MY fellow countrymen and women are incurable optimists. As the grind got harder and life became more brutish and nasty as a result of the economic policies the president chose to adopt and implement, most Nigerians continued to look at the brighter side of life, praying and hoping that things will get better. In the hope that […]

AS each day dawns in Nigeria, the economic omens are getting more and more bothersome, sending  wave after wave of apprehension about how to make ends meet down the spines of most of us, except, perhaps, those permanently connected to sources of unending funds, like politicians, clergymen, and motor park operatives, known as agberos. These three classes […]

LAST week I opined that in terms of security, our dear nation is still at 100 level. To those who know, 100 level, in our clime, is generally used to refer to the first year of study in a university. In other countries, 100 level students, or JAMBites, here, are also called freshmen. Compared with many countries, […]

IN the last few weeks, the global news media and the internet have been awash with the exploits of the state of Israel in the campaign against Hamas, Hezbollah and other real and apparent threats. In sympathy, Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel last Tuesday. Israel claimed most of the missiles were rendered ineffective by […]

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. — Aristotle (384-322 BC). THE state of affairs in our  dear country, Nigeria, as at now, is simply bothersome. When an Ijebu man is finding it difficult to afford garri, which he wants to soak in water and gulp down with either a piece of meat, a cutlet […]

“To give real service you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, and that is sincerity and integrity.” — Donald A. Adams YOU might be wondering what the word, sakamanje, means in the headline of today’s discourse. On the street, sakamanje is a word that describes opaque dealings and manipulations of peoples and […]

“Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: ‘Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path.’ If you don’t ask those questions, your […]

We are still where we were with electricity, more than 200 million of us “managing” 4,000 MegaWatts or thereabouts. Lying to the people is now the highest point of statecraft in Nigeria.

“A blemish may be removed from a diamond by careful polishing, but evil words once spoken cannot be effaced.” — Confucius (551– 479) BCE THE quote above in several respects refers to the situation in which we have found ourselves. On May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu spoke evil words into our economy by unthinkingly announcing the withdrawal of […]

SO, the protests began last Thursday, August 1, and according to the organisers, will last till August 10. That means we can still expect protests tomorrow, even though there has been significant palls in the tempo of the protests in many parts of the country. In the days preceding take-off of the protests, government machinery went into […]