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Resignation | Zikoko!
  • Can Nigerian Politicians Ever Find Redemption?

    Can Nigerian Politicians Ever Find Redemption?

    This is Zikoko Citizen’s Game of Votes weekly dispatch that helps you dig into all the good, bad, and extremely bizarre stuff happening in Nigeria and why they’re important to you.

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    Doyin Okupe Resignation Sanwo-olu Meffy

    This week has shown us nothing is impossible, and impossible is nothing. It started off with Lionel Messi’s village people finally allowing him to win the World Cup, and in an even stranger turn of events, a Nigerian politician convicted of money laundering actually had the decency to step down from his political position instead of just closing his eyes till the bad news all went away.

    Doyin Okupe Resignation Sanwo-olu Meffy

    On December 19, 2022, a federal high court in Abuja found Doyin Okupe guilty of money laundering. While he was an aide to former president, Goodluck Jonathan, he received over ₦200 million from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, without going through a financial institution. 

    Nigerian law frowns upon such transactions because that kind of process makes it easy to steal even if done with the best of intentions like Okupe claimed he was doing. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) dragged him to court for that shady deal and the judge sentenced him to two years in prison on many counts. But he also had the option to pay a fine that totalled ₦13 million.  

    For those who don’t remember or know Doyin Okupe, he was, until recently, the Director-General of the Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council. When news of his conviction broke, many Nigerians raised their eyebrows, mainly because of his role in the Obi-Datti campaign. Peter Obi’s opps seemed ecstatic at the opportunity to finally call the so-called messiah out as a fraud, but all the haters were silenced when Okupe posted his resignation letter on December 20, 2022. 

    The bar is very low when it comes to Nigerian politicians, and this is why Okupe’s resignation shocked many of us. Nigerians are used to seeing money laundering cases swept under the rug, and the offenders moving freely while flaunting their extravagant lifestyles. But Okupe’s case proves that maybe all is not completely lost.

    What else happened this week?

    Nigerian Doctors Are Catching Hands When They Need To Catch A Break

    Everybody is going through it in this country, but doctors seem to be especially punished for working in Nigeria. After spending years surviving medical school and trying to reconcile with the peanuts the government pays them, they may also need to learn martial arts to deal with patients. 

    On December 21, 2022, a 56-year-old man, Ayodele Falomo and his son, Ayoola, appeared before  a Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ogun State for assaulting a doctor. Moments after the doctor pronounced their relative dead, they repeatedly slapped her before other people came to her rescue.

    The court allowed her attackers get away with a ₦200k fine each and a written apology. But they probably just helped another Nigerian doctor decide to japa.

    Video of the week

    Question of the week? 

    During the inauguration of the Blue Line Rail system this week, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu mentioned that Lagos has now become like London under his watch. Do you agree with him?

    Ehen one more thing…

    Meffy has finally bowed to public pressure and raised the weekly withdrawal limits of individuals to ₦500k and corporate bodies to ₦5 million. Here’s how the former withdrawal policy affected different people.

  • What Nigerian Politicians Can Learn from UK PM’s Resignation

    What Nigerian Politicians Can Learn from UK PM’s Resignation

    With Nigeria in full electioneering mode unlooking a devastating flooding crisis, another United Kingdom Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has resigned due to incompetence.  Truss is now the shortest serving PM in British history — just 45 days —  and the fourth PM to resign since 2016

    Why did Truss resign?

    In her resignation speech, Truss said she failed to deliver on her Conservative Party’s mandate to cut taxes and boost economic growth. Despite being in office for less than two months, her own party members publicly spoke of plans to replace her

    The underlying reason for Truss stepping down comes from implementing policies that backfired badly — her budget to cut taxes failed and upset financial markets. Even the UK’s almighty pound sterling dropped in value.

    So what lessons can Nigerian politicians learn from this saga?

    Politics isn’t do-or-die

    In the West, elected officials and political appointees know that the positions they hold are temporary and performance-based. People win or lose elections — life continues. But in Nigeria, politicians invest heavily and employ whatever means necessary to win. And when they don’t win, they faint, literally.

    Resignations should be more commonplace in Nigeria

    Resignation isn’t in the dictionary of Nigerian politicians. Even the rare ones that resign do it usually when the law is holding a gun to their heads. One notable resignation happened in 2018 when the Oluwole-made NYSC certificate of then-finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, was exposed. She claimed that until the scandal broke, she “didn’t know” that her certificate wasn’t genuine. 

    National interest over party interest

    Truss’ resignation followed protests from all quarters — including her own party — that she wasn’t fit to lead.  In Nigeria, party loyalty reigns supreme and members of the party in power rarely call out their underperforming leaders. This kind of blind allegiance undermines democracy in the long run.

    For example, when Nigerians called for the resignation of Isa Pantami from his ministerial position following his support of terrorist groups, members of his party in his home state of Gombe issued a solidarity statement. He’s still a minister years after that controversy that would have been the end of a politician in saner climes.

    Resignation isn’t the end of the world

    As a former PM who has only spent 45 days in office, Liz Truss is entitled to a £115,000 annual salary for life. As you can imagine, this lifts her from being a mechanic to being a baller for life. 

    The lesson here is that resigning from office doesn’t signal the end. One could use the opportunity to pursue one’s passions, earn money from public speaking, write a book, or even run again for the same office, like Truss’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, plans to do

    In Nigeria, politicians tend to make politics their bread and butter, which makes them desperate to die there. Maybe they could be more open to the idea of losing and resigning if they have thriving enterprises outside of office that aren’t dependent on political patronage. 

    Ultimately, resignations are a feature of a thriving democracy and a reminder that for all the power politicians hold, they still remain public servants.

  • 7 Nigerians Talk About Resigning From A Job They Hated

    7 Nigerians Talk About Resigning From A Job They Hated

    If you are working a job you hate and you have thought of all the possible ways to resign from that job, we advise you to take some cues from these few Nigerians. These options might be a bit dramatic, but trust us, they work.

    Welcome to the YOLO Economy - The New York Times

    Tony, 30

    I used to work at this job where I thought I was hired as a Business Development Executive, it was when I started the job that I realized I was a glorified marketer. The company kept changing the job description to different sweet names, to distract me from the fact that they were owing me 2 months salary. 

    I worked there for almost 6 months when the job was stressing me out. I wanted to resign,  but it was my birthday month. I waited till my birthday on the 11th. Didn’t do any meaningful work from 1st – 10th. On my birthday, I made sure I  collected the cake they made for me and had a good time with my colleagues.

    I sent in my resignation a few days after that. It was a handwritten resignation letter I dropped with HR. They were shocked.

    I have sworn to never work in that role again. Thank God I now work in a role I’m comfortable with. I no longer have unreasonable targets and MPR.

    Temi, 35

    I was at the job for almost 3 months before I quit. I was learning but I wasn’t enjoying it. And I felt like I’m being pressured to do what I don’t like. It was a programming gig and it was just catching the rave back then. I was into System repairs, computer networking and security implementation before I started the training.

    One day, I walked up to the owner and told him I was quitting the next day. He drilled me with questions and then offered to pay me 30k per month. It wasn’t a bad offer but I could also make that doing what I like on my own. I made him understand it’s not about the money and we maintained a cordial relationship.

    Onome, 25

    I used to work as a German language tutor at a language company in Lagos in 2018. I was at the company for 6 months. My salary got paid quickly in the first month, and I thought that was the protocol at the company till the second month came. I didn’t get paid for the next 4 months, but I still get going because I didn’t want to be bored at home. 

    The last straw was the morning I trekked from my house at Adeniji to Obalende, I had only 500 Naira with me and needed it to get home in the night. I woke up the next morning, very angry and frustrated, I called my boss and the HR person and started cursing both of them. 

    Luckily for me, my friend took me to the citizen mediation centre to make a report. I made the report and threatened my boss with a lawsuit. I got paid 3 days after sending out the threat of a lawsuit, I was paid 4 and a half months worth of salary. I don’t know how they got the money so fast, but I don’t care. 

    The experience made me leave Lagos, I am back in Ibadan where life is a lot saner. I only freelance now and get paid upfront.  

    Rotimi, 33

    Last year, I worked at a digital marketing firm. I worked there for a year. The company kept cutting salaries because of covid, even though clients were paying. I was working from home during the pandemic and always had to use my money to pay for electricity and internet.

    One day, I got tired of the job and sent my work tools back to them via dispatch. I also sent them a resignation letter and deleted myself from all the group chats. I don’t know how they reacted to my resignation because I have not picked any of their calls since I quit.

    Chichi, 28

    I used to work as a customer care provider, I was at the job for 8 months when I quit. The pay was terrible – I could barely take care of myself. I was basically working for transport money. The worst thing about the job was the partial grading system. I used to work 8 hours every day and still get graded 4 marks out of 10.

    On the day I resigned, I woke up in a foul mood. The team leader called me and started yelling. I  can’t remember what made me decide to quit that day. I sent a peace sign to the group and left. I  blocked all my colleagues because I  didn’t want to hear their inputs on how I should have handled things better. I don’t regret leaving the job – it was a rubbish job. 

    Tobe, 27

    I started work as a graduate trainee in a financial services firm, but I had become a junior analyst by the time I resigned. I was there for a year by the time I left. I was very indifferent about the job and it also didn’t help that I was planning to go for my masters. 

    I resigned from the job right after they paid bonuses. I didn’t plan it and it almost looked like I waited till the bonus was paid before I resigned. I had forgotten about the clause in my contract that made it obligatory for me to work at the company for two years. I eventually had to pay them one million Naira as a release clause.

    Pearl

    1,064 Black Middle Finger Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images -  iStock
    Image used for descriptive purpose.

     I worked with someone for 3 months. He was very rude a disrespectful. He never stuck with agreements, he also constantly undercut my remunerations and accused me of swindling him.  

    He called me a fool during one of his usual rants, I cut the call on him and ignored all his other calls.  He went on to call the person who connected us, and luckily for me, he too was fed up with his bad behaviour. He went as far as getting his wife to call me. I explained her husband’s ineptitude to her – she had nothing else to say and only apologized for his actions.

    He texted a week later, about the job we were previously doing together. He acted like he was ready to get serious and tried to play it off as though nothing happened. I have not replied to his text since then. I am teaching myself to place a premium on my perceived dignity above all other things. 

  • 6 Nigerian Employees Share Their Most Notable Resignation Stories

    6 Nigerian Employees Share Their Most Notable Resignation Stories
    Nigerian employee

    The country is tough and there are not enough jobs so as Nigerian employees, we don’t just resign on a whim.

    It seems pretty easy to just say that you are going to resign and hand in your two weeks’ notice because what could possibly go wrong?

    If you are about to turn in your notice at work, you should know that it may not be as straightforward as it looks because there are many things that can happen when you try to call it quits. Don’t believe us? Just ask these 6 Nigerian employees who tried to quit.

    Nigerian employee

    1) The one that ended in hot tears.

    “I asked my last boss for a raise to which she declined. The following month, I got an offer from a different company offering to pay me what I had requested from that boss. I took it and explained my situation to her while turning in my resignation letter because I thought she’d understand seeing as we have similar experiences.

    I was wrong. She started to shout at me and for the remainder of my two weeks, she also gave me the workload of 5 people to do before leaving saying I had betrayed her. She would ignore my greetings and also snap at me. I cried every day until I eventually left the company. The day I left was the best day of my life.

    2) The one that became a police case.

    My last boss was wild. As soon as I put in my quit notice, he told me that my contract stated that I couldn’t go over to the company I was switching to. I was so lost because I didn’t even read the contract as I was just happy to stop being unemployed when I got that role at his company. At the end of the day, he called his policemen and I called my own policemen.

    3) Wow. Payback?

    “My last company ehn, I have never seen people as petty as them before in my life. As I told them I was no longer doing like this, they fired me on the spot. I was just like “petty.” I chested my L and moved on sha.”

    4) We no go gree oh, we no go gree.

    “Leaving my last employer was the hardest thing I have had to do because my oga likes me a lot. For me, it was no longer a 9-5 to me but more like a family business. I had to go back to school but my boss kept on begging me not to leave completely; to work weekends or in the evenings. At some point, my mum was involved in the whole thing. To be honest, I was just tired of the back and forth and I wanted fresh air.”

    5) Wiun!

    Me that I relocated abroad and didn’t tell my family or work people. It’s not me that evil eye will catch. I heard that in the workgroup, they still always ask what happened to me. Me that I have escaped.

    6) Hmm…

    “There was this guy that worked in my company that we put in charge of strategic partnerships with potential investors. That’s how one day he told us that he was thinking of trying a new field and he had to leave. Follow your passion and all that. We did a farewell party and even cried for him as per one of the boys.

    The next week, he resumed at the company of one of our biggest rivals as head of operations. We all wanted to die. Since then, everyone at work signs a non-disclosure agreement form. Ole ni everybody.”