Mr President, greetings! You will recall that I had addressed the issue of the illegality of the Nigeria Police Force’s tinted-glass permit policy and requested that you call your minions at the Louis Edet House to order. Perhaps, hemmed in from the streets of Nigeria due to your exalted office, you can no longer perceive the level of discontentment among the governed. Please do not take Nigerians for granted. On the contrary, it would be to the detriment of your administration.
Mr President, your IGP has just slapped the Nigerian judiciary in the face. The IGP, perhaps, is unaware that, as a law enforcement officer, he must respect the judiciary and avoid matters before the court because they are subjudice until dispensed with. What he has just done with the statement justifying the “legality” of what many see as fraudulent and illegal, and engendering a resort to a judicial review, is the height of impunity and disdain for the laws of the land.
Also the specious arguments about an existing provisions in Sections 23(a) and 1(2) of the Motor Vehicles (Prohibition of Tinted Glass) Act, 2004, empowering IGP or any person authorised by him to grant or approve the permit, including exemptions based on good cause and citing Section 26(e) and (f) of the Nigeria Police Act, 2020, empowering the police to render specialised services at a fee offend the sensibilities of Nigerians. The IGP, through the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, cavalierly referred to a matter in court of law as if it did not matter.
He contended in the statement that the Nigerian Bar Association’s claims are “not only untrue and misleading but also a calculated attempt to cast aspersions on the image, integrity, and lawful operations of the Force.” A judgment is being passed by a party to a lawsuit even before it is heard by the judge in the hallowed chambers of justice. It is unfortunate that Nigeria has been dragged to a new low by official indiscretion and impunity.
Mr President, recall that the NBA has resorted to litigation on the matter. This is through suit no. FHC/ABJ/CS/182/2025, which it filed on Wednesday, September 3, 2025. Its argument is that the tinted glass permit policy infringes on constitutionally guaranteed rights to dignity, privacy, freedom of movement, and property.
The doubting Thomases should see Chapter Four of the 1999 Constitution as altered. Besides, it questions the legality and relevance of the Act, which emanates from military draconian decrees, in a democratic order. Tell your IGP to allow the rule of law.
Mr President, let me commend you on the new lease of life at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). The chairmanship of Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Nigeria’s former Foreign Minister, of the NIIA Board is giving verve to the institute. His presence at NIIA, with the institute’s versatile Director General, Professor Eghosa Osaghae, is a winning team.
This is quintessential square pegs in square holes. When you acted with a great deal of indiscretion over the coup in the Niger Republic, I told you that you erred and that you should have consulted with NIIA for direction on the matter. The result is a splintered ECOWAS. Now that the NIIA is regaining its dynamism, please look up to the institute for advice on matters of external relations.
The inaugural lecture of the foreign policy lecture series, which was held on September 10 at NIIA, was delivered by Ambassador Godknows Igali. It dwelled on “Realising Africa’s Rising Importance and Significance in International Relations, Geopolitics and Global Finance.” The lecture highlighted, from an optimistic prism, the contemporary and somewhat essential elements of Africa’s power.
Abundant and natural resources, a large population with extensive youth and diaspora contents, and a huge market. The well-known pathologies of the African environment are corruption with an annual illicit financial flow of about $88.6 billion annually, political instability, and, of course, a huge infrastructural deficit that requires about $130 billion annually, and new militarism in the form of terrorism. Yet Africa has the potential to transform all this. The continent’s share of global mineral resources is mind-boggling.
About 90 per cent of the world’s cobalt, about 90 percent of platinum, 40 percent of gold, 65 percent of diamond, 13 percent of hydrocarbon, and 10 percent of bitumen. Climate health depends on Africa’s equatorial and Latin America’s Amazon forests.
Africa’s biodiversity is enormous, and with its 1.3 billion people, it has a huge market for trade and commerce among its component countries, the very goal of the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), and within the context of the fourth industrial revolution, Africans have led the way in some areas of innovation. Truly, Africa’s potential has made it the butt of a renewed global scramble. We must reflect on the global dynamics, build interest-based alliances, and pursue the goal of continental integration to realise the development potential of our continent.
Professor Akhaine lectures at the Department of Political Science, Lagos State
University.
