By Dele Sobowale If it takes a whole minute to produce a fool in America, then Nigeria must be bringing them in at the rate of one a second. Nigerian politicians operate on the Barnum principle. Depending on who is dishing out the false dream, most Nigerians will believe anything. Trust politicians and their creative advisers. Every […]

By Dele Sobowale A totally truthful politician is an oxymoron; a contradiction in terms. Dissembling apparently is indispensable to the profession — notwithstanding the fact that most of them ensure that they are seen praying!!   The war in Iran is coming to a dreary end. It has cost everybody in the world trillions of dollars […]

By Dele Sobowale The great Indian leader and liberator made that remark before he was assassinated in 1948 at a time when his country, now divided into at least three nations, suffered from food scarcity worse than Nigeria is experiencing now. Certainly, it can also be said that there are millions of people in Nigeria today, so […]

By Dele Sobowale Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen and a push in the right direction.” VANGUARD’s Editorial on April 22, 2026, titled, ‘Making the Student Venture Capital Grant successful’, was mostly right in its recommendations to the Federal Government regarding S-VCG. The editors can be forgiven for not knowing that the […]

By Dele Sobowale It was good news coming too late; but, better late than never.  Edun’s appointment as Minister of Finance and later elevation to Coordinating Minister was the cardinal blunder committed by President Tinubu. It was all based on sentiments and the unchecked penchant for wanting to reward loyalists – even with appointments underserved. The Minister […]

By Dele Sobowale One of the paradoxes of economics is threatening to create a food crisis later during the year. Last year January, escalating food prices dragged headline inflation towards 35 per cent. A 50 kilogram bag of rice was going for N80- 100,000 – depending on location. Governor Bago of Niger State was contemplating placing embargo […]

By Dele Sobowale Cardoso lacks Soludo’s charisma and intimidating stage presence. Criticism of CBN’s is not dismissed with scorn without a thought regarding their validity. He was either blessed with the humility to learn even from those who disagree; or he has acquired the attribute. Either way, the tendency has served him well. Skeptical critics, like me, […]

By Dele sobowale CBN Governor Yemi Cardoso, during his confirmation hearing, September 2023.  Thank God, there is one silver lining in a predominantly dark sky over Nigeria. The current Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has returned the institution to its former glory. Four Governors have managed the affairs of the bank, before him, since […]

By Dele Sobowale “First we eat; then we do everything else” This alarm has become necessary because another warning published on this page, in  January 2025, was ignored, at first, by governments. Disastrous consequences followed; resulting in delayed over-reaction by the Federal Government. This, in turn has precipitated a food price cycle – imports crashed […]

By Dele Sobowale Professor Zulum symbolizes the typical Nigerian in power who does “not want to hear the truth”. When he unilaterally granted amnesty to “repentant” 30,000 (or was it 300,000) Boko Haram terrorists, without consultations with the Federal Government, some of us warned him that he was endangering the lives of Nigerians, not only in […]

By Dele Sobowale “Wisdom in people consists of the anticipation of consequences” – Norman Cousins, 1915-1990, Vanguard Book Of Quotations, P274 “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”  Until a few days ago, it would never have crossed my that I could be defending the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, established to foster economic […]

By Dele Sobowale Almost every administration, since Babangida introduced VISION 2020 in 1992, had suffered from the same illusion of propelling the Nigerian economy to the top 20 globally, in terms of Gross Domestic Product, GDP, within a remarkably short time. In 1992, when the idea was first floated, Nigeria ranked 32; it is ranked 44 […]

By Dele Sobowale Chief Adebutu is the first Nigerian to be awarded four National Honours. Chief was born by Muslim father and mother; yet he voluntarily became a Christian and served the Methodist Church of Nigeria, so diligently and faithfully, he became a Knight of John Wesley, 1703-1791, the highest honour in the church. To the best of […]

This article could have been titled WHY BUHARI FAILED WOEFULLY or WHY TINUBU INHERITED AN ECONOMY ON THE BRINK OF COLLAPSE and any of those titles would have been apt. One of our former Sunday Editors forwarded a statement credited to an Emir who was once very close to Buhari when they were both in service. […]

By Dele Sobowale The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has embarked on the wrong battle based on absolute ignorance. For weeks, since it was announced that a gold refinery will soon start operating in Lagos State, while a lithium processing plant would be established in Nasarawa State, the NEF has been at war with the Federal Government, […]