By Daniel Igbinosun

Look, I have never set foot in Harvard Business School. Unless you count that time I Googled “Ivy League tuition fees” and nearly fainted into my keyboard. But Benue street MBA on the farm? Oh, I have logged serious hours there.

Picture this: my team and I sweat all day harvesting peppers. Heroic, right? Come nightfall… other heroes emerged. Turns out, while we napped, thieves treated our farm like an all-you-can-steal buffet. My precious peppers became community property.

Lesson #1: Farming is not just about seeds and soil. It’s 50% agriculture, 50% “Agbero Security Services.”

Textbooks suggest “optimizing supply chains.” I hired vigilantes. Not exactly in the syllabus, but when life gives you pepper thieves… you give them a reason to run. That is how I earned my first Street MBA badge.

(Translation: “MBA” here means:

• Manage Before Anybody Appears
• Mistakes Bring Adjustments… and mild panic.)

Then came Planting Season: The Sequel. Hired new guys to plant soya beans. Payment? Per line planted. Simple! Right. No.

I popped over to another farm. By evening, they swaggered to my house: “Boss! We planted 120 lines! Pay us like kings!”

Cue record scratch.

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My seasoned crew just the day before only managed 55 lines. 120? Did they grow rocket-powered hoes? The math wasn’t just not mathing… it was doing interpretive dance.

I sent my farm manager to investigate. The verdict?

Lines planted: 48. This is actually a generous count. Very generous. The quality of work was average at best. Maybe a D7. Seeds tossed like confetti. Some barely covered. Others probably in the next local government.

If I had paid them, I would have funded a masterclass in How To Scam Your Boss 101. Did I lose money? Sure. I also lost trust and time. That’s agribusiness heartbreak we have to experience every now and then

But Benue does not just break You… It builds legends

Tired of waiting for expensive tractor parts, some young wizards started building their own from scrap metal and sheer audacity. Now they rent these Franken-tractors to small farmers. They did not just fix engines; they fixed the whole farming game.

I have heard of a squad of grandmothers that when cassava prices crashed. They said no wahala! They started processing, packaging (in snazzy transparent nylon!), and selling direct to schools. While others cried, these aunties counted profits in wrappers so bright, they doubled as solar panels.

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My Street MBA Curriculum (So Far):

• Hope is not a strategy. Suspicion is. (Supervise or be surprised!)
• Not everyone on your payroll is on your team. Some are just… auditing the class.
• Security isn’t an “extra.” It’s budget line #1. Right after “vengeance snacks.”
• Never reward noise.Reward proof. (Or at least seeds that are actually in the ground.)
• True entrepreneurs are often just rocking rubber slippers

Nigeria is not just a market; it is a live-action business simulator on Expert Mode.

Surviving here? You’re not just tough. You are Benue-certified.

Over to you: What is the most expensive lesson YOU have learned? Tag that warrior who earned their MBA dodging potholes & power cuts!

Stayed tuned for next week column

Daniel Igbinosun writes from Canada

\#StreetMBA \#BenueBusinessAcademy \#FarmingIsntForTheFaintHearted \#NigerianHustle

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By Azu Ishiekwene

Peter Obi has the best chance against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027 of all opposition candidates. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may have received a slightly higher percentage of the votes (6.9 million or 29.1 percent) in the last presidential election; still, that was poor for Atiku, a sixth-timer in the presidential race.

Obi had less than one year to prepare after his former party, the PDP, shafted him, followed by the bitter struggle for control between Atiku and the former Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, which left the party in ruins.

Outside the wreckage, Obi scored 6.1 million or 25.4 percent of the votes, toppling the All Progressives Congress (APC) in its traditional Lagos stronghold, energising young voters, and causing a stir amongst the complacent political elite.

Born to survive

After coming a solid third, the question was whether he could keep the momentum, strengthen the LP and manage his vibrant, sometimes fiercely unruly crowd of “Obidient” followers until the next election cycle.

He has, so far. To have survived the tumult in the Labour Party (LP), which now has three rival claimants to its leadership, and watch from the outside, what could be the final burial rites of his former party, the PDP, Obi has done well.

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Yet, as surely as success invites its perils, he is entering what may prove to be the most delicate phase of his political journey, two years before the next presidential election. Obi is confused, and dangerously so, when he needs clarity the most.

Adventure to ADC

He is flirting with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the party former President Olusegun Obasanjo vowed in 2019 would unseat the APC, but which failed disastrously to do so. The ADC’s past failure is not necessarily a bad thing. Nor is the renewed crisis in the party; they all have problems, only different in severity.

The problem is that Obi is unsure whether to join the ADC, which, like the bat, neither resembles a political rodent nor a coalition bird, or to stand firm and try to repair a fractured LP before the next election. Although he says he is not desperate, pinching himself while saying so, he believes this might be his best chance to become president, which is a fair ambition.

After being governor for eight years, running mate to Atiku in 2019, and his own man in 2023, Obi is qualified for the number one spot. His prospects are brighter, in my view, than Atiku’s, who is exhausted from chasing a marabout’s prophecy or Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s, who is in this race to entertain.

A coalition to nowhere

The problem is that, for reasons best known to him, instead of focusing on repairing the LP, broadening his base and appeal, Obi has fallen for the seduction that his salvation lies with joining Atiku, Amaechi, and former Governor Nasir El-Rufai in a coalition to nowhere. I’m shocked.

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Obi has forgotten what brought him this far. It was certainly not the political dinosaurs he is now in love with. Polls showed his strongest support was with women aged 18 and 24, who comprised 82 percent of the cohort that voted for him. Others included the largely urban middle class and social-savvy Nigerians, across regions and age groups, apart from disaffected voters. Instead of cultivating and expanding his hold on these demographics, he has been infected by the obsession that his salvation is with the group he turned his back against.

In a political system that requires the winner to secure no less than 25 percent of the votes in at least two-thirds of all the states, Obi’s main challenge is bridging this divide, especially across the North, where he is very weak. But his approach to solving this problem is dangerously flawed.

Chasing a phantom

His misjudgment is that he needs assistance from two prominent Northern politicians, Atiku, El-Rufai or any of the vagrants from the legacy CPC. They cannot and will not help him because their broken dreams have consumed them. NNPP leader Rabiu Kwankwaso might have been, by far, a more valuable ally, but he will not accept a subordinate role.

The obsession with relying on the “tripod” or any single region, claiming that it’s the sole determinant of the pathway to power, has been shattered more than once since 1999, with Obasanjo’s election being one and Muhammadu Buhari’s another.

In what he has framed as possibly his most consequential attempt at the presidency in 2027, it is tragic that Obi either doesn’t believe or is too confused to give it a shot without using the coattails of some exhausted Northern politicians.

Under the sheets

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I know that politics indulges strange bedfellows, even actively encouraging intimacy amongst them under the sheets. Still, it came to me as a stunning surprise that Obi should so easily find accommodation with El-Rufai, who has called him some of the most horrendous names in the book, the most flattering of which was an ethnic bigot, a tyrant, a joke and a Nollywood actor.

As for Amaechi, the man who doesn’t like money except when it comes in the form of a Rolls-Royce, Obi should know him better.

But these are Obi’s new friends and associates – political wanderers, united mainly by ambition to seize power and have it for themselves for its own sake. He’s perfectly entitled to his new company, but I wish he would pause, reflect, and perhaps watch his back.

Trouble at home

In his south-east home base, Anambra Governor Charles Soludo thinks he’s superior and that “Obidients” are a nuisance. In Imo state, where Governor Hope Uzodinma thinks himself the only highway to Abuja, the governor would mount a tollgate against any perceived threat to his franchise. Of course, there’s no love lost between Obi and the only LP, Governor Alex Otti of Abia state.

There’s nothing for him in any coalition of the disaffected, and his running mate Datti Baba-Ahmed said so bluntly. To paraphrase him, a coalition with Atiku, el-Rufai, Amaechi, and other internally displaced politicians is a coalition of the second fiddle.

As things stand, Obi is neither here nor there. After being with Atiku all these years, and despite the wreckage the former vice president made of the PDP, which is now survived only by his ambition to become president, it’s surprising that Obi thinks that ADC or any other coalition with Atiku will work for him.

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Long memories

Politicians from the Southeast face a double jeopardy of ruinously expensive election costs and, after the Civil War, deep mistrust amongst the political elite, especially in the North. Despite fervent claims of no victor, no vanquished, nothing is forgotten or forgiven, and appeasement will fail.

Obi is with the wrong crowd, and worst of all, faces a serious risk of losing his party’s support. He should cultivate and use help wherever he can find it, but not at the expense of what he has built, especially in the last two years. He is now doing precisely what desperados do.

Except, of course, if he was lying about not being desperate for power.

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

Culled from TheCable.ng

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Carbon markets that fund forest preservation and tree-planting might actually be worsening climate change by increasing risks for wildfires that emit massive levels of greenhouse gases, a new United Nations-affiliated report says.

Forests have been seen as one of the most effective places to counter climate change by absorbing carbon emissions. But that’s changed, says a May paper from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), an academic arm of the international U.N.

In the past decade, wildfires of record-breaking size have erupted in places such as Canada, Australia, Siberia and the Amazon rainforest. This week, forest wildfires forced evacuations of thousands of Canadians in Manitoba and Alberta provinces.

“Forests and peatlands have increasingly transitioned into massive carbon emitters in many parts of the world due to increasing wildfires,” the report says. Climate policies and carbon-mitigation activities ”fail to account for these substantial emissions.”

The report highlights weaknesses in a central global strategy for addressing climate change — planting and protecting trees — which has attracted billions of dollars from polluters that fund the projects to offset their own carbon emissions. A large share of the money is paid through the voluntary carbon market, a largely unregulated system that has come under increasing scrutiny over its integrity.

Recent major wildfires have been particularly harmful. The 2023 forest wildfires in Canada emitted more greenhouse gases than the total industrial emissions of any country in the world except for China and India, Ju Hyoung Lee, a research fellow at UNU and lead author of the report, said in an interview from Seoul, South Korea.

In California, wildfires in 2024 destroyed parts of forests that were supposed to be storing carbon through an offset program under the state’s cap-and-trade carbon market.

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Without systematic monitoring of forest conditions, the paper says, the voluntary carbon market and other policies that promote forests “may unintentionally exacerbate wildfire hazards.”

Planting new trees to absorb carbon could have the opposite effect, the report says, as more heat and increased carbon dioxide emissions from climate change accelerate forest growth while also depleting soil moisture.

“Planting more and more trees in such an environment with the purpose of carbon mitigation will likely increase carbon emissions due to future fires,” the report warns.

When the businesses certifying forest projects in the voluntary carbon market consider wildfire risk, they normally look at historical incidents of fires, Lee said. But, she added, “Forests are changing, and our forests [won’t] be like what it was like for the last 20 years.”

Historical data often leaves out the past five years, which includes some of the worst fires on record, Lee said.

As a result, fire risk is typically underestimated by nonprofits such as Verra, which sets standards for and certifies climate projects to be listed on the voluntary market, Lee said. Representatives for Verra did not respond to a request for comment.

Concerns about forests and their changing dynamics have existed for more than a decade, Kaveh Madani, director of the UNU-INWEH, said in an interview from Toronto.

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The report hopes to get the message out, Madani said, that existing forest programs and certification standards were developed using science that’s now outdated — and the projects ”can increase the risk of increased emissions, in some cases.”

Madani emphasized that not all forest programs in the voluntary carbon market and elsewhere create a wildfire threat.

The paper advocates reforming the voluntary carbon market and similar systems to better account for forest conditions and to prevent unintended consequences, including more wildfires.

Rainfall, soil health, and expected future droughts and heat waves should be considered before approving forest projects “as a carbon emissions reduction solution,” the paper says.

Satellite observations could identify areas where forests are growing and fuels are accumulating, leading them to be excluded from carbon markets “due to the potential high emissions in case of future fires,” the paper says.

The risk of wildfire and other environmental conditions that could damage forests “must be included in our planning for the future and the schemes that we have in place,” Madani said.

By Anne C. Mulkern & E&E News

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By Keem Abdul

As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu pauses in his daily exertions to celebrate and ponder his 73 years here on earth, relevant stakeholders are mulling over his strides in the past two years as president and even further back to his tenure as governor of Lagos State.

This list of achievements is far from exhaustive. Suffice it to say, however, that it is a snapshot of one man’s odyssey along the path that destiny has chosen for him. With the lifting of the ban on political activity in 1991, Tinubu was elected senator representing the Lagos West senatorial district under the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) during the truncated Third Republic. In the Senate proper, he was handed the role of chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance and Appropriations. That position afforded him the opportunity to play a key role in financial oversight and budgetary processes.

As governor of Lagos State (from 1999 to 2007), his initiatives, projects and policies helped the state to move up the economic ladder – with the astronomic leap in its internally generated revenue, from N600million to N8billion, which made Lagos the largest subnational economy in Africa. Tinubu’s establishment of the Lagos State Lotteries Board also helped boost the state revenue profile through regulated gaming.

Cognizant of the fact that government, no matter how well-funded, cannot drive development alone, Tinubu instituted a Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) model that attracted private sector investments – especially in infrastructure. The construction of the Lekki-Epe Expressway, for example, was among the first major PPP road projects in Nigeria.

The Tinubu administration recorded many strides in the area of urban planning and transportation infrastructure. It set up the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) and tasked it with a mandate to actualize the goals of the Strategic Transport Master Plan, and to work hand in hand with the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) in a bid to reduce traffic congestion to its barest minimum.

The development of the Lekki Free Trade Zone by the Tinubu administration has so far attracted billions in foreign investments, and so has the modernization of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, which has also seen a marked improvement in connectivity to the rest of the West African sub-region.

The Tinubu administration also recorded giant strides in the area of healthcare. Its work on the New Massey Children’s Hospital, along with the rehabilitation of various health institutions across the state, has gone a long way towards a massive upgrade of healthcare infrastructure and access in the state.

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Cognizant of the fact that accumulated filth arising from a combination of poor drainage and poor habits was a public health threat to Lagosians, the Tinubu government set the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) which has improved sanitation tremendously.

In the area of security and the administration of justice, the Tinubu government established the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), which has enhanced security response in the state. In addition, the then-governor created the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), to fund police and security operations. The governor also demonstrated his support for judicial reforms, which have strengthened the Lagos State judiciary with better funding and facilities.

In the area of education and human capital development, the Tinubu founded the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM) in a bid to expand medical education. The construction of new model schools across the state, and the establishment of the Lagos State Scholarship Board has enhanced education access, and also supported students from vulnerable backgrounds.

Housing and the preservation of the environment were major planks of the Tinubu government in Lagos. The launch of the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS) enabled many families to own homes of their own at an affordable cost.

The government’s ambitious land reclamation project – initially to combat coastal erosion, led to the construction of the Eko Atlantic City. Talk of killing two birds with one stone. Also, the dredging of various waterways across the state has improved inland water transportation.

A long-standing advocate for true federalism, Governor Tinubu fought for state autonomy and resource control. This led him into the crosshairs of the federal government under President Obasanjo, against whom Lagos State went to court to demand the release of withheld local government funds. Supreme Court ruled in Lagos’ favour. In the period between the withholding of federal funds and the court’s verdict, Lagos showed its resilience, and proved that it could survive and thrive, allocation or no allocation.

Following the expiration of his gubernatorial tenure, Asiwaju Tinubu immersed himself in the task of strengthening the All Progressives Congress, following its formation in 2013 as a counterweight to the then-ruling PDP. He brokered the merger of opposition parties, and subsequently led the coalition that defeated the PDP in 2015.

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Following that victory, Tinubu continued to play a kingmaker’s role in President Muhammadu Buhari’s second victory in 2019. Tinubu’s ability to mentor future leaders has produced governors, ministers, and key politicians.

As president, following his victory in the 2023 presidential election, Tinubu signalled a new era of action. On his inaugural day, he pronounced the end of the fuel subsidy regime – in a bid to save trillions of naira for national development. He followed this up with the foreign exchange (FX) market unification policy, which helped streamline multiple exchange rates. The setting up of the Tax Reform Committee is part of the government’s plan to improve revenue collection.

In furtherance of the nation’s bid to pivot away from an oil-based economy, and to minimize the use of fossil fuels, the Tinubu administration came up with the CNG (i.e the Compressed Natural Gas) vehicle conversion initiative, which offers a cheaper alternative to petrol.

In his push to end the ravages of terrorist groups and other forms of criminality, the Tinubu government significantly increased the military’s funding, which has enhanced counterterrorism operations. Also, the creation of Forest Guards to tackle banditry and kidnapping is gradually bearing fruit. In his bid to realize his long-standing advocacy for multi-level policing, the president is leading efforts to amend the country’s constitution for that purpose.

There is no gainsaying the fact that massive investment in infrastructure and power generation would result in a quantum leap for Nigeria. In cognisance of this, the Tinubu administration is embarking on a number of infrastructure projects to realize this quantum leap – notably the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project, a 700km mega-infrastructure. Thanks to the federal government’s power sector reforms, Nigerians are seeing a marked improvement in the number of hours they get electricity daily.

As it is in Lagos, so it is also at the federal level. The Tinubu government has demonstrated its intention to build a robust social investment profile. Among the signature projects of this administration is the Renewed Hope Cities & Estates, which entails the construction of mass housing projects nationwide. Following extensive negotiations with the labour unions, the president approved a new minimum wage for public sector workers in response to inflation pressures. The bid for a private-led economy has led the Tinubu government to increase its support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), notably by enabling their access to single-digit loans. Speaking of loans, the government’s Consumer Credit Scheme (whose objective is to enhance the purchasing power of average Nigerians) and the Student Loan Scheme, which has enabled access to interest-free loans for students in Nigerian universities, are a signal that the mantra, ‘Renewed Hope’ is more than just a mantra.

In a world where entities – whether corporate, governmental, intergovernmental or non-governmental – have become more and more interdependent, Nigeria – under President Tinubu – aims to push its interests to the forefront of global discourse. In the course of seeking cross-border partnerships and investments in the Nigerian economy, the president has undertaken tours abroad, in the course of which he has secured investment (or strong pledges thereof) from governments and corporate organisations in India, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, etc. Nigeria’s push for full membership of the Group of 20 (G20) is also ongoing. In the government’s recognition that the Nigerian diaspora is one of the largest in the world – with the wherewithal to make a positive difference in the country’s economic fortunes and global profile, the government set up the Diaspora Bond Revival, which is engaging Nigerians abroad for development.

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All these achievements in one lifetime are sure proof of a life of purpose, determination and hard work.

Happy birthday, Mr. President. As you mark this milestone, we pray that God grants you mercy, grace and divine enablement as you continue to work for the Nigerian people.

• Abdul, publisher and writer, hails from Lagos. He can be reached at: Akeemabdul2023@gmail.com

In a remarkable turn of events on February 2nd, 2025, Arabirin Aderonke Atoyebi, became symbol of celebration around the world as she marks another year of impact. The world promptly recognised the personality of the CNN Award-winning journalist who has taken her rightful place as the Lioness of FIRS, enchanting the tax office with her sharp intellect and genuine connections.

Arabinrin Aderonke, amiable and adorable with glowing skin as a ravishingly beautiful woman whom Her ascent from the realm of journalism to the esteemed offices of Nigeria’s tax agency has left the nation in awe, as she brings a refreshing perspective and a promise of transformation to Dr. Zaach Adedeji’s office.

Her social media platforms were flooded with accolades from Very Important Personalities across the globe, wishing and celebrating the indeed woman of timbers and calibers, who also possesses a spirit as fierce as a lioness and a heart that gleams with purity.

As a true trailblazer, Arabinrin has shattered glass ceilings and dismantled barriers, paving the way for other women to follow in her footsteps. She embodies empowerment, demonstrating that gender should never hinder anyone from achieving greatness. Her presence in the current political landscape serves as a powerful reminder of the vital role women play in shaping the future of our nation.

Dr. Adedeji is having life full of ease at FIRS Broadcasting office due to Arabinrin Aderonke’s enchanting presence commands attention, leaving those around her spellbound. With her unwavering dedication, strong integrity, and extensive experience, she has risen to become a leading media professional within the Tinubu administration, expertly managing her boss’s tasks with finesse.

Aderonke is a woman of remarkable strength, determination, and bravery, courageously facing the challenges of her homeland with unwavering passion. She is pushing the boundaries of professionalism and representing the Dr. Adedeji-led FIRS with distinction, all while embodying the spirit of a truly versatile Amazon.

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Her expertise in journalism and captivating presence have significantly boosted FIRS media, highlighting her exceptional leadership qualities characterized by boldness and excellence, which have earned her numerous prestigious awards. With unwavering dedication and a lasting impact, she has thrived in her reporting.

As the face of FIRS broadcast, Aderonke is elevating her influence to new heights. With an impeccable sense of style, she effortlessly embodies the regal elegance of a lioness. Each outfit she wears serves as a powerful statement, skillfully blending vibrant colors and luxurious fabrics that highlight her natural beauty.

What truly distinguishes Aderonke from the rest is more than just her achievements in the media and her sense of style. She has a remarkable ability to connect with people on a deeper level, inspiring and uplifting them through her words and actions. Her captivating presence is like a celestial body, effortlessly drawing in admirers from all walks of life.

I join the rest of the World to celebrate you as your endless sacrifices and boundless love have shaped many lives in ways words can never fully express.

Today marks one small milestone in the beautiful journey that is your life. May you continue to be blessed and follow your goals and ambitions to success!

Olajuwon Olohunwa writes from Lagos

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