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PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus, Speaks on the State of the Nation (Full Text)

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5 years ago

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FULL TEXT OF A WORLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESSED BY THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY, PRINCE UCHE SECONDUS, AT THE NATIONAL SECRETARIAT, ABUJA ON MAY 3, 2021

NIGERIA MUST NOT FAIL
Following series of meetings in the last one week by various organs of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – the National Working Committee (NWC), the National Caucus, the Board of Trustees and the National Executive Committee – the PDP as a political party, has come to the conclusion that the ship of state is adrift and requires help.

We have therefore called this world press conference to brief you and share with you the outcome of our deliberations.

THE STATE OF OUR NATION
As the wise saying goes, the goat does not suffer parturition in tethers while the elders are at home. Thus, the leadership of the PDP come to you today with a very heavy heart regarding the state of our union. It is very clear that Nigeria is on the precipice with arms-bearing non-state actors menacingly overrunning our state and its institutions and daily eroding our sovereignty.

These perilous situations have manifested through terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, arson, and inexplicable murderous rampage across our nation. Government’s monopoly over legitimate coercive powers has been compromised and torpedoed, with criminal gangs let loose across our nation.

It is unimaginable that terrorists, who had been pushed out to the fringes by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, leading to the successful elections of 2015, have since boldly reasserted themselves and are now taking territories in five local governments of Niger State, which is only two hours from Abuja. It is also important to note that the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, who by his position, is armed with credible intelligence, raised the alarm that terrorists and bandits were making inroads into the towns in Kaduna state. Also, noteworthy is the alarm raised by the Governor of Nasarawa State, Engr. Sule Abdullhahi, that the Boko Haram were occupying territories in his State. A strategic and intelligent interpretation of these is that Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is surrounded. Presently, the nation has witnessed an upsurge of kidnapping in the FCT, further giving vent to the assertions of the Governors.

In addition to this, is the escalation of killings, arson, bloodletting, and kidnappings of Nigerians, including our men and women in uniforms across the nation.

Between January and now, no fewer than 741 Nigerians have been murdered by bandits and terrorists; dozens of police formations and security checkpoints, have been attacked, leaving scores dead. An attack on a correctional facility in Owerri, Imo State, led to the release of 1,844 inmates.

Furthermore, from the kidnap of 110 Dapchi school girls, to the kidnap of 344 students from Government Science School in Kankara, Katsina State, kidnap of 42 travellers between Kotangora and Minna, Niger State; abduction of another 27 students in Niger State; kidnap of about 300 students of Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State; abduction in March this year of about 30 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna, who are still being held in captivity; and the abduction of the students of the Greenfield University, who were intermittently slain without any response from government. Nigeria has become an expansive field of mass kidnapping and murder under the watch of the APC-led Federal Government.

THE ECONOMY
This government has been completely rudderless regarding the economy. We remember that prior to the emergence of this administration, Nigeria’s debt profile stood at less than $9.4 billion, (N1.8 trillion) having benefitted from the efforts of a previous PDP administration led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for a debt relief of over $18 billion. Presently, Nigeria’s debt burden has since risen to N32.9 trillion. It is curious that the only economic management tool known by this government is just mind-boggling borrowing. This includes borrowing for recurrent expenditure as well as for consumption.

The incompetence and absence of a clear policy for the economy is fast leading us into the woods of insolvency, which was recently confirmed by NNPC’s confession that it would not be able to make remittances to FAAC for the month of April as well as the confusing response of government regarding the appropriate use of Ways and Means (printing money) to address our mounting economic challenges.

It is also very clear that despite the whimsical closure and reopening of borders, the supposed consumption of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) alone has increased from about 30 million litres in 2015 to over 60 million litres even when the production capacity of the economy has seriously diminished. Many companies and businesses have dumped Nigeria for neighbouring countries because of an apparent inclement operational environment. Therefore, your guess is as good as ours as to whether the subsidy is for us, the citizens, or for the pockets of privileged few in government.

Further source of worry is the exchange rate that was at N180 to a dollar in 2014, now stands at nearly N500 to a dollar contrary to the APC’s propaganda-laden promise of matching a dollar to one naira.

Inflation has been on the rise. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the consumer price index, which measures inflation increased, stood at 18.17 per cent (year-on-year) in March 2021. We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world; and while one of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals is to end extreme poverty by 2050, APC has continued to lead the nation in the opposite direction. With over 86.9 million citizens living in extreme poverty, Nigeria overtook India as the poverty of the world in 2018, according to the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Nigeria’s corruption rating has been consistently worse under the APC-led administration.

These and more clearly shows that the APC-led government has left the economy more than 100 per cent worse than they met it.

MISMANAGEMENT OF THE NATION’S DIVERSITY AND THE REFUSAL TO ENGAGE
In its formation, character, modus operandi, and belief in the eternal destiny of this country to succeed, the PDP, while not claiming perfection, has always taken deliberate steps to engage Nigerians and take constructive approach to nation-building. In this vein, the PDP in June 12, 2014 organised an all-party conference aimed at de-politicisation of the war against insurgency, which the incumbent President and Commander-in-Chief, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as well as General Muhammadu Buhari (as he then was) attended.

In January 14, 2015, a peace accord was encouraged and endorsed by all political parties, which led to a successful 2015 election. The PDP also initiated a standing National Peace Committee, which is still in existence. And of course, the PDP initiated and successfully hosted the 2014 National Conference to deescalate tension and chart a trajectory for the social, economic, and political stability and prosperity for our nation.

Having done all these, we are worried that the APC government, in its character, formation, and modus operandi, has successfully mismanaged our diversity. It is clear that the core philosophy of the APC is to run a government of exclusion. They do not constructively engage Nigerians, except for erratic statements by Malam Garba Shehu, which further fans the embers of disaffection. Its sheer arrogance coupled with an aloof President is a disaster waiting to happen.

Increasingly, Mr. President is absent from duty. The symbol of authority of the Executive is simply not there, leading to various centres of power in the Executive, which affect the economy, security and manifest in lack of coordination and synergy in government operation.

The apparent nepotism in the appointment of the top echelon of the security forces, and the commanding heights of the institutions of government further fuel agitations across the country. In fact, winning elections has been reduced by the APC to more of sharing the spoils of war than running a government to the benefit of all citizens. This could be the only discernable reason for the President to appoint and still retains, as a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that has access to the sensitive data of Nigerians, a self-confessed bigot, who had voluntarily expressed happiness at the killing of people of other faith. It is also curious that such an individual like Isa Pantami, scaled through the vetting by Department of State Security (DSS) ahead of confirmation by the Senate.

Granted that he may have changed in his views, is it possible that millions of youth radicalised by his preaching have also repented from extreme views and concomitant violent conducts? The PDP holds that our present circumstance is attributable to Dr. Isa Pantami and people who share and preach his views.

The very first step is for Pantami to be immediately relieved of his office and handed over for investigation, and if found wanting, he should be prosecuted.

THE WAY FORWARD
Dear compatriots, we come to you today to reassert our confidence in the future of our union, cognisant of the spirit and letters of our Constitution, and believing that we are all better together; that we are one nation under God, determined to build a formidable nation state. We have not come to play politics, but to work in concert with our compatriots to rescue of our nation from these avoidable perilous circumstances.

COMBATING INSECURITY
We therefore:
1. Demand for the immediate up-scaling of the personnel strength of our men and women in uniform and make adequate provisions of kinetic instruments of war and law enforcement. Our armed forces should be adequately equipped and their welfare a top priority.

In addition, efforts should be made towards partnership with foreign governments and miscellaneous entities for the war efforts. The situation in our country is not normal and exceptional steps should be taken to restore it to normalcy. The PDP, as a body, is willing to give a helping hand in this direction.

2. Call for the establishment of a State Police: We call on all citizens to support the quest for state police as is the tradition in other federations. Mindful of the current plethora of vigilante in various parts of the country, which have not been enabled to carry out all the elements of effective policing, we call on the governors of the 36 states, the leadership and members of the National Assembly, the Speakers of the State Assemblies, relevant agencies of government, to occasion a summit for a one-stop shop regarding the creation, structure, and management of state police. In spite of the concerns over state police, it is doubtful that 36 state police services can be easily overwhelmed, as is the case now with the unitary police. Besides, any challenges can be addressed through legislative framework to make abuse extremely difficult, if not impossible.
3. We also call for the deployment of technology in the fight against terror, banditry, and other crimes. The PDP demands that all culprits should be brought to book. The apparent failure of intelligence to track attacks by bandits and follow up on them is a clear failure of the intelligence community. The Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited NIGCOMSAT, established many years ago by a PDP administration, is designed for this purpose and others.

4. States where matters of national security challenges originate or exist should be invited to the National Security Council Meeting for deliberation and problem-solving interactions.

5. We call for the creation of National Boarders Protection Force to secure our borders. This will include an integrated border protection system that will draw personnel and equipment from existing armed service and Immigration

We cannot continue to watch while terrorist and bandits continue to levy war on our nation, through our porous borders. This borders force should be equipped with reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, prevention, and enforcement. It should therefore have air, sea, and land capability.

6. There must be a synergy and cooperation among the armed services, strategically and operationally. There is no reason a theatre Commander should not have within his control the deployment of the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy in his operational area.

7. All culprits, who have levied war on Nigeria, should be brought to book. It is unfathomable that several mass kidnappings have been successfully staged with the culprits not being held to account. It is a shameful irony that a few bandit leaders that have been taken out were killed by rival gangs and not our security agencies.

If Sheik Gumi could detect and engage the bandits, we do not understand why our security agencies cannot track, arrest, and prosecute them.

8. The administration of President Buhari should completely shed weight on arrogance, lack of respect for Nigerians and its pretences of being an island of integrity.

He should begin to engage the citizens directly. He should address the nation on the various issues escalating tension in the land and pushing the nation farther to the tips of precipice.

It is serious political malpractice, for Mr. President to stand aloof, say nothing, do nothing and simply wish that the problems will somehow go away. It is a great disservice to the Nigerian people for Mr. President to abandon his presidential duties to two media handlers who resort to issuing meaningless and annoying PRESS STATEMENTS in the name of an amorphous and questionable organisation called “THE PRESIDENCY”. Enough of trivialising governance and trifling with the lives, livelihoods and wellbeing of the Nigerian people.

Furthermore, Mr President needs to convince Nigerians that his government is not shielding or protecting terrorists.

RESCUING THE ECONOMY
1. We hold that our government should stop borrowing. Our future generations are being mortgaged and railroaded into avoidable debt trap. APC should do away with their nepotism and hire experts that will help creatively navigate the nation through the dire economic challenges they have led the nation into.

2. We also believe that the management of the economy, including the management of Ways and Means should be done in a more professional manner to avert a collapse of the economy. The country is bleeding economically and the operations of the NNPC must be investigated and oversighted by the parliament. The topsy-turvy situation where Mr. President, who is the Minister of Petroleum, approves oil wells only to reverse himself in a matter of weeks as demonstrated in the case of Addax and Kaztech/Slavic consortium (OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137) and others like that should be investigated.

TURNING THE PAGE ON DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT
1. The tension and current separatist agitations threatening the corporate existence of Nigeria owe their origins to the perfunctory management of diversity by the APC-led Federal Government, as every action of this administration goes to confirm the fears of the victims and legitimises the agitations of the separatist groups.

Worse still, instead of engaging Nigerians, this administration resorts to harassment and intimidation of voices of dissent. They clamp down on democratic expressions against exclusion as well as political opposition, weaponising critical institutions like the armed forces, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and even regulatory agencies like the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), etc. Even an appearance on a national television or radio could warrant a clampdown by the NBC or invitation by the EFCC or ICPC. We fear that this, if not checked, could soon graduate to assassination of political opponents and voices of dissent.

All calls and entreaties on the Federal Government to accommodate the South East in the headship of the nation’s armed forces and security agencies have fallen on deaf ears to the chagrin of nation-building.

Therefore, we call on the APC-led government to live up to the spirit and letters of our constitution to ensure that all sections of the country are equitably represented in all agencies and organs of government, including the armed forces. This will build loyalty and enhance security both in strategic and real terms. It will give every part of the country a sense of belonging and will be very helpful in intelligence gathering. As known world over, no victim of injustice is ever interested in peace. In this wise, we strongly subscribe to an all stakeholders Security and Solution Summit that will deescalate the current situation. This will now further collaborate the efforts of the leaders of the National Assembly, the state governors, Speakers of Assemblies, and relevant government agencies and other stakeholders in putting together a one-stop summit to find solutions to the menacing security situation in the country.

DEVOLUTION OF POWERS
1. We call for the devolution of more powers to the states and local governments. From our experience since the first military regime in 1966, the Federal Government has increasingly bitten more than it can chew and the nation is crumbling under the weight of a behemoth Federal Government. Items like Railway, Aviation, Power, Police, among others should immediately devolve to trigger productivity and creative leadership that will enable the constituent parts to develop. Such new responsibilities should also come with consequential increment in the resources available to the states.

ELECTORAL ACT
1. It is worrisome that the report of the National Assembly Joint Committee on INEC, which finished its work since February 2021 is yet to be laid in the two chambers of the National Assembly. We are aware that the work of the Committee, which also benefitted from the Joint Technical Committee on the Repeal and Re-enactment of the Electoral Act comprising select members of the National Assembly, INEC, the Civil Society, and other experts made far-reaching recommendations that would benefit our electoral system and democracy. This includes early primaries, such that if approved by the National Assembly and signed by the President, INEC is expected to call for nominations in February 2022, while political parties will have until July 2022 to conduct primaries and submit a list of their candidates.

Importantly, we understand that the report comprises proposals for extensive use of technology in our elections, including electronic transmission of results.

These are critical moves at repositioning our elections by allowing INEC enough time to prepare for elections and reduce the logistical challenges; allow political parties enough time to conduct primaries and handle the contestations; and reduce election malpractices that occur during result collation.

We are therefore alarmed at the decision of the APC-led leadership of the National Assembly to sit on such an important report, contrary to their promise to pass the Electoral Act by March, which has now been shifted to June. It is imperative to state that INEC and government of the United Kingdom have equally raised concerns over these undue delays, as it appears this current amendment is going the way of the Electoral Act amendment in the 8th National Assembly that was ultimately not signed by Mr. President.

We therefore invite well-meaning Nigerians, the international community, the CSOs and stakeholders to apply pressure on the leadership of the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari, and the APC to immediately have the report laid, considered, passed, and signed by President Buhari.

CONCLUSION
Gentlemen of the press, with the tension in the land, it is very clear to us that leadership is made of sterner stuff, not propaganda. From every indication, from the actions and body language of the APC-led administration, it is very clear that there is a mission to deconstruct our country, Nigeria. All men and women of goodwill must not allow this to happen.

We are supremely confident in the words of John Maxwell that some people, in this case, the APC and this administration, could stop the nation and set us back temporarily, but we, the citizens, are the only ones that can stop ourselves permanently.

We therefore believe in the manifest destiny of this nation to succeed because we are one nation under God. But all hands must be on deck. Let us come together and pull the nation from the brink. It is time for all Nigerians to stand up and be counted as we commence the journey to rescue our nation from the current misrule by the APC.

The commitment of the PDP to the Nigerian people is to lead the charge towards the restoration of normalcy to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. PDP will be engaging the international community and friends of Nigeria regarding the volatile situation in Nigeria. We hope they will lend their voices henceforth, knowing the implications of an implosion of Nigeria, God forbids, for the rest of the world. But on the whole, the penchant to emasculate, muscle and intimidate opposition figures will not deter us from this noble cause.

God bless Nigeria.

Thank you.

Prince Uche Secondus
National Chairman

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Open Letter to Global Leadership: Forging New Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainable Governance

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2 weeks ago

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December 6, 2025

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By Tolulope A. Adegoke, PhD

“Sustainable governance in the 21st century requires a new operating system: one where intergenerational partnership is not an aspiration, but an engineered and mandatory feature of all decision-making.” – Tolulope A. Adegoke, PhD

Esteemed Leaders, Heads of State, and Architects of Global Policy,

As we navigate the third decade of the 21st century, our world is suspended between unparalleled technological promise and profound systemic peril. This duality defines our epoch. Yet, within this tension lies a persistent, critical flaw in our global governance model: the exclusion of youth from the formal structures of power and long-term decision-making. This letter posits that this is not merely a representational gap, but the central governance failure of our time. To secure a stable, prosperous, and equitable future, we must enact nothing less than a New Intergenerational Partnership—a binding, structural, and practical commitment to integrate youth into the very heart of political and corporate leadership. The alternative is not stagnation, but a heightened risk of repeated crises and a forfeiture of our collective potential.

Deconstructing the Crisis of Legitimacy and Innovation

Our current systems are hemorrhaging legitimacy among the young. This disillusionment stems from a recognizable pattern: short-term political cycles incentivize policies that harvest immediate rewards while deferring complex costs—ecological, financial, and social—to a future electorate that had no say in their creation. This creates a dangerous democratic deficit.

·         The Foresight Deficit: Young people are not a monolithic bloc, but they are unified as the primary stakeholders in long-term outcomes. Their lived experience—from navigating precarious job markets shaped by automation to mobilizing for climate justice—grants them an intuitive, granular understanding of emerging realities. Excluding this perspective from high-level strategy results in policies that are reactive, myopic, and often obsolete upon implementation. For instance, regulatory frameworks for artificial intelligence or biotechnology crafted without the generation that will be most affected by their societal integration are inherently flawed.

·         The Innovation Imperative: The challenges we face are novel and interconnected. Solving them requires cognitive diversity and a willingness to dismantle legacy paradigms. Youth bring this disruptive ingenuity. They are natural systems thinkers, adept at collaborating across digital networks and cultural boundaries. Their inclusion is not about adding a “youth perspective” as a separate item on an agenda; it is about fundamentally improving the quality of decision-making through necessary cognitive diversity. It is the difference between digitizing an old process and reimagining the system entirely.

A Bilateral Blueprint: Cultivating Capacity and Engineering Access

Bridging the intergenerational divide requires a twin-pillar strategy: one pillar dedicated to rigorous preparation, the other to guaranteed access. One without the other is insufficient.

Pillar One: The Cultivation of “Next-Gen Stewards” Through Ecosystem Reform

We must re-engineer societal institutions to build not just skilled employees, but wise, ethical, and resilient stewards capable of wielding complex responsibility.

1.      Transformative Education Systems: Our educational institutions, from secondary to tertiary levels, must pivot from knowledge transmission to capacity cultivation. Core curricula should be restructured around:

o    Complex Problem-Solving: Using real-world case studies on climate migration, public health, or digital ethics.

o    Civic Architecture: Teaching the mechanics of governance, policy drafting, public finance, and diplomatic negotiation.

o    Ethical Leadership: Embedding philosophy, mediation, and integrity frameworks into all disciplines.

o    Planetary Literacy: Ensuring every graduate understands the core principles of ecological systems and sustainable economics.

2.      Global Mentorship & Fellowship Networks: We propose the creation of a Global Stewardship Fellowship, a publicly and privately funded initiative that places high-potential young adults into year-long, rotating apprenticeships across sectors—spending time in a ministerial office, a multinational corporation’s sustainability division, a UN agency, and a grassroots NGO. This builds empathy, systemic understanding, and a powerful professional network dedicated to the public good.

3.      The “Civic Sandbox”: National and local governments should allocate dedicated “innovation budgets” and regulatory sandboxes for youth-led pilot projects. Whether it’s testing a universal basic income model in a municipality, deploying blockchain for land registry transparency, or piloting a zero-waste circular economy program, these sandboxes provide the critical space for experimentation, managed failure, and scalable success.

Pillar Two: Structural Integration – From Tokenism to Tenured Influence

Preparation must be met with irrevocable access. We must engineer specific, mandated entry points into leadership.

1.      Legislated Quotas for “Next-Gen Leadership Roles”: We advocate for national legislation requiring that a minimum percentage (e.g., 25-30%) of all senior governmental advisory roles, board positions in state-owned enterprises, and diplomatic corps slots be filled by individuals under 35, selected through meritocratic and competitive processes. These cannot be silent roles; they must carry voting rights, budgetary oversight, and public reporting responsibilities.

2.      Mandatory Youth Policy Advisory Panels: Beyond junior minister roles, every major ministry or department should be required to establish a Mandatory Youth Policy Advisory Panel. This formally recognized body, composed of young experts and representatives, would receive all non-classified policy briefings and legislative drafts. Their mandate would be to produce and publish independent, alternative analyses, impact assessments, and recommendations, which would then be formally submitted for official parliamentary or congressional review alongside the government’s proposals. This ensures their expert critique and innovative ideas become a mandatory part of the legislative record and public debate.

3.      Intergenerational Co-Leadership Models: For specific, future-focused portfolios—such as Minister of Digital Transformation, Minister of Climate Resilience, or Minister of Future of Work—we propose a mandatory co-leadership model. One experienced administrator and one appointed youth leader would share the title and decision-making authority, forcing collaborative governance and instant knowledge transfer.

The Cross-Sectoral Dividend: Concrete Solutions Emerge

This structural inclusion is not an isolated political reform; it is the catalyst for unlocking solutions across every sector.

·         Economic Renaissance: Young entrepreneurs are at the forefront of the purpose-driven economy. Their direct influence in economic ministries can redirect investment toward regenerative agriculture, renewable energy micro-grids, and the care economy, creating jobs while solving social problems. They are best positioned to formalize the vast informal sector through inclusive fintech and platform cooperatives.

·         Accelerated Climate & Ecological Restoration: Young leaders treat the climate crisis with the urgency it demands. Their inclusion moves debates from cost distribution to opportunity creation, prioritizing investments in green infrastructure, biodiversity credits, and just transition policies that are both socially fair and ecologically sound.

·         Trust-Based Technological Governance: From data privacy to algorithmic accountability, young digital natives can design governance frameworks that protect citizens without stifling innovation. They can pioneer models for digital public infrastructure, data cooperatives, and civic tech that enhance transparency and rebuild public trust.

·         Social Cohesion and Narrative Renewal: Having often grown up in more diverse societies, young leaders can design immigration policies that are humane and economically smart, craft narratives that counter polarization, and rebuild community fabric through culture and sport, addressing the loneliness and alienation that fuel extremism.

The Imperative for a Global Commitment: From Isolated Action to Collective Norm

This cannot be a piecemeal, nation-by-nation endeavor. The scale of our interconnected challenges demands a synchronized, normative shift.

We therefore call for the immediate development and ratification of a Global Framework for Intergenerational Partnership (GFIP), to be adopted at the United Nations General Assembly. This Framework would:

1.      Establish Clear Metrics: Create a standardized index measuring youth inclusion in legislatures, cabinets, corporate boards, and diplomatic missions, with annual public reporting and peer review.

2.      Create a Financing Mechanism: Launch a dedicated global fund, capitalized by sovereign and private contributions, to finance the Global Stewardship Fellowship, Civic Sandboxes, and youth policy incubators worldwide.

3.      Institute Diplomatic Recognition: Incorporate a nation’s GFIP compliance and performance into international assessments, credit ratings, and partnership considerations, making intergenerational equity a core component of a nation’s global standing.

A Final Word to Two Generations:

To Emerging Leaders: Your mandate is to prepare with relentless rigor. Master the details, but never lose the vision. Cultivate the humility to learn from the past and the courage to redesign the future. Lead with evidence, empathy, and an unwavering commitment to integrity.

To Established Leaders: Your defining legacy lies in the leaders you raise, not just the monuments you build. True statesmanship in this century is measured by your ability to voluntarily share power, to mentor without condescension, and to institutionalize pathways that make your own position, one day, gracefully obsolete in a better system. This is the highest form of patriotism and planetary stewardship.

True leadership is measured not by the monuments it builds, but by the successors it empowers. The urgent task of our time is to forge an unbreakable partnership between experience and vision—to build the scaffolding for the next generation to stand higher than we ever could.

The status quo is a failing strategy. The New Intergenerational Partnership is the pragmatic pathway forward. The time for deliberation has passed; the era of implementation must begin.

Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke, AMBP-UN is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in History and International Studies, Fellow Certified Management Consultant & Specialist, Fellow Certified Human Resource Management Professional, a Recipient of the Nigerian Role Models Award (2024), and a Distinguished Ambassador For World Peace (AMBP-UN). He has also gained inclusion in the prestigious compendium, “Nigeria @65: Leaders of Distinction”

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In a RUDE World, Organisations Are Learning to Stay CALM

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3 weeks ago

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November 27, 2025

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In an age shaped by volatility, rapid shifts and relentless uncertainty, experts are urging organisations to rethink the very foundations of how they understand and respond to risk. The global business terrain is no longer defined by tidy cycles or predictable patterns.

It has morphed into what analysts now describe as a RUDE world: Random, Unpredictable, Dynamic and Entropic. These forces, once mere academic abstractions, now sit at the heart of every crisis briefing and boardroom conversation.

The consequences of ignoring this reality have been played out repeatedly on the global stage. Companies that cling to reactive strategies find themselves swamped by disruptions that arrive faster and hit harder than anything prior generations endured. Financial shocks, supply chain collapses, cybersecurity breaches and sudden reputational storms have shown that risks rarely stay contained. They jump boundaries, multiply and collide in ways that defy traditional planning.

A growing body of thought argues that the strategic antidote is a CALM response. CALM, which stands for Consistent, Anticipatory, Logical and Measured, offers a deliberate move away from firefighting and towards resilient, disciplined decision making. It urges organisations to stop chasing crises and start building systems that can hold steady even when the world does not.

A new book on the subject crystallises this shift by presenting a panoramic map of organisational exposure: fifty distinct risk categories, grouped into seven interconnected families. Far from being a checklist of threats, this framework functions as a living ecosystem. It invites leaders to stop examining risk as isolated problems and instead see the company as an integrated organism where one failure can cascade into many.

Beyond offering structure, the fifty categories serve as a diagnostic lens that widens an organisation’s field of vision. Each category highlights a particular pressure point, but their real power emerges when viewed together. Patterns surface that no siloed team could detect alone. A technical risk may quietly trigger a reputational issue, which then influences regulatory exposure, which eventually feeds into operational disruption. The framework forces executives to confront an uncomfortable truth: vulnerabilities rarely travel alone. By mapping risks this way, organisations gain an early warning system that sharpens judgment, strengthens preparedness and transforms vague uncertainty into targeted, informed action.

The RUDE characteristics explain why this broader lens is essential. Randomness describes shocks that arrive without pattern, making historical trends all but useless. Unpredictability captures the sudden appearance of new forces, from emerging technologies to cultural shifts, that can upend an industry overnight. The dynamic nature of global systems ensures that a decision made in a single office can send tremors through an entire enterprise. Entropy, the most insidious of the four, reflects internal decay: wasted energy, fading accountability and the slow erosion of organisational purpose.

Each threat finds its counterbalance in the CALM disciplines. Consistency stabilises organisations against random shocks. Anticipation replaces uncertainty with informed foresight. Logic cuts through dynamic complexity with clarity. A measured approach resists the quiet drift into disorder.

The danger of ignoring this interconnectedness is illustrated most clearly in the anatomy of a cybersecurity breach. What begins as a technical problem quickly spirals into a legal battle, a reputational crisis, a financial strain and, ultimately, an internal cultural wound that erodes trust. Treating such a crisis as an IT issue alone blinds organisations to the wider fallout. This fragmentation is the hidden vulnerability of modern business, and it is precisely what the RUDE framework seeks to eliminate.

The authors argue that RUDE creates a shared language for institutions that have long struggled to speak across departmental divides. It exposes the threads that link one risk to another. Most importantly, it embeds foresight into everyday operations, allowing leaders to predict how a small disturbance could morph into a systemic threat.

The message resounding through the research is unequivocal. Risk management can no longer be confined to compliance manuals or crisis playbooks. In a RUDE world, risk is not only a hazard; it is a resource, a source of competitive intelligence and strategic advantage. A mature, integrated risk program becomes less like a brake and more like a steering wheel, guiding organisations with confidence through turbulence that once seemed uncontrollable.

For leaders determined not just to survive disruption but to navigate it with mastery, the shift from RUDE to CALM is emerging as a strategic necessity. The stormy future remains, but with the right framework, it becomes something that can be read, understood and navigated. The waves keep rising, yet the organisation learns how to sail.

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Voice of Emancipation: Can Our Kings Be Trusted?

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4 months ago

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August 31, 2025

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By Kayode Emola

For the umpteenth time, it is worth asking ourselves if our traditional rulers can be trusted to serve the interests of the Yoruba people. We recall how Afonja betrayed the Alaafin and sold Oyo-Ile to the Fulani prince Alimi. One would have thought our Yoruba people would have learnt a lot of lessons from that incident, but it feels like we’ve learnt nothing.

Recently, we have seen reports of villagers fleeing their communities in Babanle and other towns of Kwara State circulating on social media. One would have expected the whole world to be outraged, like in the case of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in France in 2015. Where the whole world rallied round the victims of that shooting, but alas, no one seems to be bothered enough to act. By now, we should have witnessed government forces moving into the communities in Kwara State to restore law and order. Giving the villagers succour in the comfort of their own homes.

However, everyone in Nigeria is silent as is it doesn’t affect them directly, emboldening the terrorists to continue their assaults on Yorubaland unchallenged. For other Yoruba people who do not live in the area, they couldn’t be bothered to cry out because danger seems far away in Kwara state and not in the suburban Yorubaland like Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and other places like that.

Truth be told, if we can’t even cry out and be outraged about the numerous deaths that go unaccounted for, who do we expect to cry out on our behalf? The world will stay silent to our plight since we see the decimation of Yorubaland as the norm rather than something to act about.

The worst of it is the recent revelation that two monarchs in Kwara State are directly involved in the kidnapping and killings going on in the communities. The King of Alabe and Babanla is currently in police custody for their roles in terrorist activities going on in their domain. How can we be sure that several other monarchs are not causing similar havoc in their domains?

If two traditional leaders in Kwara are complicit in the atrocities going around them, how many more of our kings and chiefs are involved in criminal activities elsewhere? We have been crying that the Miyeti Allah cattle herders are killing innocent farmers on their own land and destroying their crops.

Instead of the Yoruba traditional leaders banding together, and looking for a lasting solution for their people, they sat on their hands doing nothing. As though if all the people are killed, they will have no subject to rule over.

Obviously, many of our kings and traditional rulers are in bed with these cattle herders, which is why this problem continues to fester. Many of our kings and their kinsmen are themselves the ones inviting the Fulani cattle herders to raise livestock for them, knowing that it is a profitable business.

Every single day, over eight thousand cows are being slaughtered in Lagos State, let alone other Yoruba states, making the trade one of the most profitable businesses outside of crude oil in Nigeria. Had the cattle herders conducted their business like any other businessperson in Nigeria, there wouldn’t have been any reason for clashes and the killings that go with it.

However, the fact that many Yoruba traditional leaders are the ones collecting bribes from these herders to roam the forest and bushes makes the matter a complicated one. How can a king who is entrusted with the safety of lives and properties in his domain be the same one who is endangering them?

Since we now know that many of our kings are themselves the ones putting the lives and properties of our people in peril. I believe it is time to put the spotlight on the custodian of our traditions and culture in check. We need to know those among them who are putting the lives and properties of their communities in danger and call them out.

As such, maybe we can bring some normalcy into our communities and protect the lives and properties of innocent people. If only we could do a statewide evangelism to see which of the kings and traditional rulers are involved with the cattle herders and the terrorists invading Yorubaland. Then we may be able to rid ourselves of the menace that is currently ripping the social fabric of Yorubaland into pieces bit by bit.

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