is not alone.

Leaders across industries can’t treat this pandemic like other events they have experienced or trained for.

First, no single executive has the answer.

In fact, to understand the current situation—let alone make

decisions about how to respond—you will need to involve more people than you’re accustomed to.

In this rapidly changing environment, your people need to respond with urgency, without senior executives and traditional governance slowing things down.

Waiting to decide, or even waiting for approval, is the worst thing they can do.

Yet some level of coordination across teams and activities is crucial for your organization’s response to be effective.

How do you do this?

How do you accomplish the seemingly impossible?

The answer: create a robust network of teams that is empowered to operate outside of the current hierarchy and bureaucratic structures of the organization.

In response to the coronavirus, organizations of all shapes and sizes are moving in this direction.

They are setting up “control towers,” “nerve centers”—which take over some of the company’s critical operations—and other crisis-response teams to deal with rapidly shifting priorities and challenges.

They see that these teams make faster, better decisions, and many are wondering how they can replicate this effort in other parts of their organization.

Creating a central “rapid response” group is the right first move, but leaders shouldn’t stop there, instead focus the steps to creating a cohesive and adaptable network of teams, united by a common purpose, that gathers information, devises solutions, puts them into practice, refines outcomes—and does it all fast.

Four steps to creating a network of teams

1. Launch teams fast and build as you go.

Create teams that will tackle current strategic priorities and key challenges facing the organization.

That’s job number one—everything flows from it.

But leaders should also understand that mistakes will be made.

Maybe these teams won’t be the right ones a month down the road, but the model is built to be flexible and to shift when that happens. Teams have to make the best decisions they can with the information that’s available.

Don’t worry about perfection; the key is to stand up teams and let them course-correct quickly.

It is important to launch two groups in particular: an intelligence team, which makes sure the network has a high level of situational awareness, and a planning-

ahead team, which thinks through scenarios for the recovery and beyond. Each team should be small and contain a mix of individuals with cross-functional skills, acting with a clear mandate but also within guard rails that empower it to act.

Next, pick the team leaders.

These individuals often are not the “usual suspects” typically put in charge of key initiatives.

They need to be a good fit for the task at hand: creative problem solvers with critical thinking skills who are resilient and battle tested. They should also be independent and open to a range of different perspectives. Best of all, they should be willing to say what needs to be said, and to make tough, even unpopular, decisions—ideally with a track record of having done so in the past.

As soon as the teams are set up, leaders should empower them to make decisions quickly.

This will work only if they each have what military leaders refer to as a “commander’s intent”—a clear goal that allows them to make decisions within a set of parameters. This improves both the speed and quality of decision making. It also allows teams to respond to the dynamic demands of the external environment and is one of the strengths of the network approach.

2. Get out of the way but stay connected.

After creating the initial set of teams, a leader must shift toward ensuring that multidirectional communication is taking place—not only across teams within the network but also between these teams and the rest of the organization.

To do this, there should be steady coordination with the central team hub, perhaps in daily stand-up meetings.

The central hub can check in on progress being made and find ways to support teams and make sure they are using first-order problem- solving principles.

This second step is a balancing act: as the network forms and the number of teams increases and the teams make their own connections, the leader is pushing authority down and out but also staying tightly engaged.

The goal here is to empower teams and support them at the same time, without micromanaging.

This is what great coaches do: they listen to many voices and then make tough calls, even when they have insufficient or imperfect information.

Particularly early on, leaders and their close advisers will need to focus on how budgets and people have been distributed across the network of teams, ensure that the highest priority efforts have what they need, stand down or slim teams that are no longer as relevant, and form new teams as circumstances shift.

3. Champion radical transparency and authenticity.

During the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve seen instances of leaders who have behaved boldly, setting priorities for their organizations, going outside of traditional channels to procure needed equipment, speaking personally about how the crisis affects them, and being realistic about the challenges ahead.

In the network of teams context, the leader’s approach to communication will foster an environment of collaboration, transparency, and psychological safety that is crucial to its success.

Julia Rozovsky, one of the leaders of Google’s Project Aristotle—which studied hundreds of Google’s teams to understand why some did well while others stumbled—believes that groups where each member has an equal opportunity to speak is a key variable to team performance. People need to feel invited to share their ideas by the group for peak performance to occur.

When leaders foster connections between and among teams, that will move the model away from a hub and spoke to a more extensive network. In this phase, there’s a lot going on with many teams. You’re doing everything you did in step two, but now your teams aren’t afraid to say something isn’t working. Part of the radical transparency in this phase is that teams can say, “Our plan isn’t good enough, we need to launch another team or several more teams.”

Psychological safety underpins successful networks of teams by enabling the rapid sharing of information to address changing goals, and fostering an environment in which individuals and teams can rapidly test ideas, iterate, and learn from mistakes.

4. Turbocharge self-organization.

We’ve discussed many of the technical points to setting up a network of teams— who should be involved, what their mix of skills should be, how they should

interact, what resources they need, how the leaders should act. And at this point, once the initial network of teams is established and after support from leadership early in the journey, the network should become self-sustaining and self- managing.

As the number of people and teams increases in the network—in both the third and fourth panels—fewer people are connecting with each other all the time, but when they do, it is more meaningful. They know who to go to for what task.

At the same time, too many connections per person can also lead to overload (too many emails, meetings, communications, and touchpoints).

But with the right network structure you can achieve a “small world network,” which may be large with many teams, but it feels much smaller because of the degree of separation between people.

In a well-functioning network, the central hub does not begin to mimic the bureaucratic hierarchy that the network of teams is supplanting.

The central hub stays connected to all the activities, but it avoids becoming a bottleneck that slows down the response.

Liberia’s 2014–15 response to the Ebola crisis is a good example of removing a bottleneck to get to a desired outcome more quickly. The nation’s initial Ebola task force was hampered by slow decision making and hierarchy, so it set up an “Incident Management System” network that empowered teams working on case management, epidemiology, safe burials, and other related issues. Liberia’s president interacted directly with the incident manager and convened a small group of advisers who provided advice on policy and sensitive matters.

These tasks are a tall order for any leader who is working without a playbook.

But a network can help by infusing the organization with a common purpose that allows it to respond more quickly to the challenges unleashed by the pandemic.

It can also highlight important behaviors like empathy, communication, and clear decision making, and point the way to becoming a more dynamic, agile organization down the road.

These uncertain times can also spur leaders to reflect on what kind of organization, culture, and operating model they want to put in place, so they can avoid returning to previous patterns of behavior and instead embrace the next normal.

In response to same, several companies have already listened to the market and taken a risk or two quickly adapting like chameleons to the situation, stretching their brand and catering to new needs, making COVID-19 the main propeller for new growth in some sectors and reviving dormant potential in others.

Going sector-wise, we are seeing opportunities in the below:

 Food – fresh groceries and meat, cold storage, high quality foreign food and beverage, cooking appliances.

 Entertainment – gaming industry, new ways of disseminating content and promoting small businesses, online cooking classes, and virtual visits to landmarks.

 Education, sports, and well-being – virtual classrooms, online fitness classes.

 Services industry – contact-less systems, enhanced delivery services, remote banking services.

 Healthcare and health technology – pharmaceuticals, supplements, medical devices, personal protective equipment (PPE), telemedicine, smart hospitals and online consultations, digital medical assistants, apps and mini-apps, self-diagnosing medical devices.

 Electrical appliances – dishwashers and washing machines, sterilization machines, sweeping robots.

 Office cost reduction opportunities – office rent is expensive and flexible work arrangements are yet to be explored in their full functional scope. This will open up opportunities across multiple and linked sectors, such as office space redesign, building remote work systems, software platforms, and cloud-based services – all of which will likely see significant gains once the world economy goes into post-COVID-19 recovery mode and employers keep their office space costs in check in case their staff will need to work from other locations.

In Conclusion,

How Can Brands Can Successfully Engage With Consumers On Lockdown Due To COVID-19?

There is little doubt that there are some difficult times ahead for some brands especially those in the advertising industry, at least in the short-term.

Work stoppages along with quarantines are changing the landscape for marketers. In this new environment, connecting with consumers digitally can be challenging. Yet, it is especially important for both brands experiencing hard times as well as those experiencing booms to communicate effectively.

According to a Berlin Cameron/Perksy study, a high proportion of millennials believe that marketers can play an important role during the COVID-19 crisis and want to see communications that address the situation in their tone and/or focus on brand initiatives. With this in mind, marketers need to be innovative and creative in their communications with consumers.

Here are some perspectives on how brands should interact with customers during the COVID-19 crisis:

1) Social media channels currently offer special opportunity for innovative engagement

With so many people spending more time at home, internet usage is even higher than normal. In this vein, we are seeing some brands engage innovatively. For example some wine companies are running virtual educational tastings for their wine brands with the goal of connecting with people that may not have the opportunity to visit them physically and continue to grow a stronger and closer relationship with their customers.”

Another example in this vein is the virtual concerts by musical acts who cannot currently perform live shows put on by everyone. While these shows have generally been free and focused on fundraising, they surely build up goodwill. In addition, they keep the act top of mind and likely have the potential to spur online purchases of albums and merchandise, especially if scheduled regularly. These innovative types of strategies can be especially valuable in some industries that are heavily impacted by the virus.

2) Influencer marketing strategies may need to be changed to target “homefluencers” –

As with everyone else, the lives of social media influencers have been impacted by COVID-19. There is a major opportunity for brands who have capitalized on influencers from Instagram, YouTube or other social media channels to capture what can be referred to as the new “homefluencers.” Bearing in mind that influencers “are suddenly facing a moment where the cocktail dress they’ve been trying to sell is no longer for a night out, but for a mirror selfie or a virtual happy hour.” To stay relevant, these individuals become homefluencers and find ways to connect with their followers.

3) Strong consumer brands should deliver simple messages that address COVID-19 and social responsibility –

“Recently, Coca-Cola featured their impossible to miss logo with the letters spread out in Times Square. The vital marketing campaign was a testament to the success that can be derived from keeping the messaging light — yet powerful — all the while spreading a message about the importance of social distancing.”

4) Tone and human-centric messages are especially important for companies experience an uptick or shift in distribution channels during the crisis –

The public is well aware that this crisis has hit many individuals very hard. As a result, messages that focus on the human element are likely to enhance effectiveness.

Remember: The Quarantine Won’t Last Forever

We won’t speculate too much about when the “end” of this period will come, but by all guidance, we’re expecting to emerge from quarantine sometime this year.

This of course is an increasingly difficult one for brands to navigate, but it’s something that we all need to face together. The challenges are significant, and

we’re all hoping that there might be some relief, some light at the end of the tunnel sooner, rather than later. But if that isn’t the case, then we need to work within the confines of the new environment, and consider that in how we look to adjust and stay afloat in increasingly trying times.

The focus should be on positive, helpful information, keeping the perspective of your target audience in mind, and how your business can contribute to improving things, where possible, while also looking to maintain critical customer connections.

We wish everyone health and safety during this unusual time.

#StaySafe.

#StayAtHome.

#ToYourBrandSuccess.

*CharlesO’Tudor is Africa’s premiere brand strategist and engagement consultant.

He is the Group Principal Consultant at ADSTRAT Africa – One of the most innoventive and creative brand consulting firms in Africa.

Headline

The Travails of Dele Farotimi – Out But Gagged –

Published

6 hours ago

December 24, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

Following an X post by a former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, on Tuesday, embattled human rights lawyer, Mr. Dele Farotimi, has finally been released from prison, having met his N30 million bail bond condition. Other requirements for the bail included two sureties, one of whom must be a property owner, a submission of Farotimi’s passport and a prohibition of Farotimi granting media interviews once released.

He wrote, “I am pleased to report that Dele Farotimi is no longer being held at the prison yards in Ekiti State, and is now returning home to Lagos.

“The struggle continues! Happy holidays to you all!”Farotimi has been held in Ekiti Correctional Centre since his arrest on December 3 over alleged defamation charges brought against by another lawyer, Prof Afe Babalola.

Farotimi, on July 2, 2024, released a 116-page book titled Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System, setting the stage for a clash of interest resulting in petitions, persecutions, prosecutions and gagging of privileges and rights.

Peter Obi, the former presidential candidate of the Labour Party at the 2023 ele tions, and a political ally of Farotimi, had volunteered to assist in helping embattled lawyer meet his bail conditions.

Though Farotimi is out of prison, he is a gagged man as he is not permitted to speak about his experiences to the media, and has his movements curtailed as his passport has been withdrawn from him.

Dele Farotimi, a legal practitioner of repute, has been a human rights activist for as long as he has been a lawyer, even longer, but never in the history of his practice or profession, has he been so inundated by crises as he is facing presently. This is as a result of the publication and circulation of his new book, The Nigerian Justice System, recently.

The book received a reserved condemnation from revered legal luminary, Prof Afe Babalola, who is also the Founder of Afe Babalola University in Ekiti State. And ever since, Farotimi has known no peace as he had been a tenant of the Ekiti State Police Command, and lately, the state’s correction centre, where he was remanded by the court, and later released on bail.

Prof Babalola had complained the a portion of the book, had defamed his person and integrity, alleging that he compromised the Supreme Court, prompting him to write a petition to the Police, who swiftly picked up Farotimi in hid Lagos home, and whisked him away to Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, where it is a crime to defame an individual.

The Ekiti State Police Command insisted that the human rights lawyer refused to honour invitations, giving rise to the commando fashion with which they stormed his home and took him away even as criticisms continued to trail the style of the arrest, and Police continuous denial of using unconventional means to execute the arrest.

“We got a petition from a complainant against him, ordering the publication of false news to cause fear and alarm in the public. And that is contrary to and punishable under Section 59 of the Criminal Code. And also the publication of defamatory matter, which is also contrary to Section 375 of the Criminal Code. That was the petition we got.“And after all the means used to give him a fair hearing to come and explain himself were unsuccessful, we got a court order. The command obtained a court order before proceeding to arrest him.“He was only arrested after all attempts to make him come and explain himself proved abortive. He has been investigated and the case is already in court.

“He was only arrested after all attempts to make him come and explain himself proved abortive. He has been investigated and the case is already in court,” the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, explained.

But Farotimi’s lawyer, Temitope Temokun, countered the Police statement, saying his client was never invited by the Command

“He was invited by Zone 2 on two occasions, and he went there.

“But why would you be inviting somebody to Ekiti from Lagos on something that happened in Lagos? However, he was never invited, and if he had been invited, as a lawyer, I would advise him not to go.”

The situation erupted a discourse on various fora, further questioning the the credibility of the already discredited judiciary before some Nigerians, and further popularizing the said contentious book written by Farotimi.

The lawyer reasoned that, “The book was published in Lagos. The defendant has an office in Lagos. And under the Nigerian Criminal Justice System, the law is not that you have to go to where the defendant is, to go and try the accused. You have to try the accused where the act was committed, except he had escaped justice in another state.

“So if he didn’t do that, you cannot abduct him to that state that he didn’t escape to.”

However, on appearance at The Chief Magistrates Court in the Ado Ekiti Division, days later, he was ordered to be remanded in the state’s correctional centre pending consideration of his bail application.

Considering the case, Chief Magistrate Abayomi Adeosun, after listening to the police prosecutor, Samson Osubu, who filed an 16-count allegations to which Farotimi pleaded not guilty, adjourned the matter till December 10, 2024, saying, “The defendant should file a formal application for bail. The matter is adjourned till Tuesday, December 10, 2024. The defendant is hereby ordered remanded at the Correctional Centre, Ado Ekiti.”

Farotimi’s case was further compounded when on December 7 while the adjourned December 10 date was being awaited, the Police slammed a fresh 12-count charge bordering on alleged false information to cause a breakdown of law and order on the detained activist. The legal team of Prof Babalola urged Farotimi to prove his allegations against legal luminary. They also went for the jugular, asking that Farotimi be stripped of his law license as well as ensure the stoppage of the publication and circulation of the book.The charge filed at the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti, by the Inspector General of Police was brought under Section 24 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.

In the fresh charge dated and filed December 6, Farotimi was alleged to have violated the Cybercrimes laws, when he on August 28, 2024 knowingly and intentionally transmitted a false communication in an online interview on Mic On Podcast by Seun Okinbaloye on his YouTube Channel in respect of a book he authored and published with the titled: ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’.

According to the charge, Farotimi was alleged to have in the said broadcast interview claimed that, “Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the judiciary”, a claim which he knew to be false information and made for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.

In count two, the defendant was said to have made the allegation “with the intention of bullying and harassing the named persons thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24 (a) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.”

In another charge, Farotimi was alleged to have on December 2, 2024, acknowledged that there was a charge preferred before a court in Ekiti State against him at the instance of Chief Afe Babalola.

“This preferred, hidden from view and the court had purportedly demanded my presence multiple times and failed to appear before the court and this Court had then proceeded to issue bench warrant for my arrest. This is classic Afe Babalola, I detailed his corruptive influence in my book titled: ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System’ which you know to contain false information for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended,” the charge read in part.

In count four, Farotimi was said to have described the charge in his online broadcast as “fraudulently preferred, hidden from view and the court had purportedly demanded my presence multiple times and I failed to appear before the court and this court had then proceeded to issue bench warrant for my arrest.”

The police further accused the defendant of bullying and harassing Babalola and other named persons when through his online broadcast alleged that after he sued Babalola for libel, “the machines of corruption went into overdrive and a case that should never have been killed at the preliminary stage was killed”.

Count 10 reads: That you Dele Farotimi on December 2, 2024 intentionally sent a message in the course of a press conference held on Online on your YouTube Channel, where you stated that: “I told the truth of his corruption of the society” which you know to contain false information for the purpose of causing breakdown of law and order thereby committed an offence Contrary to and punishable under Section 24(1) (b) of Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act 2015 as amended.

On December 10, his case was further moved to December 20 when he was granted N30 million bail. The bail conditions were completed on December 24 when he was released.

Though Farotimi is released, his freedom, which came at a cost, is not completely guaranteed as he will remain a regular visitor to courts until the final determination, which is likely to drag to the Supreme Court.

The Book Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice SystemNigeria and Its Criminal Justice System gained significant attention following its release, with Amazon listing it as the number one bestseller worldwide in its category. The book’s critical exploration of systemic issues in Nigeria’s legal and judicial landscape resonated with readers across the globe, propelling it to the top of international bestseller charts. the book received a

(4.00 out of 5) from the site which was based on five critic reviews.

The release of the book was accompanied by a public dispute between Dele Farotimi and Afe Babalola, In a controversial development a court in Nigeria issued an injunction halting the further production, distribution, and sale of Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System. The decision came following a lawsuit filed by Babalola, who alleged that certain portions of the book contained defamatory statements and misrepresentations about individuals and institutions within the Nigerian criminal justice system.

FAROTIMI, THE MAN

Dele Farotimi was born on April 27, 1968, and completed his secondary education at Fiditi Grammar School. He later earned a law degree from Lagos State University where he graduated with an LL.B.

A unionist and activist, he served as President of the Student’s Union at the Lagos State University (LASU), in 1994-1995, and was called to the Nigerian bar in 1999.

Farotimi began his legal career at Adesina Ogunlana & Co specializing in advocating for a better Nigeria. Over the years with a deep commitment to human rights and justice. He practiced law actively until his retirement in 2018 at the age of 50. In addition to his legal work, Farotimi is a published author. His book, Do Not Die in Their War, addresses critical issues facing Nigeria, including corruption, governance, and the rule of law. The publication has been lauded for its candid insights and call to action for systemic change.

Dele Farotimi was arrested in lagos state on December 3, 2024, and extradited to Ekiti State by the Nigerian Police Force in connection with his book, Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System. The arrest followed allegations of defamation brought against him by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Afe Babalola. Farotimi’s detention sparked widespread outrage, with activists, legal practitioners, and civil society organizations condemning the action as an attempt to stifle free speech and dissent.

Additional info: The PUNCH, ThisDay and Wikipedia

Headline

Maiden Media Chat: I’m Not Ready to Shrink My Cabinet, Tinubu Declares, Defends Subsidy Removal, Insists on Tax Reforms

Published

11 hours ago

December 24, 2024

Eric

Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu, on Monday firmly defended his administration’s decision to retain his cabinet members, dismissing criticisms that it is “bloated.”

“I am not ready to shrink the size of my cabinet,” Tinubu stated during his first Presidential Media Chat in Lagos.

“I am not prepared to bring down the size of my cabinet,” he reiterated, emphasising that “efficiency” has guided his ministerial appointments.

The president also addressed concerns about the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023, reaffirming his stance that the decision was unavoidable.

“I don’t have any regrets whatsoever in removing petrol subsidy. We are spending our future; we were just deceiving ourselves. That reform was necessary,” he said.

According to Tinubu, the removal of the subsidy has fostered competition in the sector, leading to a gradual reduction in petrol prices.

“The market is being saturated. No monopoly, no oligopoly, a free market economy flowing,” he explained.

Tinubu rejected the idea of price control, asserting his belief in the principles of a free market.

“I don’t believe in price control. We will work hard to supply the market,” he said.

On managing electricity bills, which has tripled since the tariff hike for Band A customers, the president advised Nigerians to adopt better energy management practices.

“It’s not negative to learn to manage. You learn to control your electricity bill, switch off the light. Let’s learn to manage,” Tinubu urged.

On controversial tax reform bills, which have divided the northern and southern parts of the country, the president said “no going back”.

“Tax reform is here to stay; we cannot just continue to do what we were doing years to years in today’s economy. We cannot retool this economy with the old broken books, and I believe I have that capacity that is why I went into the race,” Tinubu said.

“I am focused on what Nigeria needs and what I must do for Nigeria, it is not just going to be eldorado for everybody, but the new dawn is here, I am convinced, and you should be convinced.”

The former governor of Lagos State expressed confidence in his security chiefs, arguing the country is more secure than he met it.

He said, “Today, I have confidence in my security architecture. It is very, very unfortunate that, you know, two decades of wanton killing. I remember when I jumped into the campaign, I had to stop the campaign to pay condolence visits to Madiburi, Katsina, Kajuna, Kola. Today, you can still travel the roads. Before now, it was impossible. It took one incident to mess up an organized environment.”

”I am not probing anybody or service chiefs, you cannot disrespect the institution because of the threat of probe. Give them credit for what they are doing, I am proud of what they are doing today.’’

Headline

Tinubu Presents N47.9trn 2025 Appropriation Bill to NASS

Published

6 days ago

December 18, 2024

Eric

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday, presented the proposed 2025 federal budget to a joint session of the National Assembly.

The N47.9 trillion budget saw a whopping N3.5 trillion allocated to the education sector.

Other sectors that got higher allocations include defence and security – N4.91tn, infrastructure – N4.06tn and health – N2.4tn.

“It is with great pleasure that I lay before this distinguished joint session of the National Assembly, the 2025 Budget of the National Assembly of Nigeria titled, ‘The Restoration Budget’ security peace, building prosperity,” Tinubu said as he concluded his 30-minute presentation at 1:10pm.

This budget highlights the government’s focus on improving education, healthcare, and infrastructure, in line with its ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ aimed at boosting the economy and addressing key national priorities.

The live broadcast of the budget presentation today revealed the government’s plans for the next fiscal year. With a strong emphasis on human capital development, the president highlighted the budget’s commitment to improving the nation’s economic foundation.

Education sector receives major funding

A significant portion of the 2025 budget is dedicated to education, with N3.5 trillion allocated to the sector. President Tinubu stated that part of this funding would be directed toward infrastructure development, including support for Universal Basic Education (UBEC) and the establishment of nine new higher educational institutions.

“We have made provision for N826.90 billion for infrastructural development in the education sector,” Tinubu said.

This allocation aims to improve educational facilities and support ongoing efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s educational system.

Focus on human capital development

During the presentation, the president emphasized the importance of investing in Nigeria’s human capital. “Human capital development, our people are our greatest resource. That is why we are breaking record investment in education, healthcare, our social services,” he remarked.

Tinubu also pointed to the N34 billion already disbursed through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to assist over 300,000 students.

The budget includes continued investments in healthcare and social services as part of the broader goal of enhancing the quality of life for Nigerians.

Strengthening the economy and national security

Tinubu highlighted that the 2025 budget is designed to build a robust economy while addressing critical sectors necessary for growth and security.

“This budget reflects the huge commitment to strengthening the foundation of a robust economy, while addressing the critical sectors essential for the growth and development we envision; and secure our nation,” he said.

The budget aims to tackle key challenges and foster long-term economic stability by prioritizing infrastructure and development in key sectors.

Healthcare and social services allocations

In addition to education, Tinubu focused on the allocation for healthcare and social services. The government plans to increase investments in healthcare infrastructure and services to ensure broader access to essential healthcare for Nigerians.

These investments are part of the administration’s strategy to improve overall living conditions and enhance public health across the country.

President Tinubu’s proposed 2025 budget is said to reflect the administration’s commitment to achieving its development objectives, with a focus on economic growth, human capital development, and infrastructure improvement.

As the National Assembly reviews the budget, the president reiterated his administration’s resolve to address the nation’s most pressing needs.

Source: Nairametrics