By Tonnie Iredia The survival of the United States of America after its recent rancorous presidential election was largely due to its strong institutions. If what President Donald Trump did to test the strength of his nation immediately after the election is emulated in some other societies such as Nigeria with strong leaders but weak […]

By Tonnie Iredia It is not out of place for every nation to, at the end of every year, identify and celebrate her heroes and the year’s special events. For this column, there is no better time to do so than the last Sunday of the year which naturally features the last article of the […]

By Tonnie Iredia One clear gain of the return to democracy in Nigeria in 1999, is the telecommunication reforms of the Obasanjo years – a commendable policy that enabled our people to make telephone calls with ample ease. There is doubt if any other sector in the country has made as much progress as telecommunication. […]

By Tonnie Iredia Police authorities in Nigeria have no doubt learnt some lessons from the massive destructions to their formations in many locations following the recent #EndSARS protests in the country. Police operatives, many of them arguably innocent of what caused the protests were greatly traumatized. According to Mohammed Adamu, the current Inspector General of […]

By Tonnie Iredia As a youth, I looked forward to becoming a great television news reporter though I could hardly decipher what the motivation was. Understandably, I didn’t hesitate to seize the opportunity in the early 70s to join the Midwest Television,  now NTA Benin, as a reporter. As record shows, I remained in the […]

By Tonnie Iredia For the first time in Nigeria’s recent political history, the Senate of the Federal Republic appears to have placed commensurate premium on the importance of screening nominees of the President for certain positions. The assignment is indeed crucial because it is a constitutional requirement which is designed to ensure that any such […]

By Tonnie Iredia The recent #EndSars protests organized by Nigerian youths have continued to dominate media reports across the globe. The latest is a special investigative story on the subject by CNN, a foremost international news outfit. The subject should understandably attract the attention of broadcasters and media scholars, such as this writer. Our interest […]

By Tonnie Iredia Many events in Nigeria point to the fact that our people appear to take delight in leaving substance to pursue shadows thereby getting confused as to the way forward with our country. It was an interesting encounter the other day when one caller in a phone-in radio programme complained bitterly about many […]

By Tonnie Iredia Political apathy generally results from lack of interest in politics and the political process especially elections. Many people are dissuaded from politics because of the unwholesome behaviour of different political actors. Although politics is no doubt a dirty game, we are all enjoined to embrace rather than shun it because if reasonable […]

By Tonnie Iredia Many terms that appear simplistic to the ordinary person may in truth be quite difficult to define. In 1972, for example, two American scholars, Frank Dance and Carl Larson discovered from an extensive survey, 126 definitions for the term ‘communication’ – a term many would have thought they could define with ease. […]

By Tonnie Iredia Nothing else in Nigeria’s contemporary history has received as much widespread support as the campaign against police brutality in Nigeria initiated some two weeks ago by the nation’s youths. No person of conscience was truly opposed to the campaign. Even the Nigerian government which was understandably uncomfortable with the protests because of […]

By Tonnie Iredia In 2015, when the then US President, Barrack Obama visited a handful of African countries, Nigeria was excluded, though he got as close as neighbouring Ghana. Later in the year, at an International Conference on Media Development and Sustainability in Africa organized by the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland, one participant engaged me […]

By Tonnie Iredia In the next couple of days, if not weeks,  many Nigerians especially economists, finance experts and planners would devote ample attention to discussing the 2021 proposed budget delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari to a joint session of the National Assembly last Thursday. However, no one can stop lay persons like this writer […]

By Tonnie Iredia Based on the satisfactory performance of election administrators at the recently concluded Edo governorship election, there is a general feeling that the conduct of election to the office of governor of Ondo state scheduled for next Saturday, October 10, 2020 would be similarly successful. On her part, INEC has given assurances of […]

By Tonnie Iredia In underdeveloped societies where primitive accumulation of wealth is attractive, it is not difficult to locate thousands of followers of Machiavelli’s perception of ‘no morality’ in politics. Over the years, other notable leaders such as Vladimir Lenin, a foremost Russian revolutionary politician, have found cause to lend credence to the self-serving slogan. […]