Who benefits from the narratives of portraying more than a billion people as poverty stricken and an entire continent as nothing more than wastelands for numerous crises? These are questions that I have often pondered especially with my knowledge of the enormous wealth in most African
Opinion
President Goodluck Jonathan must rein in Doyin Okupe and other sycophants. Chinua Achebe reminds us that those whose palm kernels were cracked by the gods must remain humble. A shoeless school boy who rose to the presidency cannot afford to have an aide misrepresenting him as a contestant for the position of Jesus Christ. Okupe presented President […]
“The truth of the challenge of saving the dying conscience in Nigeria, it seems to me, has to begin with enlightenment on our shared humanity. The death of anyone should, as the great quote goes, diminish us. The death of so many should crush our spirits and inspire action. The abduction of so many innocents […]
The Biblical story of Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, who betrayed the Lord, is intended to teach the lesson of human moral frailties. Even though Judas showed remorse by returning the 30 pieces of silver which he received from the chief priests and elders, the name has gone down in […]
Inside the Boko Haram (BH) camp, like in any other terrorist organisation, all is never full of roses as many may assume, they also have their internal war to unravel. Research shows that reasonable amount of BH members are not uniformly motivated by the cause, nor equally willing to sacrifice for the cause and the […]
For the north to reel out of its squalour, there is definitely a need for major rethinking, an inside-out revolution of mindset. A region and its people cannot develop when a handful of its population can ‘live high on the hog’ almost for eternity. Witness how many traditional rulers, ‘first class’ Emirs and Chiefs especially, […]
Nigeria is counting down to another season of general elections. Election is about choice of candidates, parties, programmes and policies, all represented by faces of actors. Behind any face are antecedents. So, in the emergence of any electoral candidate, the questions that will be normally asked are: What are his antecedents? What interest does he […]
Nigeria is called the giant of Africa. But is Nigeria truly the giant of Africa? Perhaps, Nigeria is the potential giant of Africa with clay feet and spindly legs. We have the potentialities to make Nigeria the greatest and biggest economy in Africa; but clueless, visionless, inept, and corrupt leadership has continued to hinder our […]
I knew him in 2005 when I accompanied the then Etsako Central Council boss, Pascal Ugbome, on a visit to his Asokoro District, Abuja, residence. He was then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Special Adviser on Project Monitoring and Evaluation. That first meeting, as brief as it was, made a lasting impression on me as he came […]
The Eastern Narrow Guage Line now runs more frequently and efficiently from Port Harcourt to Gombe through Aba, Enugu, Makurdi, Lafia and Bauchi. The first phase of the Central Standard Guage Line, the first in West Africa, has been completed to run from Kaduna to Abuja. It will ultimately go all the way through Itakpe […]
Among high ranking security personnel since the menacing activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria is “security consciousness”. In short, no speech is, complete without highlighting security as every body’sbusiness. Thus, for this reason, the populace is further advised to take extra step to police their immediate environment, and suspect every unusual movement. While such
Most Nigerians are politically complacent. And that’s why in the 2015 presidential election, they’d be voting for or against two devils representing two major political parties in Nigeria—PDP and APC. It is like taking a walk in hell and Satan asks which part of his infernal community one finds comfortable. Whatever choice, one is still […]
Nigeria is indeed an exciting country to live in particularly because of the diverse shades of characters that make up the top echelon of governments not just in the current dispensation but even in almost all previous administrations. Ordinarily, Nigeria ought not to be a neighbour of poverty but due to crass indiscipline and unprecedented […]
Nigeria in every respect is looking more and more like an apparition. Many unreal things happen daily, it looks like a state of nature as described by Thomas Hobbes. Nigeria has been turned to a beggar nation by those who are electedto govern it! Think of anything at all, it is possible in Nigeria. Things […]
Going by the timeline of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), campaigns for presidential and National Assembly elections should commence this month, including those for state houses of Assembly. Since the commencement of the Fourth Republic, the nation has been experiencing various challenges in building virile institutions, fighting sectarian crises and
As we enter a New Year today, it is all too easy to give in to despair and despondency at the current state of Nigeria. The gap between our tremendous potentials as a country and our actual attainments is depressing and disheartening. For a country as endowed with human, material and natural resources […]
At the peak of the struggle between the Lagos State Government and Okada riders about four years ago, Governor Raji Fashola did say that one of the major reasons his administration banned the trade was because it was a dangerous transportation mode. I thought the Okada riders had been fully persuaded by that argument until […]
Given the pedigree of most of the political and socio-political leaders in Igbo land, it may not be correct to classify them as naïve. These men and women who have occupied and still occupy sensitive and important positions ordinarily possess what it takes to make sound judgment but they carry on as if there is […]
The political party primaries in Nigeria have drawn to a close and voters now have a clearer picture of whose turn it might be to divide up the national cake after the elections in March 2015. But the winning candidates won’t be the only ones taking their share of the country’s riches. In Nigeria, news […]
In the immortal words of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, “Success is not in never failing. But, in rising each time you fail.” To him also, “It isn’t life that matters, but the courage you bring to it.” In the lyrics of the evergreen philosophical composition by the legend Reggae superstar, Jimmy Cliff, “You can […]
