Feature/OPED
A Gallows Called Northern Nigeria
By Sani Abdulrazak, PhD
Believe whatever you want, but this government was not, is not, and sadly will not be serious about securing the lives and properties of Nigerians, which is its core and fundamental responsibility, unless citizens demand accountability and consequences for failure. Whatever they say is far from the reality on the ground. More troubling is the apparent complacency of many northern elites who seem to believe they are insulated from the insecurity consuming the region. Oh, how mistaken they are. It will surely reach their doorstep if they don’t do something about it; make no mistake about it.
Across Northern Nigeria, insecurity has evolved from a periodic challenge into a defining feature of daily life. Despite rising security expenditures and repeated assurances from those in authority, banditry, insurgency, kidnappings, cattle rustling, and communal conflicts continue to devastate communities. Thousands have lost their lives, countless others have been displaced, and many farming communities have either been abandoned or are operating under constant threat. While political and administrative centres often enjoy relative security, ordinary citizens in rural areas continue to bear the heaviest burden of the crisis. This growing disconnect has reinforced the perception that those in power are detached from the realities confronting the people they govern.
And then came the painful news of General Rabe Abubakar’s death; a tragedy that lays bare the helplessness consuming our region. For nearly two weeks, a retired General and his wife vanished into the shadows of Northern Nigeria, yet the vast security architecture of the state could neither locate nor rescue them. One cannot help but imagine the long, agonising days they endured: waiting, hoping, praying that help was on its way. But help never came. A man who once dedicated his life to defending this nation met his end in captivity, while his loved ones and an anxious public waited for a miracle that never arrived. If a General could disappear for days with no rescue in sight, what hope remains for the ordinary farmer, trader, teacher, or student whose name will never make the headlines? His death is not merely a personal tragedy; it is a haunting symbol of a North where even those who once stood at the pinnacle of the security establishment are no longer beyond the reach of the monster that has been allowed to grow unchecked.
The North has become a giant gallows; If you are residing in Northern Nigeria today, you are just waiting to be killed, somehow, someday…until we radically and collectively take this monster head-on by addressing the issue of out-of-school children, scrapping completely the almajiri system, reviving parental and societal values and responsibilities, enforcing birth control, and creating jobs for our teeming youths via agriculture and by reviving our comatose industries, we will not come out of this madness masked as insurgency, banditry, and kidnappings.
The roots of this crisis run much deeper than the activities of armed groups. Northern Nigeria carries the largest burden of out-of-school children in the country, leaving millions of young people without the education, skills, and opportunities necessary to build productive lives. The Almajiri system, once a respected institution for Islamic learning, has in many places deteriorated into a mechanism that exposes children to neglect, poverty, and exploitation. Thousands of young boys roam the streets without adequate parental care, formal education, or vocational training, making them vulnerable to recruitment by criminal and extremist networks.
Demographic pressure further compounds the problem. Many northern states continue to record high fertility rates while struggling to provide sufficient schools, healthcare services, and employment opportunities. The result is a rapidly expanding youth population confronted by limited prospects and widespread unemployment. In such circumstances, criminal gangs and insurgent groups find a steady pool of recruits. Breaking this cycle requires a comprehensive approach that combines educational expansion, meaningful almajiri reform, responsible family planning, youth empowerment, agricultural development, industrial revival, and targeted vocational training programmes. Security operations may suppress violence temporarily, but only social and economic transformation can remove the conditions that sustain it.
A Gallows Called Arewa
But just like the government, the masses are so not ready; they feign oblivion to the reality facing us. They instead channel their energy and time to ‘trending’ celebrity topics and await the next celebrity nude videos/pictures and chats to aimlessly talk about. The celebrities are only after immorality or waiting to endorse the politicians with the highest bid; the traditional rulers are either afraid or consumed by the menace.
This collective distraction has weakened society’s ability to confront its most pressing challenges. While communities suffer from poverty, violence, and underdevelopment, public discourse is often dominated by trivial controversies. Yet the North has repeatedly demonstrated that communities can mobilise when properly organised. Faith-based groups, youth associations, community leaders, and local organisations have played important roles in peacebuilding and conflict resolution in several areas. Reawakening civic consciousness and redirecting public attention toward education, security, and development must therefore become a priority.
The crisis also demands courage from those traditionally entrusted with providing moral, intellectual, and cultural leadership. At critical moments in our history, influential voices helped shape public opinion, challenge injustice, and mobilise communities toward collective action. Today, however, many of those voices appear either absent, intimidated, or resigned to the status quo, creating a leadership vacuum at a time when Northern Nigeria desperately needs guidance.
Our intellectuals have gone back to their shells, and rightly so. Our elders have done their part and are giving up on us. The most painful part is that our religious leaders, who spent time and energy convincing us that this government would usher in a golden age reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire, have disturbingly gone mute; no Al-Qunuts or warnings to the government anymore, since it is not the government of the fisherman from the creek. It makes one wonder if we are normal in Arewa. The northern elites despise their followers like the Israelis despise the Palestinians. Posterity will surely judge us all, and history will tell how we played our parts in the destruction of our beloved Northern Nigeria.
Religious leaders, elders and intellectuals historically provided mediation, moral authority and local governance where the state was weak. Their retreat may stem from fear, co-optation or the erosion of moral credibility. Re-engagement requires rebuilding trust and protecting civic space: establish formal consultative roles for elders and clerics in security and development planning, fund independent intellectual forums, and create interfaith platforms that can speak to social issues without intimidation. When clerics and scholars mobilise—on health, education or peace—public behaviour and policy often follow; restoring their voice is therefore strategic and urgent.
If you want to see all the ingredients of a doomed people, look no further than Northern Nigeria at the moment. Deepening poverty, educational failure, demographic pressure, weak governance, economic stagnation, and persistent insecurity have combined to create a dangerous reality for the region. Yet history shows that decline is not irreversible. Societies facing similar challenges have transformed themselves through long-term investments in education, economic opportunity, accountable governance, and community-led development. Northern Nigeria can do the same if its leaders and people are willing to confront uncomfortable truths and commit themselves to meaningful reform.
The time for lamentation alone has passed. Northern Nigeria requires a deliberate and measurable programme of recovery that places education, economic empowerment, and community security at its centre. Governments must become more transparent and accountable, traditional and religious leaders must reclaim their moral voice, intellectuals must re-enter public discourse, and citizens must demand better leadership. Only through a collective effort that addresses both the symptoms and the root causes of insecurity can the North begin to reverse its decline and build a future worthy of its people.
Sani Abdulrazak, PhD, is a researcher, writer, and public commentator based in Kaduna State
Nigeria’s financial services industry stands at a decisive crossroads as technology leaders prepare for the January 1, 2027, data residency deadline set by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The regulatory mandate requiring all payment transaction records, customer personally identifiable information (PII), and account ledgers to reside within domestic data centres is forcing a structural re-evaluation of banking IT architectures. For executive teams across the country, navigating this transition without interrupting daily banking operations is becoming the ultimate test of leadership.
For years, the industry’s reliance on foreign hyperscale providers delivered quick elasticity and global tools. However, transferring entire production stacks – encompassing real-time transaction processing, API gateways, and fraud scoring engines – back to local infrastructure requires significant engineering effort. With the country handling billions of electronic transactions annually, CIOs are seeking to preserve system uptime while severing deep operational dependencies on foreign data centres.
Experts have opined that the core challenge confronting financial technology teams is the lack of empirical, vendor-neutral benchmarks for domestic cloud platforms. Evaluating whether local data centres can sustain mission-critical financial traffic requires rigorous stress testing rather than relying on theoretical SLAs. The risk of potential downtime during a live migration makes vendor vetting the most crucial phase of the compliance roadmap.
To mitigate these operational risks, infrastructure partners like MTN are mobilising domestic capacity and technical insights tailored for the financial sector. By offering sovereign cloud solutions and collaborative engineering frameworks, MTN is helping CIOs and startups navigate the migration path with minimal disruption. Their localised infrastructure serves as an operational bridge, providing the uptime and data sovereignty assurances that both institutions and regulators require.
Lynda Saint-Nwafor, the Chief Enterprise Business Officer for MTN Nigeria, put it succinctly when she explained the upside of hosting data locally: “Hosting locally means lower latency, faster response times, and compliance with Nigeria’s data regulations. More importantly, it gives Nigerian businesses control, keeping sensitive financial, health, and government data within national borders.”
As the January 2027 benchmark approaches, the metric for success will depend on technical execution and operational discipline across companies.
By Osasikemwen Ighile
For many Nigerian families, the summer holiday is a season of fun, relaxation, and spending quality time together. But with the kids at home, more outings, higher electricity consumption, and extra entertainment costs, it’s also a period when expenses can quietly pile up.
The good news? You don’t have to choose between making memories and managing your finances. With a few smart habits, you can enjoy the holidays while keeping your savings goals on track.
Here are five practical ways to save smarter this summer.
1. Ditch Cash and Spend Smarter
Ever noticed how cash disappears faster than you expected? Whether it’s buying snacks for the kids, paying for transport, or making quick market runs, spending cash can make it difficult to track where your money goes.
Using a debit card can make it easier to track transactions and monitor spending. FairMoney customers can use their debit card for eligible transactions, subject to applicable terms and conditions. You can make payments conveniently at stores, shop online, and easily monitor your transactions. Instead of carrying cash everywhere, you get a clearer picture of your expenses and can avoid unnecessary impulse purchases.
Small changes like this can make a big difference over the course of the holiday.
2. The Kids Are Home—Stay Ahead of Your Utility Bills
School holidays often mean one thing: the TV is almost always on. From cartoons in the morning to football matches in the evening, your cable subscription becomes more important than ever. Add fans, air conditioners, gaming consoles, and other appliances, and it’s easy to see why electricity bills tend to increase during this period.
Rather than waiting until services are disconnected, planning and paying bills on time help households avoid unnecessary late-payment or reconnection charges. FairMoney customers can pay eligible bills and services through the platform, subject to applicable terms and service availability. You can conveniently pay for Cable TV subscriptions, Electricity bills, Internet subscriptions, Airtime and data for the entire family.
Paying bills on time can help reduce the risk of late payment consequences or applicable reconnection charges. Summer is filled with birthdays, outings, family visits, and spontaneous spending. While these moments are worth enjoying, your savings shouldn’t take a holiday.
3. Enjoy the Holidays—but Don’t Pause Your Savings
A simple strategy is to save first before spending. FairMoney customers can also use eligible savings products, such as FairSave and FairTarget, to set aside money towards specific financial goals, subject to the applicable product terms, conditions and eligibility requirements, even if it’s in small amounts. Already planning for the next school term? FairMoney customers can also use eligible savings products, such as FairSave and FairTarget, to set aside money towards specific financial goals, subject to the applicable product terms, conditions and eligibility requirements. Already planning for the next school term? Consider setting aside money regularly towards your school-fee goal. FairTarget can be used to help you organise savings around specific financial goals, subject to the applicable product terms, conditions and eligibility requirements. By starting early and saving consistently, you can better prepare for school-related expenses when the new term begins.
4. Plan Weekly Family Activities Instead of Daily Spending
The holidays don’t have to be expensive to be memorable. Instead of spending money every day on outings, cinemas, or restaurants, create a simple weekly activity plan. One weekend could be a family movie night at home. Another could be a picnic in a nearby park, a cooking competition, indoor games, or a visit to relatives.
Planning activities ahead helps you control spending while still giving everyone something to look forward to. Sometimes, the best memories cost very little.
5. Buy Household Essentials in Bulk
With everyone at home, groceries seem to disappear twice as fast. Instead of making frequent trips to the store, which often lead to impulse purchases, consider buying regularly used items in bulk.
Depending on the retailer and quantity purchased, some household essentials may offer better value when purchased in bulk.. You’ll spend less on transportation, reduce unplanned shopping, and avoid running out of important items.
Summer should be about creating happy memories not financial headaches. By spending more intentionally, paying your bills on time, planning ahead, and staying committed to your savings goals, you can enjoy everything the season has to offer without putting unnecessary pressure on your finances.
A few smart habits today can make the months ahead much easier. And that’s a win for every household.
Osasikemwen Ighile is the Brand Manager for FairMoney Microfinance Bank
Feature/OPED
Beyond the Screen: How Sports and Entertainment Keep Nigeria’s Economy Moving
When we talk about Nigeria’s economy, the conversation usually centres on oil and gas, banking, agriculture, manufacturing and technology. But there is another industry quietly creating jobs and driving economic activity: entertainment and sports. Most times, we only see the finished product. We watch the show, cheer during the match and move on to the […]
When we talk about Nigeria’s economy, the conversation usually centres on oil and gas, banking, agriculture, manufacturing and technology. But there is another industry quietly creating jobs and driving economic activity: entertainment and sports. Most times, we only see the finished product. We watch the show, cheer during the match and move on to the next thing. What we do not always see is the amount of work that happens before those moments reach our screens.
Take Big Brother Naija
When viewers tune in and see the housemates moving around the Big Brother house, it is easy to forget that the house itself is a product of many people’s work. From the interior designers and set builders who create the spaces to the electricians, carpenters, painters and technicians who bring them to life, an entire team works behind the scenes before the first episode even begins.
Once the cameras start rolling, the list gets even longer. Producers, directors, camera operators, sound engineers, editors, stylists, makeup artists, caterers, production assistants and security personnel all have a role to play. Then there is everything that happens outside the house. Publicists, photographers, videographers, digital teams, content creators and media platforms all contribute to keeping the conversation going. The housemates may be the faces audiences remember, but they are only one part of a much bigger entertainment ecosystem.
Sports have a similar impact
When the Super Falcons play a major game, the focus is naturally on the players and what happens on the pitch. But outside the stadium, the game can mean business for viewing centres, food vendors, restaurants and bars. Sports analysts and commentators have more to cover, content creators have something new to create around and businesses selling jerseys and football merchandise get an opportunity to make sales.
A major sporting event can turn an ordinary evening into a busy one for businesses that have little to do with what happens on the pitch. That is the part of sports and entertainment that is easy to overlook. The value is not only in the stars we see or the content we consume. It is also in the network of people whose skills and businesses keep these industries moving.
And this is where DStv and GOtv become an important part of the picture. They do more than give audiences access to the shows, matches and moments they care about. They connect the people producing this content with millions of viewers who keep the industry going.
Every time someone tunes in to Big Brother Naija, follows the Super Falcons or settles in for a major sporting event, they are engaging with an industry that supports producers, creatives, technicians, businesses and other professionals.
The impact of sports and entertainment, therefore, goes beyond what happens on the screen. By bringing some of the biggest entertainment and sporting moments to Nigerian audiences, DStv and GOtv help keep this ecosystem active, visible and working. Because sometimes, when we sit down to watch, we are not just consuming entertainment. We are also supporting an industry that provides jobs.
