In The National Interest: UK launch exposes deep frustrations about Nigeria, by Olu Fasan
Last week, on October 7, the London School of Economics, LSE, hosted the UK launch of my book In The National Interest: The Road to Nigeria’s Political, Economic and Social Transformation. Two LSE faculties—the Department of International Relations and the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa—collaborated to organise the book launch, which included a public lecture. […]
Babalawo Pastors
Bishop David Oyedepo says poverty is not of God. He insists a child of God has no business being poor and declares: “There’s a proven covenant cure for poverty.” If this were true and proven, all the world’s poor would have become rich Christians by now.
M&M: The two most dangerous men in Nigeria
One American politician once said that every political party, sooner or later, develops its “lunatic fringe” – people who carry the advocacy for the political party to the most dangerous extremes. Nigeria has not reached there yet. But, we are getting too damn close for comfort. And two men, one belonging to the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, and the other a member of the All Progressive Congress, APC, are driving us “hell for leather” to the brink of political madness.
Criticism and the unmistakable signs of a society in decline (1)
Last week, I received an arrogant SMS message from a certain Dr. Nelson in response to my essay entitled “The anti-intellectual character of Nigerians,” in which I lamented the overbearing anti-intellectualistic influence of religion in the consciousness of Nigerians. In the text, Dr. Nelson claimed that “Nigeria is in need of people who can give advice and solutions to its many problems.
BOB MIGA (1949-2014)
Valentine Soroibe Agim was mostly known as Bob Miga. For those like me who grew up in Nigeria in the 1970s and early ‘80s, Bob Miga was a classic act; a superstar, and one among a wave of music celebrities whose sounds touched a core in our lives in a powerful and memorable way. It was particularly so for those in the East of Nigeria who came out of the civil war utterly devastated by war. Music saved our lives. It was young men – many just barely out of high school – who consoled us with the pulse of the most invigorating sounds ever created in the continent of Africa – with their unique, modern Afro-rock idioms. These young men took Nigeria by storm. They played music to fob-off anger and despondence. They played music to live.
There is only one Truth
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.” — Mahatma Gandhi
