By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

THE pristine automobile zoomed past us. The noisy announcement of its arrival commanded the attention that its presence demanded. The driver must have been impressed by his ability to steal the moment, still conversations, as people wondered about a new madness in Abuja.

In a split second the “machine” had faded in the distance, fast like lightning, definitely so fast that it sped into our conversations and owned them.

Add the speed, the other vehicles it missed hitting by inches, and the commotion that its speed spread on the busy road on a busy Thursday afternoon, and the new dangers of an outing in broad daylight increase.

Why such reckless driving? How are they able to compromise safety without consequences? Do the drivers even care for their safety?

“They have money. They have a lot of money,” said the taxi

driver. “All you need to have is a lot of money. That’s all.

“When you have the type of money these young people driving these cars have, you can do anything, as you like it. The law respects them.

“Nobody stops them. They are from rich families. If they hit anyone’s car, the victim would be the one to be arrested. It is in our interest to give way once we hear them approaching.

“Look at their cars. They command respect. Police would not stop them. They beat traffic light, endanger other people. Nobody arrests them. They cannot be arrested.

“Their money speaks for them. They have enough money to buy anything. They can buy anyone,” the taxi driver explained, while noting that these “racing cars” were the latest danger on Abuja roads.

Not too long ago, manholes that scrap buyers had taken out the cover was counted as a major danger on Abuja roads. The little time devoted to “missing manholes” gives the impression that the problem has been solved.

Manholes are still there. Vehicles hit them sometimes, lose a tyre or in worse cases people suffer broken limbs. Nobody is really responsible for these issues. Or are there?

“Sometimes they do the racing at night,” the taxi driver steered the conversation back to where he wanted it. “They don’t care about the fact that for months that the streetlights do not work except some places where they think light is important.”

“Do you remember the bike accident that Buhari’s son had?” he asked. “It is from this same racing, overspeeding that they are doing with some special cars. They want to tell people that they have money.”

Taxi driver said he tells everyone to make that type of money. Only money is what is respected. Let’s even call it our national value.

He explained that every Nigerian is busy trying to make that type of money that nobody will oppress him. Many Nigerians he said understand that the only thing that matters is money.

Is how you get the money important? He said it no longer mattered. “What does government do for me?” he asked. “Why should it be important to government how I make my money? Do I ask them how they make their money?”

“What are your own personal values?” I told the taxi driver the question was meant for him. He retorted that his value would not be different from those who have understood the value of money and adopted it as theirs.

The love of money in these ways, the taxi driver concluded, “ was rooted in the belief that governments, elected or appointed, were too selfish to cater for the people on whose behalf they hold the power with which they are aligning national resources to serve their interests.

We have a country where people’s strive for survival is pulling down institutions that can help mould us into “a nation where no one is oppressed.

As the race for money takes centre-stage, we will discover that it is a rat race which humans are trying to win.

What worsens the setting is that winners of the rat race still think they are human beings. The challenge before us is how to recover our humanity such that we would be humane enough to pull up the weak and small voices that the din of those racing cars give no chance of being heard.

Money cannot be Nigeria’s national value.

Finally…

AT the 2025 Nigerian Guild of Editors Annual Conference that ended Thursday in Abuja, speaker after speaker found ways of copiously splashing “national interest” on any issue discussed. Why has “national interest” become mere words? The hollowness of “national interest” rests on the fact that there must be a nation before “national interest”. With no interests in making a nation out of Nigeria, what we have are personal interests clothed as “national interest”. Today, “national interest” is another elevated deceit.

DOES the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, hate himself so much that he serially explodes bombs in his own bunker? On Thursday, after he slightly recovered from the shock of his Tuesday’s confrontation with Lieutenant AM Yerima of the Navy, Wike addressed a press conference where he rambled about his cordial relationship with the military. He had no written speech. He was blaming everyone, except himself, for his self-inflicted ordeal, from that encounter. What was he doing at a disputed property? Was he a bailiff, there, to serve court papers? Why did Wike not listen to Minister of State for Defence Bello Matawalle who told him the military was investigating the land? On Friday, a menacing bulldozer that was to pull down the property was removed. People gathered and booed. Wike has a lot to learn about keeping the dignity of the office he occupies even if he thinks he can personally deal without dignity.

BLASTS that shake buildings, frighten children and adults alike, and leave some with hearing challenges for days, have been going on at the 6th Avenue end of Gwarinpa, Abuja, since last month without any explanations or warning to the residents. Some say rocks are being blast in the course of road construction. The authorities, not even the construction companies, need to tell the public what is happening.

GOVERNMENT agencies should do more to ensure that they provide the services for which they are established. Two agencies – National Youth Service Corps, and Nigeria Immigration Service – were unable to keep their websites running as hundreds of thousands of Nigerians visited to either register for the NYSC orientation or get their details to take examinations for recruitment into the Immigration Service. Both activities were done “online”. Many could not gain access as the system kept faltering. The complaints about the “poor network” persisted for weeks. Trust the system to work promptly to cut off all access when the deadline expired. Can the plight of those caught in the maze be ameliorate?

IN its State of Social Safety Nets in Nigeria (November 2025), the World Bank stated that only 44% of total benefits from government-funded programmes go to poor Nigerians. It blamed poor programme design, weak targeting, and limited coverage for the failure of the programmes.

“Safety nets expenditure is inefficient, with a smaller share of benefits going to the poor,” stated the report. The World Bank warned that Nigeria’s over-dependence on donor funding, which accounted for 60% of safety-net spending between 2015 and 2021makes the programme unsustainable.

FAMILIES of many government officials have maintained a culture of involvement in running governments as if they are their family business. Of course, these illegalities result in corruption that we just complain about. In Gabon, Sylvia Bongo, 62, wife, and 33-year-old Noureddin Bongo, son of Ali Bongo, former President of Gabon, were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in absentia. They were taken into custody shortly after the 2023 coup that toppled Ali Bongo, who had ruled Gabon for 14 years. Sylvia and Noureddin were accused of crimes including embezzlement of public funds and money laundering and assuming the powers of the sick president after Ali suffered a stroke in 2018. They denied the charges. After 20 months in detention, they were transferred to house arrest in May and then flown with Ali Bongo to Angola, which said it had taken the family in “for humanitarian reasons.” They are reportedly in England. More people are going on trial for similar allegations.

ABA State Movement is sustaining its campaign on creation of Aba State, with historical evidence of the National Assembly in 1983, approving a referendum for creation of Aba State. The military takeover of 1983 ended that move. Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural organisation of Ndigbo twice approved the creation of Aba State in 2015 and 2018. Aba State is showcasing its economic viability, and the homogeneity of the parts asking for the state. The boundaries of the areas of the proposed Aba State have been unaltered since 1957 when the first proposal was presented to the Willink Commission. Aba State, proposed, aside from commerce, industry, indigenous technology, and oil and gas, covers the palm oil belt that was the fulcrum of Eastern Nigeria’s economy.

•ISIGUZ0 is a major commentator on minor issues.