What shall we do about South Africa?
RIGHT OF REPLY Approximately 1,030 words Azu Ishiekwene asks the right question, and he is right that the World Cup answered it before any of us did. The hostility Bafana Bafana met in those stadiums was not football. It was a bill arriving. I take his question seriously and respectfully disagree with part of how […]
Restructuring Nigeria: A distraction we can’t currently afford
Every Nigerian knows just how hard it is to continue to believe in Nigeria: the cost to one’s sanity, the emotional toll for lovers of Nigeria debating with non-believers, fighting for the right to continue to believe. When you believe in the right thing being done, you’re labelled a fool as the cynics, the people with the money to subvert progress, accept no challengers of the status quo.
The presidency and the power to impose travel ban
IN one sense the news that President Muhammadu Buhari plans to impose travel restriction on Ayodele Fayose and Nyesom Wike, respectively governors of Ekiti and Rivers states, seems to have come from nowhere. It simply stood out there and you’re left wondering where it came from or what could have informed it.
Muhammad Ali: The pugilist as poet and acknowledged legislator of the world
THE quest for an affordable ticket had landed me with a far longer journey than necessary—a predicament that all budget travellers of the world know too well! With final destination Abuja, I had first to fly for over three hours from Austin, Texas, to New York, then nearly 6,000 kilometres overnight to Paris, before finally embarking on the six-hour trip home. I scanned the in-flight movie menu. Ali, the 2001 biopic directed by Michael Mann, starring Will Smith, was available!
Rochas Okorocha and the ragged-trousered philanthropists
When you think you have seen the ultimate in thoughtless act in Nigeria someone just emerges from the corner to raise the bar.This is what the excitable governor of Imo state,Rochas Okorocha did in the news item I reproduce below:
Forget the 2016 budget; it’s no longer realistic(2)
The news report then went on to mention various individuals making the suggestion. It is the sort of report which makes one to wonder if it is intended to be taken seriously or as a joke. But then, one is reminded of the Hubert Humphrey, 1911-1978, late Vice President of the United States, who in Madison, Wisconsin, on August 23, 1965, left the world with the gem: “The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.” The experts were wasting their time for several reasons. But before going into those reasons, it is vital to remind Nigerians of a new phenomenon in our economic landscape.
