From last week, continues the narrative of how the Obasanjo regime  hastily appointed Dr Ibrahim Ayagi to defend the presidency in the face of the crisis arising from the introduction of Shariá law in the North. Dr Ayagi was a former director of Continental Merchant Bank, formerly Chase Merchant Bank of Nigeria. THE same government […]

The introduction of Shari’a was initially very popular, for several reasons; foremost among these was public disenchantment with a government and a legal system which were failing people in many respects

From last week, continues the narrative of how the Obasanjo regime responded to a strike action organised by the NLC over fuel subsidy by inuagurating a committee in 2000 made up of eminent Nigerians to resolve the issue   THE committee was headed by my friend, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi, while the secretary of the committee was Chief […]

“It is totally false to suggest, as we are apt to do, that Nigerians are fundamentally different from any other people in the world. Nigerians are corrupt because the system under which they live today makes corruption easy and profitable; they will cease to be corrupt when corruption is made difficult and inconvenient….The trouble with […]

From last week, continues Professor Ihonvbere’s quote from the foreward of his book: Standing Tall, published in March 2005. This also concludes the treatise on the transition of the old National Anthem to a new one and the  roles played by different individuals in this process. A third problem is that Nigerians, over the last four […]

From last week, continues the narrative of the transition of the old National Anthem to a new one, the  roles played by different individuals in this process, including Professor Julius Ihonvbere, one of Obasanjo’s speech writers as president. While Mr. Ad’Obe Obe published a book, A New Dawn, in three volumes, Professor Ihonvbere published Standing […]

From last week, continues the narrative of the transition of the old National Anthem to a new one, including the roles played by different individuals in this process during the Obasanjo military regime. GENERAL Olusegun Obasanjo,  who was then Head of State, accepted the work and modified it. In September 1976, he decreed that all […]

From last week, continues the narrative of the roles played by different individuals such as Prof. Fela Sowande and Dr Ekundayo Phillips, in the adoption of Nigeria’s first national anthem UNDER Phillips’ tutelage, Professor Sowande earned the Fellowship Diploma, FRCO, from the Royal College of Organists. At that time, he was also a bandleader, playing […]

ON Friday November 18, 2011, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Lagos State Governor and National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, called for a referendum to gauge the preference of Nigerians on the two national anthems that the country has had since independence. Tinubu made the call while presenting a paper, titled: “Managing Nigeria’s […]

From last week, this is the concluding part of the narrative  on  the National Economic  Intelligence Committee, NEIC; its functions, impact and recommendations before its roles began to diminish under different regimes AFTER the death of General Sani Abacha, the National Economic Intelligence Committee, NEIC, played fewer roles, especially during the tenure of General Abdusalam Abubakar. […]

From last week, continues the narrative  on  the National Economic  Intelligence Committee, NEIC, its powers, functions  and how it was able to discharge these, including its recommentations on monetary policy during the Gen Abacha regime ALTHOUGH General Sani Abacha abused the system by enriching himself fantastically, it was Professor Aluko’s committee that pegged the official rate […]

From last week, continues the narrative  on the processes leading to the setting up of the National Economic  Intelligence Committee, NEIC, and the factors that defined its functions and powers Powers of the Committee  THE Committee shall have power to- (a) invite any person, group of persons or body corporate to appear before it; (b) call […]

Professor Sam Aluko was a member, International Economic Association, member, American Economic Association, member, Royal Economic Society, member, International Association of Agricultural Economists, member, Nigerian Economic Society, member, World Council of Churches Advisory Committee on Technical Services; chairman, Election Planning Committee, Action Group Party, Nigeria, 1964-1968.  While serving as Chairman of National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC), […]

IN 1965, when Professor Saburi Biobaku  (1918–2001), the deputy Vice-Chancellor of UNIFE advised all lecturers to support the party of the day, which was NNDP, a splinter group of the Action Group led by Chief Samuel Akintola,  Professor Aluko sided with Awolowo’s side of the Action Group who were receptive of the recommendations offered by the […]

DURING the era of General Sani Abacha(September 20, 1943 – June 8, 1998), there was the National Economic Intelligence Committee, NEIC. The committee had its office at the seventh floor of the Federal Secretariat, Abuja. The committee was a co-pilot in the execution of economic policies for the country. The committee’s work was later inherited by […]