ACCORDING to a report released by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, scanners needed to view cargo contents at the Lagos Ports Complex to avoid time-wasting manual clearing of over 4,166 20-foot containers daily, have not worked in the past two years. “It is, therefore, imperative for the Federal Government to expedite action […]

NIGERIA’s foreign exchange policy has been a major topic of both local and international commentaries, bordering on controversy for a long time. Most disagreements have centred on market liberalisation and unification. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, custodian of the nation’s foreign exchange policy and the economic adviser to the government, appears to have remained […]

NIGERIANS woke up last Sunday morning to the heart-warming news of Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua’s latest boxing victory against Kubrat Pulev. Joshua retained his world heavyweight titles by knocking out Pulev in the ninth round on Saturday night, December 12, 2020. A Briton, born to a Nigerian mother, Yeta, and Robert Joshua, an Irish man […]

ON Saturday, October 31, 2020, news came that the United States of America had successfully carried out a military operation in Nigeria, rescuing and flying home an American citizen. The mission was carried out by the US Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 which was conveyed to the action spot by the US Air Force Special […]

IT comes with a rude shock that Chief Emma Okocha, renowned author of Blood on the Niger, is no more. Men take their places in history as soon as they pass on. As Ted Kennedy once told Barack Obama before he became President, men do not choose the time; the time chooses men – for […]

OUR ethnic, religious, cultural and regional differences are the greatest demons confronting the development of Nigeria into a strong, united and progressive country. Nigeria is one of the most unsuccessful experiments in “unity in diversity”. Sixty years after independence Nigeria is far less integrated than it was in 1960. At least at that time Nigerians […]

THE outpouring of accolades that trailed the death of Second Republic Governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, is a rich testimonial of appreciation of the exemplary life and political legacies he left behind. A diehard exponent of “democratic humanism”, a form of socialist ideology of the Mallam Aminu Kano school of politics, Musa […]

Five months after the World Health Organisation, WHO, finally declared COVID-19 a pandemic, efforts to develop vaccines to eventually nail down the scourge are bearing heartwarming results.

NEWS of the imminent reopening of the borders by the Federal Government is hugely relieving and eagerly anticipated by a cross section of players in the economy. The borders have been shut since August 28, 2019. Most stakeholders had expected them to be reopened in December or January this year, but the Muhammadu Buhari regime […]

WITH the formal opening of preliminary investigations of the shooting of unarmed #EndSARS protesters by military personnel at the Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020 by the International Criminal Court, ICC; hope has now risen over the prospects of justice for the victims. On the fifth day of the two-week protest, a petition asking the […]

The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, has denied allegations by a former party official, Timi Frank, that it gave Osinbajo N90bn to fund the 2019 elections for the All Progressives Congress, APC. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Coalition Against COVID-19, CACOVID, deserve a pat on the back for their untiring efforts to help Nigerians cope with the tough challenges posed by the two most profound disasters that have faced the country this most unusual year. On March 30, 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari and governors […]

EVERY crisis provides an opportunity for useful lessons to prevent future crises. This age-old fountain of wisdom, however, seems alien to Nigerian leaders. Nigeria is enmeshed in unending crises because we repeatedly demonstrate our incapacity to learn from our ugly historical experiences. The recent shooting to death of a newspaper vendor, Ifeanyichukwu Okereke, by a […]

WE are on the same page with President Muhammadu Buhari who, in a recent tweet, warned that the Nigerian economy is too fragile to contemplate another lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The president had sent the tweet on October 29, 2020. The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 led by the Secretary to the Government […]

THOUGH Nigeria has fared much better than had been predicted, the Presidential Task Force on the COVID-19 pandemic, PTF, and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control,  NCDC, have continued to routinely warn of the possibility of another lockdown. The government of Lagos State, which has carried the main burden of the pandemic caseloads in Nigeria, […]