Kano’s recent announcement that it spent N1.5bn to bankroll mass weddings should prompt national alarm rather than applause. Kano State remains rampant in the worrying roster of northern states – including Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Borno – that have for years organised and financed large-scale nuptial ceremonies. Authorities offer three common rationales: to reduce […]

In the past decade, Nigeria’s name has become increasingly associated with crime, insecurity, and institutional decay, at home and abroad. Official corruption, weak institutions, terrorism, banditry, and the routine kidnapping of schoolchildren for ransom have normalised a national crisis that has eroded public trust and damaged the country’s global standing. The crimes not only persist; […]

The proliferation of small arms and light weapons across Nigeria is not a distant threat; it is an immediate, corrosive reality that bleeds communities dry of security, livelihood and hope. Pistols, assault rifles and improvised firearms have become the currency of violence, multiplying the lethality of banditry, kidnapping, communal clashes and organised crime. Where once […]

The Senate’s planned probe of the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) has arisen from a bitter national irony: a programme meant to protect children has become a symbol of waste and recurring insecurity. Fresh outrage over school kidnappings has pushed lawmakers to demand answers on how about N144 billion was spent with so little visible protection […]

Nigeria cannot keep applauding its seafarers once a year and then abandoning them to harsh working realities at sea. The renewed call for better welfare is timely because, without sailors, there is no maritime trade, and without maritime trade, the wider economy suffers. The demand for improved welfare is driven by a few hard facts. […]

The torrential rains that pounded Lagos, Ogun, Rivers and several parts of southern Nigeria on 30th June were not merely another episode of seasonal downpours. They were a damning reminder that Nigeria has learnt little from decades of recurring flood disasters. As roads disappeared beneath raging waters, homes were submerged, businesses grounded and thousands of […]

The Federal Government is right to reopen the minimum-wage question, because no wage can be called fair if it is continually outrun by inflation and the rising cost of survival. The N70,000 minimum wage was agreed in 2024 at the outset of President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms. Nigerians were asked to absorb painful shocks in […]

Nigeria’s slow rebound in crude oil production to around 1.66 million barrels per day is good  news, but it should not be treated as a major victory. After years of painful decline caused by oil theft, pipeline attacks, the departure of foreign oil companies and policy confusion, the recovery simply means the Federal Government has […]

The Director-General of the Department of State Security Service, (DSS), Adeola Ajayi, has articulated what few security chiefs would dare acknowledge: communities must become the first line of defence against insecurity and terrorism. This postulation represents obvious breakthrough thinking, yet uncomfortable questions remain about why such a brilliant strategy remains unimplemented despite years of worsening […]

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu’s recent interventions in South Africa, Ethiopia and Ghana offer a timely illustration of a foreign policy that places citizens at its centre. In an age when diplomacy is often measured by summit photographs and policy statements, her approach reminds us that its primary purpose should be the […]

The lynching and burning of Malama Ummulkhairi in Maraban Jos, Kaduna State, is a stain on our national conscience. Taken into police protective custody recently after an unverified allegation that she intended to steal children, the mother of four was nevertheless seized by a mob and killed. That a citizen could be removed from state […]

The controversy surrounding the spending practices of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) has once again highlighted the urgent need for strict oversight of Nigeria’s zonal Development Commissions. These agencies were created to serve as vehicles for accelerated regional development, not platforms for bureaucratic excess, questionable expenditures or administrative extravagance. The concerns raised over the […]

Nigeria’s battle against illicit drugs has reached a decisive moment. As the world marks the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the warning from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODOC) that Nigeria stands at a critical juncture must be accepted as more than rhetoric. The expanding availability of cannabis, opioids and […]

The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most critical oil chokepoint, and its uninterrupted flow is essential to global stability. Every day, approximately 21 million barrels of crude oil—roughly 21 per cent of global petroleum consumption—pass through this narrow waterway between Iran and Oman. To nickname it a “special international waterway” and treat it as […]

For many households, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) promised a cleaner, safer alternative to firewood, charcoal and kerosene. That promise is fraying. A steep rise in the cost of refilling cylinders—reaching about N2,000 per kilogramme in some markets—has put LPG beyond the reach of millions already squeezed by inflation and falling real wages. Cooking fuel is […]