I first came into contact with South Africa remotely, through a book, Cry, the Beloved Country, written by Alan Patton ( 11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988). It was a novel given to me to read by my father, in 1974. It was the first introduction to my growing mind on what life was like in […]

South Africa  united  Africa and the Black Race more than any other as we fought Apartheid, one of the most evil systems humans  ever created.  Apartheid was backed by some of the most powerful countries in the world such as the United States, United Kingdom and Israel which  also practices an   Apartheid variant  called Zionism.  But, […]

It is a common political maxim, bearing more than a kernel of truth. Divided parties don’t win elections. Equally, a divided opposition can’t defeat a determined incumbent, however appalling its performance. That truism has played out twice in Nigeria’s recent past and seems likely to repeat itself in next year’s presidential election. In 2015, the Peoples […]

When I told a couple of friends on Saturday that I was going to Katsina State, they asked the same question: Must you go? My affirmative answer elicited a familiar, albeit cryptic admonition: I hope you made adequate security arrangements. That is how scared most people, particularly in the South, are right now about Katsina, […]

Here’s something I’ve been noticing: some of my undergraduate students can’t tell me who the Minister of Communications is, but they can quote three different podcast hosts on media literacy. They skip assigned textbook chapters, but they’ve listened to eight hours of podcast content on the same topic. When I ask them where they learned about […]

Most people say that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has vied for president of Nigeria six times over 30 years (1993 – 2023). For me, it’s seven times. In 2003 when he was President Olusegun Obasanjo’s deputy, his failed “Mandela Option”, aimed at limiting Obasanjo to one term, was meant to clear the way for him […]

The African Democratic Party was at this time last year a nondescript organisation struggling to stay afloat as a political party. Ralph Nwosu, the founder of the party, had turned the chairmanship of the party into something of a life appointment in which he had served for seventeen years. By July he had turned the party, […]

 “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”, Mahatma Gandhi If the first task of Nigeria’s post-colonial elite was to secure independence, the unfinished task of our time is to complete nation-building. That task has remained elusive largely because the ruling class has failed to evolve into a […]

In an economy where a number of indicators are pointing downwards, it becomes difficult to point at positives and to have something conspicuously stamped on the display board as an unfolding omen of good happenings. There are so many depressing things to point to – the fuel pump price which is stronger than the minimum wage, […]

Can Nigeria’s states anchor development, or are they merely administrative units waiting each month for federal allocations? This question is now urgent. Citizens no longer judge government by constitutional theory but by practical outcomes: food on the table, roads to farms, safety in communities, jobs for young people, and hope in places long abandoned by policy. […]