Reminiscent of the George Floyd saga, the people of Rivers State are finding it difficult to breathe due to the environmental challenge of soot scientifically known as black carbon. Floyd, it must be recalled, choked to death when he was pinned beneath three police officers who were trying to arrest him in Minnesota, United States […]

THE Christmas and New Year festivities are never complete without crowds of children, led by their parents or guardians, visiting amusement parks and other playgrounds in search of fun to which they are entitled. It is heartbreaking, however, to observe that while a few of these children move about in their parents’ private cars, others […]

THE All Progressives Congress, APC, Federal Government must accept the blame for the fact that after six years in power, we are still deeply mired in our intractable petrol subsidy regime. As the leader of the then opposition party, Muhammadu Buhari had intensely argued that there was no fuel subsidy; that the subsidy which the […]

LAST week, the Federal Government authorised the destruction of over one million doses of expired Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

Last week, the Federal Government authorised the destruction of over one million doses of expired Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccines. Faisal Shuaib, Head of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, explained that the doses which were donated to the country with short shelf life, could not be used before their expiration date. He blamed the development […]

ON Tuesday December 21, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter declining assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 was read on the floors of both chambers of the National Assembly – the Senate and House of Representatives. President Buhari’s veto of the election bill marked the 201st time he was failing to assent to a […]

Recently, the Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’ Allah, called on the Federal Government to establish a mechanism for assessing Nigerian university professors to determine their contributions to industry and national development. Professor  Na’Allah compared being a university professor with being conferred with a chieftaincy title whereby the professor may not do anything […]

THE Federal Executive Council, FEC’s approval of a 20 per cent salary increase for the police with effect from January 1, 2022, commendable as it is, is a mere drop in the ocean. On its own alone, it only scratches the surface in addressing the plight of the average policeman, especially the lowest cadres which […]

PROMPTED by the increasing daredevilry among terrorists, jihadists and bandits especially in the North, the Federal Government is taking proactive steps to strengthen security at our airports. The Federal Executive Council, FEC, recently approved the deployment of K-9 Security at the airports. This will involve the completion of shooting ranges and the arming of Aviation […]

TOMORROW, December 25, is Christmas, arguably the most widely celebrated religious festival in the world. It is a day Christians all over the world are expected to mark the birth of Jesus Christ whose essence is love – a man Christendom and the Bible proclaimed as “Emmanuel” – God with us.

LAST week, the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced that the Dubai government has gone 100 per cent paperless in its operations and services.

AS the days go by, Nigeria is proving to have lost its ability to maintain its laws and preserve order which are central to development in any society. School abductions have become so easy and devoid of consequences that criminals and terrorists have turned it into a pastime. When over 270 Chibok schoolgirls were abducted […]

The #NorthIsBleeding protest, organised against the backdrop of unending insecurity and killings ravaging states in the North, reached the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja at the weekend, an indication that the people are thoroughly frustrated with the prevailing situation and would want their leaders to act immediately. It all began a week ago, when some Nigerians […]

AT independence in 1960, Nigeria was classified as a developing new nation. But 61 years later, we are among the most underdeveloped and backward countries in the world.  All our economic, social, political and human development indices are among the worst while the deficits are among the highest. The recent revelation that there are 56,000 […]

IT is now conventional wisdom to see the coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, in the same light as the “common flu”: it is here to stay. In cold countries, people take the vaccine every year to protect against annually-mutating flu. At this time last year, Nigerians were beginning to relax from the first wave of the virus […]