“The formulation of a question is its solution”- Karl Marx It is little wonder that the “revelations” by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, on the “mind-boggling” corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, that he revealed during a hearing of the Public Accounts Committees of […]

“Finally condemned in a verdict of contemptuous dislike”-Joseph Conrad We have witnessed the gradual erosion of the rule of law at the international level and the systematic dismantling of global institutional capacities to enforce the law when it comes to certain acts that are inimical to the maintenance of world peace and order. The great perpetrators […]

“Intolerance begets intolerance and injury breeds injury” — Sir Richard F. Burton There were moments in history when the idea of international law was discarded in favour of unilateral acts that were conceived to advance the interests of certain classes of people in some countries. Law, legality, morality and justice, are inconvenient facts that have stood in […]

“The law is the child of fundamental principles of human justice””–    John Buchan According to the Roman lawyer and senator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, “Laws are silent amidst the clash of arms”. In his day perhaps, but in our day and age, this actually needs not be so. Laws must speak loudly and clearly if our […]

“In politics, memories are sometimes very short, and sometimes very long”—Douglas Reed In my previous articles, “The North and the Burden of Being” and “The Sociology of the Northern Question in Nigeria” both of which were published in this column, I raised the issues surrounding the place of the North in national discourses such as the […]

“The experience of past faults, which may sometimes correct the mature age of an individual, is seldom profitable to the successive generations of mankind”—   Edward Gibbon It is undeniable that episodic currents of social, economic, and political challenges are bufetting the Northern region of Nigeria today much more than the Southern parts of the country, which […]

“Facts are the most eloquent form of apologetics“–    John Buchan Northern Nigeria is quite a large  expanse of land comprising of 19 states and the federal capital territory, thus forming over two-thirds of the country’s land mass. Perhaps this singular fact is the greatest drawback of the North, for which residual resentment and antagonism […]

“To a mind capable of reflection, such leading facts convey more instruction, than a tedious detail of subordinate circumstances”–   Edward Gibbon The challenges, threats, risks and dangers that every Nigerian faces or experiences today are not categorised according to their emphatic relationships with the tribe, ethnic group, religious belief, region of origin, state or local government […]

“There is no doubting the fact that the era of small things and small people has finally dawned upon us”–   John Buchan Most discussions of the “National Question” invariably and instinctively boil down to one thing only – the “Northern Question”. This was particularly evident in the deliberations of the 2014 National Conference and most utterances […]

“Let us by all means be up and doing, setting the world to rights and sounding our own trumpets”–   John Buchan The idea that Nigeria and its inhabitants can be grouped into clusters of South-Westerners, South-Southerners, South-Easterners, Middle Belters and Indigenous Minorities on one side and pitted against “Northerners” on the other side, makes for a […]

“Moreover, the psychology of individuals, even in the most extreme instances, reflects the general effect of the fears and hopes of its time”-  Joseph Conrad The May 1, 2025 editorial of Business Day titled “Nigeria’s self-destruction: Ethnic politics cripples progress”, made a sober assessment of politics and governance in the country, and provided the context for […]

“Apathy can only be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal which takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying out that ideal into practice”–   Arnold Toynbee The state of our nation today calls for an honest and critical self-appraisal. We have become […]

“A sentiment asserts its claim by its force, persistence and universality“- Joseph Conrad My younger readers might find this  piece of interest in their attempts at understanding what democracy means. If democracy is a sentiment, it can assert itself by the force of practice and persistence that can be felt from its universality and common […]

“The President shall hold regular meetings – for the purposes of (a) determining the general direction of domestic and foreign policies of the Government of the Federation”- Section 148(2), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) of 1999 A holistic conceptualisation and implementation of the “4Ds” agenda will require a robust assessment of the […]

“For what is foreign policy? It is the adjustment of your relationship with other states in such a way as to ensure the prosperity of your state in peace and its safety in war”- Douglas Reed The enunciation of policies around development, democracy, demographics and diaspora, that form the “4Ds”, is a clear appreciation by the […]