President Muhammadu Buhari has been dragged to Supreme Court by thirty six state governors (36) over his Presidential Executive Order No. 00-10 of 2020 signed in May, 2020.

The states averred that the executive order Buhari signed had pushed the Federal Government’s responsibility of funding both the capital and recurrent expenditures of the state high courts, Sharia Court of Appeal and the Customary Court of Appeal, to the state governments.

Say it’s most viable option now and foreseeable future …

Back 100% resource control, merging of Senate, House of Reps

FOR the first time since the agitation for restructuring started, some northern leaders have a made move that is bound to cause cheers among resource control activists in the oil-rich Niger-Delta region. To make Nigeria viable, the leaders are seeking a return to the 1967 12-state structure to be known as regions with full devolution of powers and 100 per cent resource control.

In a memorandum to the National Assembly Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, the Northern leaders, who described themselves as Friends of Democracy, said the 12 -state structure ‘’is the most viable option for Nigeria at the moment and in the foreseeable future.’’ The memorandum was signed by Alhaji Othman Tofa, Ambassador Fatimah Balla; Alhaji Sule Yahaya Hamma; Dr Abubakar Siddique Mohammed; Mr. Sam Nda-Isaiah; Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim; Mai Bilya Bala; Mr. Hubert Shaiyen; Dr Kabir Az-Zubair; Professor Jibrin Ibrahim; and Dr Usman Bugaje.

Going down memory lane, the leaders, who argued the North has not been aloof on restructuring as being painted, said that since 2001 ‘’a new crop of Northern intellectuals, technocrats and politicians, have continued to search for a common ground with the rest of Nigeria on restructuring in different ways but the Northern effort has been under-reported in the mainstream media, for understandable reasons.’’ Noting that Nigeria, over years, has gone through various forms of restructuring – three regions at independence, four regions in 1963, 12 states in 1967, 19 states in 1976, 21 states in 1987, 30 states in 1991 and 36 states in 1996, they blamed the dismantling of the 12-state structure for the country’s nagging socio-economic challenges. ‘

’The distortion of the 12-state structure by multiplying the states to 19, 21, 30 and 36 was done to appease new minority groups that emerged after state creation, to spread federal largesse more evenly and sometimes for selfish reasons.

Today, Nigeria cannot sustain the 36-state structure due to its over-dependence on oil revenues that would continue to dwindle in the coming years,’’ they said.

Arguing that restructuring through multiplication of states produced a Jacobin effect that strengthened Federal power relative to the powers of the federating units, and weakened all political groups that are not in control of the centre, the leaders outlined five key principles of restructuring and nine constitutional proposals ‘’to substantially improve and stabilise Nigeria’s federation, cater for the welfare of a large majority of Nigerians and allocate the nation’s resources in an efficient and cost-effective manner.’’ Their key principles for restructuring Nigeria ‘’States must be economically viable and must rely on fiscal resources they generate themselves instead of handouts from the Centre. ‘’States must operate in a democratic manner and be run by Chief Executives that are accountable to the people and legislators that are independent.

“States should have the constitutional and legislative powers to determine their internal structures such as the number of local governments they desire. ‘’States must be allowed to determine their own framework and mechanism for the choice of leaders at all levels, which recognises and combines both merit and the need for fair representation of the broad identities that make up the states such as geography, ethnicity, religion, etc. ‘

’Balance the distribution of power and fiscal resources between the states and the federation to address the desire for local resource control and the viability of the federation as a whole.’’ Constitutional proposals Given these principles, the northern leaders proposed the following constitutional amendments: A return to the 12-state federal structure of 1967.

The 12 states would be the federating units; The 12 states shall be re-designated as regions and shall have full control of their resources while paying appropriate taxes to the Federal Government; The regions shall have the powers to create and maintain local governments as they desire; Overhaul the Legislative Lists and reassign agriculture, education and health to the Residual List in which states alone would have competence but the Federal Government would share a regulatory role with the states; Mining should be reassigned to the concurrent list with on-land mining under the federating units and off-land mining under the control of the government of the federation; Policing should also be reassigned to the concurrent list with only inter-state crime, cyber-crime and international crime under the jurisdiction of the federal police; The power of taxation should remain concurrent; The Federal Character Principle should be retained and strictly and universally observed; and The current Senate should be merged with the House of Representatives under a unicameral legislature

 I hope these post-mortem letters find you well! In accordance with the union’s recommendation, I have drafted my will to prepare for the upcoming school year. Looks like they were right! Writing my will took no time at all as I have no assets and crippling student loan debt 10 years into my career. So, with the extra time, I thought I would compose some letters to those I have left behind.

Dear Admin,

The sub-plans are on my desk. All the materials you will need for the lesson can be found… haha, just kidding, go fuck yourself.

Dear Students,

This is not your fault. Unless you refused to wear a mask, then it’s a tiny bit your fault. It may feel as though you are being told your life is not valuable because you are being put in harm’s way. Never let someone make you feel less than and certainly not just for the sake of their convenience. I hope this year teaches you how much we all need to care for each other, but if you learned nothing this year, I hope my death has provided you with a good topic for your college essays.

Dear Favorite Student,

Remember those “it gets better videos”? Well, clearly that was a lie. You are truly our only hope. Please isolate yourself until this is over.

Dear Parents,

The bad news: there is now no one to watch your child during the day.

The good news: parent-teacher conferences will have super flexible hours this year! I believe the hours for the cemetery are from sun up until sundown.

Dear Boyfriend,

(Sorry everyone, I don’t sleep on a cot that pulls out from underneath my desks, I actually have loved ones!)

Despite having a more advanced degree and more years of experience in my field, we both know I made less than you. For that reason, and because I spent most of my salary on school supplies, I am unable to help with the funeral costs. Please feel free to repurpose my “World’s Best Teacher” mugs as you see fit.

Your introduction to the art of sex via these novels were tainted with subliminal rapey undercurrent where the female character is reluctant to have sex but the man persuades her one way or the other in either violent, semi-violent or non-violent means. 

To make up for it, you're told she ended up enjoying it and her bosoms heaved in ecstasy. But that does not change the fact that the sex was not fully consensual. Adding the bit about her enjoying it and subsequently wanting more does not change the fact that she didn't want it and was forced to do it. 

We consume this information and fantasize about it for years. We see the subtle coercion as normal. We say what the man did is "going after what he wants". After all, the lady ended up enjoying it. And they later fell in love and got married.

The male reader sees it as a normal dating ritual. The lady sees it as harmless. It's not like he held her at gunpoint. They were already going to have sex eventually. Plus he gave good head.

And just like that, rape culture lives in perpetuity.