There is no shortage of talent in Nigeria. Yet, the country is so badly governed. Why? The answer is two-fold. First, the Constitution allows predatory politicians to gain power without a popular mandate and to capture the entire public realm. Second, Nigeria lacks a critical mass of patriots who can mount an effective rearguard action […]

BEFORE now, I have heard so much about Ola Makinwa, the iconic Professor of Dramatic Arts, a doyen of the film and theatre industry, world-class academic and author of many books, including his much-talked about compendium, Peace Culture. But I never met him. Here is a man with over 76 celluloid film directing experience, 480 video […]

IN today’s fast-paced and busy world, high-stress situations have become common in the workplace, personal settings, and other critical scenarios. Effective communication during high-stress situations is crucial to the life and success of relationships. Stress poses the danger of misunderstanding, conflict, physical and mental fatigue, anxiety, and flippant emotional intensity in communication; it is often […]

SHOULD it go ahead as planned or advertised in the media in the last few weeks, the so-called #EndBadGovernance protest would as likely as not end with a whimper rather than the bang that many of those who had canvassed for it and others in government who have opposed it had anticipated. The fact is that […]

Nigeria’s Oil Wealth  NIGERIA is a hydrocarbon-rich nation. It is ranked by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, as the top crude oil producer in Africa as at May 2023, producing up to 1.4 million barrels of crude oil daily (this has reduced to below 1.2 million barrels per day as at May 2024). Nigeria […]

“LGBTQI+ rights are human rights. And our government has a responsibility to defend them, to promote them – here and everywhere,” “- Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State  Shifting the burden of “human  rights” on to the states presents the challenge of responsibility, especially with regards to protecting the basic rights of citizens by their […]

COME tomorrow, Nigerians will come out in their multitudes for a nationwide protest initially billed to last for 15 days. It is coming under different hashtags: #EndBadGovernance, #EndHunger, #EndHardship, #TakeItBack, etcetera. These themes are dramatically different from that of #EndSARS protest of October 2020. They are far more existential. Our very lives are on the line. […]

IT was my strong determination this week to write in defence of the Tinubu administration that it couldn’t be behind the large scale disconnection of mobile lines as a sure channel of ensuring that those planning demonstrations over hardship in our nation on  August 1, 2024, fail in the process as they will be unable to […]

ANY government can easily undermine its credibility if it sends mixed signals on essential policy issues or initiatives, flip-flop from one policy or strategic direction to another, and turn essential socioeconomic frameworks into a yo-yo game. The outcome and resultant consequences have been consistent: a total erosion of integrity and trust in the government. This has […]

From last week, continues Professor Ihonvbere’s quote from the foreward of his book: Standing Tall, published in March 2005. This also concludes the treatise on the transition of the old National Anthem to a new one and the  roles played by different individuals in this process. A third problem is that Nigerians, over the last four […]

Hitler’s Chief of propaganda uttered those words during the last days of the Nazi government; when all the falsehood concocted by several top officials was becoming unraveled.

IN my consciousness, humanity is defined as the trinity of fundamental human rights, democratic rights and workers’ rights. I believe that if we get these right, we would get our well-being right. This is because, embedded in the deceptively simple words of these declared rights are the needs of humanity, the laws of nature and social […]

The only thing that is not changing in Nigeria is politics. Since independence in 1960, politics in the country has remained dirty. At first, we had local heroes who ‘won’ electionsthrough crude force such as political assassinations as well as the abduction and imprisonment of political opponents before voting day.Although not much of that happens these […]

Chinua Achebe, the leading African writer of the 20th century, did write in his The Trouble with Nigeria, that Nigeria was a fractious nation. However, a shared fear and antipathy of the Igbo was the single thing that unites Nigeria. This situation persists. And this certainly, is the impulse that drives Bayo Onanuga, senior Special […]

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his word good” – Confucius, 551-479 B.C., VANGUARD B00K OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 162 A picture, indeed, is worth a thousand words. The photograph published on Friday, July 19, 2024 by the media told the entire story. President Tinubu was smiling broadly; all the Labour […]