Nigeria is bleeding. Our soldiers fight with courage, but they are spread perilously thin across multiple fronts. Goats are now eating palm fronds on our heads.  From the Sambisa Forest to the Kotangora thickets of Niger and  the vast rangelands of Zamfara and the valleys of Orsu, violence lurks and consumes lives and livelihoods. It is better […]

As the year 2025 rolls to a close, there are citizens of the United States planning, in the new year, to charge their country with genocide against its “Black, Brown and Indigenous Peoples.” The Peoples’ Senate, one of the movements engaged in the “National Mobilisation Against Genocides”, declared that to mark the 250th Commemoration of the […]

“There are no poor countries- only failed systems for managing resources. “ –‘ Avram Noam Chomsky My discourse this week is inspired by the quote above, credited to Avram Noam Chomsky (born 1928), an American intellectual and professor known and celebrated for his work in social critivism, liguistics and political activism. He, according to Wikipedia, describes […]

On Tuesday, on a TV show hosted by Piers Morgan’s, a British journalist, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and a former Canadian lawmaker called Ms Goldie Ghamari, strongly disagreed over allegations that Christians in Nigeria are being persecuted. A couple of people I know feel that Tuggar did well. But most of the people with […]

When I saw the programme for the 2025 Nigerian Guild of Editors annual conference listing Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, as the keynote speaker, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Uzodimma has been in the press mainly for the wrong reasons. As one of Nigeria’s leading journalists and public intellectuals, Reuben Abati said on a […]

By nature, many Nigerians are incurable optimists. That is what keeps them going. In the face of severe challenges, they manage to sustain a relentless hope and positive outlook. In a sense, that speaks to their resilience and tenacity, without which life, which to the majority is already hell on earth, is insufferable. Yet, this optimism […]

Nigeria goes by the sobriquet “Giant of Africa”, principally because of its size. But the best metaphorical description of the country is a “sleeping giant”. And being asleep, Nigeria is not fulfilling its potential. The challenges are daunting and if things remain as they are, the omens are not good. Cobbled together by Britain in 1914, […]

There is a kind of language that carries more weight than grammar or eloquence. It is the language of gratitude. It is the language that transforms a donor from a name on a list into a partner in progress. This week, I have been reflecting deeply on how we speak and write to the people who […]

Under the 1963 Constitution the Federal Government was entitled to pay to each region a sum equal to 50 percent of the proceeds of mining rents and royalty in respect of minerals derived from each region. The Federal Government was obliged to credit to the Distributable Proof Account 30 per cent of the proceeds of the […]

“The political establishment is now keenly aware that sentiments in northern Nigeria hold significant implications for the nation’s political future, where dissatisfaction or approval can decisively shift electoral fortunes“— , Dakuku Peterside, “2027: Battle for the Soul of the North” The true test of politics is not in winning elections but in governing with reason. As […]

There is some level of speed going on at the National Assembly which is encouraging. The Assembly that is more into somnambulism literally, is working with a most unusual speed to pass the National Digital Economy and E-Governance Bill 2025, introduced in the life of this administration.  There is so much excitement about the Bill that […]

By dusk this past Sunday, it was all over the media that Lt. Ahmed Yerima, the same Naval officer that denied FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, access to a piece of estate owned by a retired Chief of Naval Staff, Zubairu Gambo, had escaped an assassination attempt. There was something unsettling about the report because of the […]

Nigeria is subtly being subjected to a sort of change that many of us could never have imagined in our wildest dreams. If we do not wake up now and smell this coffee, it may become too late. Those pursuing this change are armed to the teeth, sumptuously funded by local and international facilitators in the […]

From last week continues the narrative on the various suggestions made by LinkedIn on resolving community conflicts with reference to the lingering crisis in Benue-Plateau. The fourth step to resolving a community conflict is to negotiate and agree on a solution or a plan of action. You need to evaluate and compare the options generated […]

The most dangerous voter in Nigeria today may be the one who has quietly checked out. Since the last off-cycle governorship elections, the same weary refrain echoes across taxis, markets and WhatsApp groups: they will rig it, nothing will change, 2027 is already gone. What used to be anger is hardening into a belief that the […]