This essay is part of a special edition being published in partnership with Foreign Affairs, titled “African Farmers in the Digital Age.” This anthology explores the future of African food systems and the role that digital solutions can play in overcoming the isolation of smallholder farmers and speeding up rural development.

At the time of writing this essay, Nigeria has lost 44 of her citizens to the dreaded Lassa Fever which like the equally dreaded Ebola Virus Disease is a haemorrhagic fever that spreads easily from one person to another even at the slightest of contacts. The two diseases need a comprehensive action plan involving the people and relevant agencies, local and international, as led and mobilised by government who deploys all resources necessary, be it human, cash and material, to tackle the menace headlong before it ravages the citizenry. That the disease has claimed 44 lives already within a short period of time shows how deadly it can be.

Apart from institutional leakages where deliberate non-implementation of policies has continued to lead to porosity of public funds; braze greed of unpatriotic public servants and sheer lust to climb the ladder of societal superiority are elements that have continued to rekindle the flames of corruption in Africa.

THE Federal Government through the Central Bank of Nigeria, yesterday, imposed stamp duty of N50 on bank customers for money received into their accounts.

As the 2016 entertainment year kicks off on MTV Base Africa, the pan-African music and lifestyle channel will be airing an exclusive red carpet fashion police special titled #BaseSlayedorShade on January 24th, 2016.