Editorial

Africa: New scramble by forces of insecurity 

Africa: New scramble by forces of insecurity 

Africa is witnessing a scramble for control, but this time the contestants are not colonial powers planting flags. They are terrorist organisations, criminal syndicates, traffickers, mercenaries, kidnappers, and armed groups exploiting Africa’s weaknesses. The result is a continent where insecurity is becoming an alternative system of power. The warning from US Africa Command (AFRICOM) should […]
Visible Articles 5 10 15
The livestock reform Nigeria needs

The livestock reform Nigeria needs

President Bola Tinubu has taken some firm steps to signal his readiness to address head-on the problems challenging the livestock sector, as well as the headaches the sector poses to the rest of the population. He is prepared to create a separate ministry for it from the current Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development […]

Kidnapping: Zamfara’s big haul

Kidnapping: Zamfara’s big haul

Over a month ago, the Commissioner of Police in Zamfara State, Mohammed Dalijan, announced that a lawmaker, former Local Government chairman and District Head had been implicated in connection with the banditry and kidnapping which has ravaged the state and the North-West for about ten years. Over the past weekend, the suspects who have been […]

INEC and local government elections

INEC and local government elections

Pursuant to the recent Supreme Court verdict mandating allocation of funds due to the Local Government Areas, LGAs, directly to them to enhance their “autonomy”, greater attention of Nigerians is turning to them as serious units of grass-roots governance. That verdict holds that LGAs that are under the unconstitutional “caretaker committees” set up by some […]

Protesters’ grievances must be addressed

Protesters’ grievances must be addressed

It is an irony that President Bola Tinubu is asking peeved Nigerians to give him “more time” to fix the economy. He is asking the people to give him what he denied himself when he took the reins of power on May 29, 2023. Former President Muhammadu Buhari had gamely made financial provisions for the […]

Probe NMDPRA CEO’s weighty claims

Probe NMDPRA CEO’s weighty claims

Nigerians are shocked by the claim that Dangote Refinery and other startup modular refiners produce substandard products compared to their international counterparts. This controversial allegation came from no other than the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulation Authority, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, on July 18, 2024. According to him: “Dangote refinery as […]

Let’s protest responsibly

Let’s protest responsibly

All appears set for the August 1, 2024 nationwide protest over hunger and hardship, which has been brewing for over one year. Nigerians were still recovering from the “no-money, no-fuel and no-food” economic crisis foisted on them by the expiring President Muhammadu Buhari regime in pursuit of a pointless “naira redesign policy” last year. His […]

Donald Trump’s narrow escape

Donald Trump’s narrow escape

The United States of America, USA, and by extension the world was saved a major disaster on Saturday, July 13, 2024 when former President, Donald Trump, narrowly survived an assassination attempt by a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks at a Republican Party rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. While he addressed his supporters, several shots rang out. One of […]

Saving Dangote Refinery from “Nigerian factor”

Saving Dangote Refinery from “Nigerian factor”

If all was well, Dangote Refinery, the world’s largest single-train, 650,000 bpd capacity oil refinery, would have reached its peak production by now, and our fuel energy challenges might have considerably eased off. Though it was officially commissioned on May 22, 2023, seven days to the end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime, the $20 […]

Amicable agreement on Minimum Wage

Amicable agreement on Minimum Wage

Labour must also turn their attention to ensuring that workers at the sub-national levels and the private sector also key into the new national minimum wage when it becomes law

SIECs and our democracy

SIECs and our democracy

The State Independent Electoral Commissions, SIECs, in the 36 states of the federation are creations of the 1999 Constitution. They are among the State Executive Bodies created under Section 197(1). The others are: The State Civil Service Commission and the State Judicial Service Commission. The Governor is empowered to appoint their officials and governing boards […]

Nigeria’s grand AfCFTA arrival

Nigeria’s grand AfCFTA arrival

Nigeria finally gave the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA, Agreement its full, warm embrace last week Tuesday, July 16, 2024, during the launch of its Guided Trade Initiative, GTI, and shipment of exports to five African countries, its first since the establishment of the Agreement’s office in Abuja about five years ago. The goods, […]

President is not above reproach

President is not above reproach

Freedom of expression is a hallmark of our Constitution and democracy. It not only empowers citizens to hold opinions within the laws, it also helps to highlight certain issues for further robust debate towards building a better society for all. Senator Ali Ndume (APC Borno South, Senate Chief Whip) has been under attack by some […]

Military’s marching orders against oil theft

Military’s marching orders against oil theft

Going by the optics, the Federal Government appears very determined to tackle oil theft and other forms of criminality in the oil-rich Niger Delta, which have hampered Nigeria’s ability to exploit its resources and tackle its economic problems. The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa; the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the […]

States and the “viability” question

States and the “viability” question

A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and foremost rights activist, Chief Olisa Agbakoba, recently expressed his opposition to the calls for a new state to bring the South-East to six, like four other geopolitical zones of the country. According to him, most of the already existing states are not “viable”. Adding a […]

The Mining Guards scheme

The Mining Guards scheme

NIGERIA, a country richly blessed with a wide array of solid, liquid and gaseous minerals, has found it increasingly difficult to earn its due incomes from these endowments due mainly to insecurity, corruption, theft and sabotage. The oil and gas sector, which has been the mainstay of our economy for over 50 years, has failed […]