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By Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko
I have just ended a lengthy conversation with a very senior and respected media manager who was once my direct supervisor journalistically when I practiced as a reporter with the then Nigeria’s media flagship: The Guardian.
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We touched on every aspect of the political life of Nigeria and we also focused on the high levels of political impunity, brazen abuses of power and the flagrant violations of the human rights of citizens by government officials put in place originally to serve and not to lord it over the citizens of Nigeria.
We touched on the shenanigans that trailed the passage of the so-called amended electoral Act of 2026 which was very rapidly signed by president Tinubu and our emphasis was on how the federal house of Representatives shamelessly ate their vomit after endorsing mandatory real-time electronic transmission of results with no other proviso only to do 360 degree turnaround and jettisoned the copy they all endorsed just to synchronise with the unpopular and disgraceful version of the Senate which although approved electronic transmission of results but did not mandate real-time electronic transmission of results even when electronic transmission was approved but the Senate added manual collation of result in places whereby Internet isn’t working and then left it to the control of the INEC officials to say when network is not working even when INEC officials are not telecommunications experts. This is ludicrous.
In our very passionate but frank conversation, we talked about the reality of state capture which is how my senior colleague described the Nigerian situation. Our agreement is that unlike what is on paper, the current president has used all kinds of unorthodox means to pocket the judiciary and the legislature which are supposed by law to give the Executive branch of government what we call checks and balances under the constitutional principles of separation of powers which are clearly and very well articulated in sections 4, 5 and 6 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
As it is at the moment, the imperial president is in control of both the legislature and the judiciary and through this unlawful control, the president is riding roughshod on Nigerians and has been busy reeling out all kinds of economic austerity measures like the excessive hikes in the prices of petrol and all essential items by over 1, 000 percent since he took over as president on May 29th 2023. Millions of Nigerians have lost their businesses because they can’t afford the operating costs which includes independent power source by the use of generators which runs on the now expensive petrol and diesel.
The value of Naira collapsed making inflation to be unimaginable and unpredictable even as the costs of living crisis has become hydraheaded. Unemployment rate is high and national socio-economic infrastructures of roads and strategic amenities like public school system, hospitals have collapsed. Insecurity of life and food insecurity have become uncontrollable. Nigeria spends hundreds of billions on paper to power the security forces but in the theatres of war, terrorists are becoming too troublesome and hot to handle. Hundreds of soldiers are killed by terrorists even as over 400 Nigerians have been killed in the first 40 days of this year 2026.
These are the social and economic crises afflicting a modern day Nigerian. Nigeria is now begging different nations for military assistance so terrorists wouldn’t overrun Nigeria. The President has begged the USA and Turkey just as USA has graciously sent 200 troops to train Nigeria’s hundreds if thousands of soldiers. The Nigeria Police Force is almost moribund just as soldiers are now deployed for daily policing jobs.
I will conclude by adding our conclusion with my senior colleague but I would like to delve more on how political scientists view state capture vis-a-vis what it portends for us in Nigeria.
State capture is the reason Nigeria hasn’t had her capital budget components financed as approved by the NationalAssembly. Since the year 2024, capital budgets of ministries and agencies that provide essential services that benefits the greatest percentage of citizens have failed to be implemented. Imagine that since the year 2024, no public hospitals have purchased new medication. No public hospitals especially those that provide primary healthcare for millions of Nigerians have bought new items that are essential for running these facilities optimally but Tinubu’s government has approved over a trillion Naira to the independent National Electoral Commission to conduct the next election which is highly in doubt if it will be free, fair and transparent since results from the election are opened to manual manipulations by the INEC appointed by the President who is a candidate in the election.
The minister of Health confirmed that the capital budget for public healthcare which is N200 plus some billions of Naira was never funded even as only the paltry sum of N30 million was released. This same government spends billions of public fund to embark on global tour that adds nothing to the National economy of Nigeria.
For proper context, Tinubu, Shettima To Spend N6.1bn On Foreign Trips In 2026, reports the newspapers in Nigeria.
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President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Shettima will spend a combined N6.1 billion on foreign travels in 2026, according to details of the 2026 Appropriation Bill currently before the National Assembly.
Budget documents showed that the allocation for international trips is contained under the State House Operations votes for the president and the vice president.
Specifically, the Presidency is billed to spend N6.14 billion on international travel in 2026, while the Office of the Vice President will spend N1.31 billion on foreign trips during the same fiscal year.
The allocations form part of the N8.38 billion proposed for State House Operations (President) and N2.64 billion for State House Operations (Vice President) in the 2026 budget.
In another major provision, the Presidency has earmarked N7 billion for the solarisation of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The project, listed as “Solarisation of the Villa with Solar Mini-Grid,” is captured under the capital expenditure of the State House Headquarters, which has a total allocation of N43.19 billion for 2026.
The solar project comes amid persistent instability in the national electricity grid, which has experienced repeated collapses in recent years, forcing public institutions and households to rely heavily on alternative power sources.
The budget also shows that the Presidency plans to spend N3.3 billion on the purchase and replacement of vehicles in 2026.
Hold on to see how much was spent by the duo last year travelling globally even when thousands of patients across Nigeria have no access to quality healthcare and many died because the village primary healthcare centres of the ministry of health has no paracetamol or anything like malaria prevention medication. Patients in our villages die from treatable diseases because of poverty which made them unable to patronise the expensive privately run healthcare centres.
This is because since 2024, nothing like capital budgets have been funded by the federal government under president Tinubu and because he has the National Assembly in his pockets, they can’t ask questions to ascertain where the billions have gone to.
Tinubu, Shettima spent N8.74 billion on local, international trips in 2025. As at December 2024 the media reports as follows: “President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima will spend N8.74 billion on both local and international trips in 2025.
This is contained in the N47.9tn appropriation bill titled ‘Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity’ presented to the National Assembly by the president on Wednesday.
According to the document sighted by BusinessDay, the Office of the President allocates N7,014,596,511 for travel and transport expenses.
This includes N873,886,689 for local travel and transport, and N6,140,709,822 for international travel and transport.
For the Office of the Vice President, N1,732,106,437 is allocated for travel and transport expenses. This is divided into N417,488,198 for local travel and transport, and N1,314,618,239 for international travel and transport.
The expenditures are listed under the state house operations for the president and vice-president.
The combined total allocation for the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President is N11,636,444,082.
It is a direct consequence of STATE CAPTURE that allows the president to blow so much money of the public junketing around the world but his government failed to buy panadol for poor patients in all rural communities and there is zero accountability.
I’m taking up citation of two sentences from what political scientists wrote about the concept of state capture.
1. What is state capture?
While the practices of state capture have a long history, the term was coined in the 1990s to explain the damage caused by certain practices that undermined new democracies in Eastern Europe after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In that context, state capture was used to describe the way in which powerful self-interested private actors were able to accumulate wealth by purchasing regulatory advantages through illicit payments to public officials exercising state authority (Kaufmann 2024). Since then, there has been a growing awareness of the prevalence of state capture and the variety of ways in which it may be manifested. In a more recent analysis in South Africa in 2022, state capture was found to involve a conspiracy by collaborators inside and outside state institutions both to redirect public resources to serve their own interests and to gain control of the political order to secure future power (Pillay 2022). State institutions are captured not only because they are induced to abuse their power but also because they are effectively repurposed to serve the interests of collaborators on a continuing basis (Bhorat et al. 2017: 4).
1.2. The captured
The captured may comprise any significant state institutions over which captors have come to exert control or influence. Examples include the presidency, the legislature—or a significant part of it—the courts or individual judges, public sector agencies dealing with sensitive issues (typically natural resources and energy) and independent oversight agencies such as electoral management bodies. The level of control or influence over a particular state institution may vary. An institution may be captured completely or in part. In the latter case, only some individuals within the institution may be involved in serving the interests of the captor group.(https://share.google/8qr35Ax5qA5z2gsRk)
Our conclusion was that, let those who are sincerely working to voice out their opinions on how best to run a proper democracy in Nigeria by strengthening the institutions calling on everyone in Nigeria to respect the binding provisions of the constitution, keep doing so.
Let us not give up on Nigeria because if the few voices of truth that speak truth to power are drowned out or if they give up or compromised, the oppressors have won.
So, i believe that politics would be sanitised in our lifetime. This is a struggle i owe to my two children Nnadozie Naetochukwu Onwubiko and Nneoma Chisom Onwubiko.
I won’t give up on Nigeria.
You too, reading me, don’t give up on Nigeria.
EMMANUEL NNADOZIE ONWUBIKO is the founder of HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA and was NATIONAL COMMISSIONER OF THE NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF NIGERIA.
Amanze Chinonye is a Staff Correspondent at Prime Business Africa, a rising star in the literary world, weaving captivating stories that transport readers to the vibrant landscapes of Nigeria and the rest of Africa. With a unique voice that blends with the newspaper's tradition and style, Chinonye's writing is a masterful exploration of the human condition, delving into themes of identity, culture, and social justice. Through her words, Chinonye paints vivid portraits of everyday African life, from the bustling markets of Nigeria's Lagos to the quiet villages of South Africa's countryside . With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the complexities of Nigerian society, Chinonye's writing is both a testament to the country's rich cultural heritage and a powerful call to action for a brighter future. As a writer, Chinonye is a true storyteller, using her dexterity to educate, inspire, and uplift readers around the world.
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