Schools Concession: The Ministry of Education as a retarded child, by Owei Lakemfa
A country’s Ministry of Education is supposed to be a place of illumination with clear ideas about the future. Nigeria has had not just super educators like Professors Wole Soyinka, Ebi Alagoa, Alvan Ikoku and Adamu Baikie, but also outstanding Education Ministers like Abudu Yusufu Eke and Babs Fafunwa. The ongoing conflagration over the award […]
Hapless Nigerians caught in party and Supreme Court politics
By Owei Lakemfa The raging arguments today include whether or not President Muhammadu Buhari should have obeyed the Supreme Court ruling on the continued use of the old currencies. One argument is that it was the Federal Government that was sued, not the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. But our forebears have a wise saying: […]
It’s easy defending criminality when you’re not the victim
By Owei Lakemfa I EXPECTED a backlash when on February 3, 2023, I published a piece: “Recreating the Holocaust in their own image.” It came as expected. The various reactions reinforce my position that our world can be a far better place if only otherwise decent humans would not rationalise evil. But it is quite […]
Affliction strikes Nigerians the second time
By Owei Lakemfa I AM walking back from the position of many Nigerians that these are the worse of times for the country. It would have been difficult to dispute what appears to be a truism. We are buffeted by rampant cases of terrorism, banditry and sectarian violence. Inflation is over 20 per cent, we […]
George Muchai: Murder of a trade unionist
By Owei Lakemfa IT has taken me eight years to get around to writing this. George Muchai, Deputy Secretary General of the Kenyan Central Organisation of Trade Unions, COTU, was also the serving Member of Parliament for the Kabete Constituency. I was the Secretary General of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity, OATUU, the […]
When government prompts the citizenry to violence
By Owei Lakemfa A Lebanese man on September 16, 2022, wielding a gun, held up the Byblos Bank in Ghazieh, Southern Lebanon. No, not to rob the bank or its customers. Just to retrieve part of his money trapped in the country’s banks! So, to retrieve part of his money, he had to hold up […]
