Last week’s protest by retired policeofficers clamouring for exit from the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, once again, brought to the fore the knotty issue of police welfare. To be sure, this agitation is not new. It is as old as the scheme itself. So, to the extent that it was about improved welfare for policemen, serving and retired, it was […]

At best, Nigeria’s democracy in this Fourth Republic has been wobbly, standing, as it were, on feet of clay. And a quarter of a century thence, rather than getting better, things have got worse as the politicians are busy dismantling all the guardrails of democracy – civic participation, which undergirds every genuine democratic project; the rule […]

Nigerians are hypocritically sanctimonious, a trait that has become evident since the death of President Muhammadu Buhari in a London hospital on Sunday, July 13. Many, particularly politicians, have lied against the man, literally, by clothing him in borrowed robes in a bid not to speak ill of the dead. All manner of adjectives have been […]

My recent visit to China, which I wrote about in this column two weeks ago (See China and live), opened my eyes as to what it takes to build strong nations. I have been privileged to travel to many countries globally, and in terms of development, China takes the cake. While here in Nigeria we continue […]

Many Nigerians worried by the systemic looting of the national treasury heaved a sigh of relief when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was established in 2003. The EFCC Act which was first enacted in December 2002 and later replaced by the EFCC (Establishment) Act 2004, was a response to pressure from the Financial […]