By Oladapo Sofowora,

On October 1, 1996, a profound historic journey birthed across the vast expanses of the Northwest region when Zamfara State was carved out of the old Sokoto State as a standalone state.

Also read: Nigeria @66: Obasa Says Tinubu’s 2027 Re-election Will Secure Reform Gains

Despite the state being created by the military administration of the late General Sani Abacha, the birth of the state was greeted with overflowing euphoria from many who believed its a welcoming development to ensure more stability in governance.

The founding fathers of Zamfara envisioned a self-sustaining agricultural giant, proudly flying the banner “Farming is Our Pride” as its motto but also marked with action and not mere words on paper.

With the vast arable agrarian lands and rich mineral deposits the state is blessed with, they imagined a haven of communal peace, where vibrant markets flourished, schools molded brilliant minds, basic amenities were standard and civic dignity was guaranteed to every indigene which would, in turn generate meaningfully development and place the state among the very best in the state and also the region.

Yet, for nearly three decades, that noble vision drifted into a tragic narrative of what could have been a dream come true. Sequential political administrations took the helm, but systemic governance deficits slowly starved the state of its promise also preventing it from reaching its full potential.

Instead of transforming into an economic lighthouse, Zamfara became synonymous with institutional decay, bedridden with insecurity, banditry, kidnapping and illiteracy.

Basic infrastructure withered like a flower with no water supply; state-owned schools were reduced to crumbling dilapidated structures; general hospitals and Primary health centres lacked essential diagnostic tools and basic medications and a chronic backlog of unpaid civil service gratuities spanning over a decade left retired public servants in severe hardship.

Worse still, an escalating rural security crisis took root, driving hundreds of thousands of farmers from their ancestral fields, paralysing interstate commerce and suffocating the state’s economic soul.

For millions of residents, the proud dream of 1996 had morphed into a quiet, painful struggle for survival affecting the survival of the state.

History, however, rarely remains static when decisive leadership intervenes. As Zamfara State approaches its landmark 30th anniversary, the long-standing story of stagnation is undergoing a historic shift.

The turning point arrived with the election of Governor Dauda Lawal in 2023 who defeated an incumbent against all odds; whose “Rescue Mission” agenda did not merely offer political promises but launched a systematic engineering of state affairs.

Governor Lawal took office with a clear diagnostic view of the state’s wounds, He moved away from cosmetic fixes to confront the structural defects that had held Zamfara back for twenty-seven years.

Recognizing that development cannot take root where fear reigns, the governor prioritized security of lives and property above all else. Through the operationalization of the Homegrown Community Protection Guards and strategic collaboration with federal security agencies, the state moved from defense to active deterrence.

Modern operational capabilities, ranging from advanced long-endurance surveillance drones for real-time intelligence gathering to fleets of armored personnel carriers and specialized tactical vehicles, were deployed into high-risk rural corridors.

Critical transport routes like the 108-kilometer Gusau to Dansadau road, once notorious for security risks, were awarded for total reconstruction, allowing agrarian communities to safely reconnect with major markets and reclaim their farming livelihoods.

What distinguished Governor Lawal’s programme from the capital-centric spending that has historically defined Nigerian state governance is its geographic spread.

In Bukkuyum Local Government Area, a region more often associated in national conversation with insecurity than with infrastructure investment, N4 billion has been committed to the 23-kilometre Mallamawa–Zarummai–Bukkuyum road with a spur to Zarummai Masama Road, alongside N1.5 billion for the Bukkuyum–Birnin Zuama–Gummi road.

That the government has chosen to route capital there is itself a statement of intent. In Maradun, N5 billion is allocated to the Maradun–Magami–Faru road and N1 billion to the Maradun–Makera road.

In Bungudu, N10 billion is going into the Daza–Gidan Dawa link to the Sokoto Road dual carriageway and N500 million for the 21-kilometre Tasha Babba–Lambar Kyambarawa Road in Nahuche Ward. In Birnin Magaji, N10 billion is earmarked for the 53-kilometre Gusau–Jauri–Dogon Kade–Nasarawa Mailayi–Nasarawar Godal roads.

The administration has also awarded what is now the longest road project in Zamfara’s history: a 95-kilometre stretch in Tsafe Local Government Area running from Yandoton Daji through Chediya, Doka, Yan Waren Daji, Hayin Alhaji, Bedi, Unguwar Joji, Yankuzo to Tsafe with an allocation of N10 billion.

The Governor has also set aside N5 billion for emergency roads across the three senatorial zones, ensuring that even the most remote communities are not left behind in the infrastructure drive.

Simultaneously, a massive urban and regional renewal initiative was rolled out. Gusau, long criticized for looking more like a neglected outpost than a state capital, was turned into a bustling site of civil infrastructure.

Inner-city arterial roads were expanded and dualized, comprehensive underground drainage networks were engineered to end perennial flooding and modern solar streetlighting systems illuminated major commercial avenues.

Across all fourteen local government areas, legacy projects began taking shape, most notably the Gusau International Airport and its network of connecting transport corridors, designed to position Zamfara as a future hub for regional agricultural export and interstate commerce.

In May 2026, Zamfara made history when the first-ever Hajj flight departed from Gusau International Airport, carrying 415 intending pilgrims aboard a Max Air flight directly to Saudi Arabia.

Governor Lawal described the airport’s construction, which began on June 18, 2024, as a “legacy project of great importance” to his administration, noting that pilgrims who previously had to travel to Sokoto or Kano could now fly directly from Gusau in “less than 4 hours.”

The human capital landscape has experienced an equally dramatic rebirth. In basic and secondary education, the administration addressed fundamental decay by renovating and equipping more than 500 public schools, recruiting and training thousands of new teachers and clearing multi-year backlogs of WAEC and NECO examination fees to ensure that no child’s academic progression was halted by state neglect.

In healthcare, general hospitals across local government areas underwent complete structural overhauls, bringing functional surgical theaters, diagnostic capacity, and reliable maternal care directly to rural populations.

Furthermore, by liquidating over 16 billion Naira in accumulated civil service gratuities, the administration restored basic financial dignity to thousands of senior citizens who had dedicated their working lives to the state.

Governance is ultimately judged by measurable impact, a reality underscored by the broad national recognition conferred upon the administration, including multiple “Governor of the Year” honors for exceptional project execution and public service reform.

Thirty years after its creation, Zamfara State is actively shedding the burdens of its past and rewriting its history.

Through fiscal discipline, physical development and a focus on human dignity, Governor Dauda Lawal is demonstrating that the vision of the founding fathers was never out of reach; it simply required an architect capable of turning the promise of 1996 into enduring reality.

The state tomorrow the 1st of October set to launch its commercial Bi-weekly passenger flight from Abuja to Gusau, a service to be run by XeJet which signifies a significant development that will change the commercial trajectory of the state and also increase trade activities for development.

As Zamfara saunters into its fourth decade, the anniversary committee inaugurated in September 2026, chaired by Deputy Governor Mani Mumuni, has been tasked with delivering a celebration that reflects the state’s journey from creation to resounding transformation from grass to grace.

For Governor Lawal, the message is simple: the Rescue Mission is not a slogan but a delivery framework

Also read: Nigeria at 66: Taking stock and doing the needful…

and as Zamfara marks 30 years since its creation, the concrete and asphalt spreading across the state suggest that the aspirations of 1996, development, peace, identity and prosperity, are finally being given a foundation to stand on.

By Bola BOLAWOLE,

Thursday, Ist October, 2026, Nigeria celebrates its 66th anniversary. Is there anything at all to celebrate? I know opinion will be sharply divided on this score.

Also read: Nigeria @ 66: ‘The Nation’s Destiny Begins in Our Communities’ — Oba Makama

There are those who will say there is nothing really to celebrate while others will say comme ci, comme ca! Neither good nor bad.

There is still cause for cheers all the same, yet some will say. It can be better, but we should be careful not to throw the baby away with the bath water.

In other words, we should appreciate whatever progress has been made while pointing the way forward. Sixty-six years may be a long period in the life of a person but it is like the very first step taken, as the Chinese would say, in a journey of 1000 years.

A better way to understand this is to note that there are countries/civilizations that have existed even before the birth of Jesus Christ!

Some of the oldest civilizations/countries in the world are said to be Iran, Egypt, Vietnam, Armenia, China, India, Georgia, Ethiopia, Greece, Japan, San Marino, France, Bulgaria, Nepal, Portugal, Mongolia, Thailand, Andorra, Switzerland, and Spain.

Note that except for Egypt, no other African civilization/country is mentioned in the list, but we shall soon return to that.

Iran’s civilisation is traced to c.3200 BCE; Egypt, c. 3100 BCE; Vietnam, c. 2879 BCE; China, c. 2070 BCE; India, c. 2000 BCE; and so on and so forth.

Does it then mean that there are no ancient civilizations in Africa that measure up to those mentioned above? How about our ancient empires and kingdoms – Mali empire, Songhai empire; Kush, Azom, and Zimbabwe, among others? A unique feature of the European, Asian and Arabic countries mentioned above is that colonialism and/or military conquest notwithstanding, they have stoutly maintained their distinct cultural identities.

Thank God for archeology: The Iho Eleru (formerly Iwo Eleru) rock shelter in Isarun near Akure, the Ondo state capital, has yielded the oldest known human fossil remains in West Africa, dating back approximately 13,000 years.

What this indicates is that there has been human life in that area for a much longer period than is recorded for some of the so-called oldest countries or civilizations of the world.

The various bronze heads of Ife and Benin, for instance, showed the superior technological development of our fore-fathers, at some point, compared to Europe and other parts of the world.

How come, then, that none of our ancient cities and civilizations are mentioned in the league of Iran, China, Japan, etc.?

The simple reason could be that colonialism erased our pre-colonial history, achievements and identities.

Any student of History at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife), who studied at the feet of Dr. Ishola Olomola (as he then was), whom some of us nicknamed “Tekrur” because of the way he produced the name, must have answered the question “Africa has no history: Discuss.”

To them, our history – and existence – started with the coming of the colonialists and their “discovery” of our existence! Thus, it was Mungo Park who “discovered” the River Niger, notwithstanding that he was led to the river by locals (natives) who had lived side-by-side the river for God-knows-when! On our part, we acquiesced in the erasure and have not only carried it forward but have also deepened it.

Africans were not the only people subjected to colonial rule or slavery, but while others struggled to maintain their cultural identities, we were just too glad to abandon ours and swallow what the colonizers imposed on us hook-line-and-sinker.

For those who may not know, the Indians, like us in Nigeria, were also colonized by Britain; so also what is today called Pakistan and Bangladesh. Parts of China were at some point colonized by Japan; so also the Korean peninsula (known today as North Korea and South Korea).

While those countries threw away the yoke of colonialism, maintained their cultural identities and retraced their history back to pre-colonial days, those of us in Africa have chosen to forgo our pre-colonial history and identities. Gone are our indigenous language, religion, mode of dressing, culture, ways of life, customs, traditions and beliefs. We are happy – in fact, the mark of civilization is when we ape the colonizers and distance ourselves from our roots.

But we should have asked ourselves: Why is it that foreign countries, including ex-colonies like us, teach their children in their own language while we abandon ours and learn instead in the foreign language imposed on us by our erstwhile colonial masters? Those of us who travel abroad for studies must first learn their own language.

Is it true that the original idea behind the founding of the then University of Ife by the Obafemi Awolowo government of the Western Region was to conduct learning in the Yoruba language, hence the Motto: For Learning and Culture? But the military struck in 1966 and the rest, as they say, is history! Why have we abandoned our own religion and belief systems for those of foreigners who still keep theirs? Why do we despise everything that is ours but embrace what is theirs, even when it is clear to us that it is not working, and cannot work for us?

When we say Nigeria is 66 years old, it does not mean that the various nations and people making up Nigeria are 66 years old.

The Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Bini, Jukun, Kanuri, etc are hundreds, if not thousands of years old. They have also created civilizations that, at their apogee, compared to, even surpassed, anyone mentioned above.

When the Lugardian Experiment of 1914, as it is derisively called by those opposed to it, is abandoned, then the various ethnic nationalities making up Nigeria will be free to retrace their history back beyond 1914 to an era that compares favourably with those mentioned above. The contraption called Nigeria is, thus, a prison of sorts and an eraser of history.

Nigeria may be 66 years old but the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Bini, Jukun, Igala, Ijaw, Idoma, and many others are certainly not. They are thousands of years older than Nigeria.

And therein lies a fundamental problem: When we say 66 years are but like the twinkle of an eye in the life of a nation, which nation are we referring to? Is it the various nationalities that make up Nigeria? Ahmadu Bello reportedly referred to Nigeria as the “mistake of 1914.” In his book, Path to Nigerian Freedom (1947), Obafemi Awolowo referred to the same Nigeria as “a mere geographical expression.” One Hundred and Twelve (112) years after the amalgamation, has Nigeria stopped being a mistake or a mere geographical expression? Even those who publicly profess their love for Nigeria, are they more than Nnamdi Azikiwe who prefer to live for Nigeria rather than die for it? “Why die for Nigeria when you can live for Nigeria”, Zik was quoted as saying!

In the Olympics, World cup, UEFA and European League competitions, big and small nations compete as sovereign nations. Countries not as big as my native Ondo state compete as nations. Then I wonder why a similar thing cannot happen here.

Why shouldn’t the Yoruba have their own nation or country? Why shouldn’t the Igbo have their dream Biafra? Why shouldn’t any other nationality in today’s Nigeria that wants to break away do so and form their own country? Why must we continue to force strange bedfellows to cohabit with bad blood flowing endlessly in their veins?

In the United Kingdom as we speak, the three other components of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are itching to go their separate ways.

Scotland has twice failed (in 1979 and 2014) to meet the threshold in the referendum for independence; still, its leaders are making another move.

In Spain, Catalonia’s independence movement has not relented. In 2017, it caused a constitutional crisis that nearly forced Spain on its knees.

The Soviet Union behemoth broke into 15 independent countries in December 1991. That break has not prevented Russia, the largest rump of the erstwhile USSR, from retaining its status as a superpower-nation.

Comrade-President Jozip Broz Tito’s much-beloved Yugoslavia fought a decade-long and bitter civil war (1991 – 2000) before splitting into six or seven independent countries. In contrast, Czechoslovakia’s “velvet divorce” led to the Czechs and Slovakians peacefully going their separate ways on January 1, 1993.

The “divorce” that separated Singapore and Malaysia was not as pleasant.

Malaysia considered Singapore a drag on its economic and political development and expelled it from the federation on August 9, 1965; similar to what Major Gideon Orkar and his fellow coupists wanted to do to some states in the North of the country with their failed coup of April 22, 1990. Singaporean leaders wept after their expulsion.

Many thought the end had come for the small, arid and resource-less island. But Singapore’s leaders, led by the iconic Lee Kuan Yew, pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and, today, Singapore is one of the most prosperous countries in the world, with its GPD surpassing even that of Malaysia. Singapore’s GDP is $659.57 billion while that of Malaysia is $516.4 billion

Let those advocating for the restructuring of Nigeria on the account that the North of this country which, today, is considered a drag on the country, will suffer, take note of this.

I advocate for restructuring because I believe it can prove the elusive solution to Nigeria’s problem as it will compel everyone to buckle up and work, putting an end to the present system of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop.

With both monkey and baboon rolling up their sleeves and sweating it out – as was the case with Malaysia and Singapore – what a win-win solution that will be!

The alternative to a peaceful resolution of the Nigerian quagmire could be another civil war – God forbid! The experience of the civil war of 1967 – 1970 is there to warn us.

If that is not fresh enough, we have seen Liberia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Sudan, Ethiopia/Eritrea and, of course, Kosovo.

Many of the independent countries mentioned above are not half as big or richly-endowed as the nationalities fighting for their own independent status here in Nigeria – such as Biafra and Oodua.

Seperation has helped India and Pakistan to both become nuclear-power nations.

The experience of other countries that parted ways in Europe also points to the fact that separation may not necessarily be a bad idea afterall.

It can even prove the catalyst that we need for the rapid socio-economic development that has eluded us for 66 years.

Also read: Nigeria @ 66: ‘The Nation’s Destiny Begins in Our Communities’ — Oba Makama

While wishing Nigerians happy celebrations, let us also serve a note of warning that a stitch in time saves nine!

By Tai Emeka Obasi,

It is exceedingly terrible for clubs operating in a league as supremely elite as the English Premier League, EPL, to fraudulently cheat themselves to massive success.

Also read: Arteta Confirms: Myles Lewis-Skelly Stays at Arsenal

Rules are rules, and supposedly responsible club managements should comply with them in administering a game termed the beautiful game.

Manchester City is currently in the eye of the storm for all the wrong reasons.

A whopping 115 breaches were brought against the club, with reports now indicating that an independent commission found City guilty of 114 of them.

The club, however, maintains that the Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements still to be completed and subject to strict confidentiality.

Manchester City chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, has appealed to the fans to remain calm and faithful, insisting that the club will continue to defend its position and pursue the available legal process.

According to reports, Manchester City is expected to appeal the verdict. The sanctions have not yet been announced, and the possible consequences could include a heavy fine, points deduction, stripping of titles or even relegation.

From the available reporting, however, there is no basis for football fans to start celebrating the prospect of receiving Manchester City’s trophies.

Even if titles were eventually stripped, the relevant period under investigation is 2009 to 2018.

During that period, Manchester City won three Premier League titles, in 2011/12, 2013/14 and 2017/18, as well as three League Cups, in 2013/14, 2015/16 and 2017/18.

That immediately puts a different complexion on the matter.

For instance, Manchester United finished runners-up to City in the 2011/12 and 2017/18 Premier League seasons, while Liverpool finished second in 2013/14.

But whether those titles would actually be reassigned to the runners-up is another matter entirely.

There is no automatic rule that says a stripped title simply moves to the team that finished second. Any such outcome would depend on the eventual sanction imposed by the relevant authorities.

The same applies to Arsenal and the League Cup. Arsenal were beaten by City in the 2018 final, but that does not mean Arsenal would automatically inherit the trophy if City were sanctioned.

Expert opinion has suggested that the eventual punishment could include a substantial financial penalty and a huge points deduction, potentially severe enough to threaten City with relegation.

But until the sanction is formally determined, nobody can say with certainty what punishment Manchester City will receive.

For Gunners fans, therefore, we should lower our expectations from City’s debacle. Even if Manchester City are eventually found guilty after the appeal process and even if they are relegated, Arsenal will not stroll to this season’s title.

Our last match against Brighton and Hove Albion is a huge warning that our squad is not as complete as it is generally acclaimed to be.

Also read: Arteta Confirms: Myles Lewis-Skelly Stays at Arsenal

Like we did last season, Arsenal must win the title on the pitch, not wait for Manchester City to lose it in the courtroom.

That is the real lesson.