Beyond diversification of ports
The Federal Government’s approval for the comprehensive modernisation of Onne, Delta and Calabar ports, alongside establishment of six new deep seaports, is laudable. It is a potentially transformative attempt to dismantle the excessive concentration of Nigeria’s maritime commerce around Lagos. The approved projects are Ibom, Bakassi, Agge, Gateway, Ondo and Bonny, building on the modernisation […]
Playing games with ASUU strike
THE Muhammadu Buhari government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, have turned the five-month stay at home by our public university students to a game of hide and seek. Hope has further dimmed on the possibility of the reopening of our universities for academic activities. After prolonged verbal warnings, ASUU finally embarked on […]
INEC’s new 10.4m prospective voters
Editorial THE upbeat atmosphere surrounding Nigeria’s democracy has been further enhanced with the announcement by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that the number of new registrants for the Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, has jumped to 10.4 million. This figure, if optimised and deployed in the 2023 elections, is capable of bringing the change in […]
Eroding civil liberties in Abuja
ABUJA, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, which came into being pursuant to a military decree on February 3, 1976, was originally meant to be a home for all Nigerians. Every resident of the Federal Capital is to feel at home and have a sense of belonging. But over the years, the concept of the “centre […]
Attacks on president, Kuje Prisons
WHO is safe in Nigeria? Where are Nigerians safe? With the direct terrorist attacks on President Muhammadu Buhari’s advance security convoy in Dutsinma, Katsina State; and the Kuje Medium Security Prisons, Abuja; perhaps the president may at last admit that the security situation has worsened under his seven-year watch. The only thing that the terrorists, […]
Our rising out-of-school numbers
IN June 2013, the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO’s Education for All Global Monitoring Report, EAGMR, announced that Nigeria had become the country with the highest population of out-of-school children in the world with 10.5 million children. Other countries named in the report were: Pakistan 5.1m, Ethiopia 2.4m, India 2.3m, and others. […]
