Worsening school closures as terrorists advance
Nigeria’s school-abduction crisis has become a grim instrument of terror, ransom, and psychological warfare. Jihadist groups, bandits, and kidnappers have learned that children are especially valuable hostages. Their abduction paralyzes communities, terrifies parents, and places enormous pressure on governments. Mass school abductions are generally traced to Boko Haram’s seizure of 276 girls from Government Girls […]
Why rotation, zoning and federal character matter (2)
WITH the dawn of our renascent democracy in 1999, General Abdulsalami Abubakar who took over when General Sani Abacha died, was in the forefront of implementing the resolution of the Provisional Ruling Council, PRC, to put rotation, zoning and federal character into effect. He ensured that the Federal Character principle which had been enshrined in […]
Why zoning, rotation and federal character matter (1)
EVERY diverse political entity which desires to last long and prosper must find ways of carrying constituent members of their union along. Every group must be made to have a sense of belonging in, and ownership of the union. Since independence, Nigeria has had more than its fair share of crises of confidence which resulted […]
Need to ensure polling units don’t become war zones
THE battles for the amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 to ensure the electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, headquarters were protracted. The ruling political forces fought it because direct electronic transmission would cut off the collation centres where figures were falsified under heavy security cover. […]
Party conventions must strengthen our democracy
BARRING any last-minute hitch, the much-anticipated elective national convention of the All Progressives Congress, APC, will take place in Abuja on Saturday, March 26, 2022. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had already elected its party leaders at the convention of October 30, 2021. For the APC, this convention which is for the election […]
Let AfDB’s Lagos-Abidjan proposed corridor be bimodal
The President of the African Development Bank, AfDB, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, broke a cheering news last week that the bank had secured a $15.6 bn facility to build a world-class road corridor between Lagos and Abidjan. At the African Investment Forum which ended on Thursday last week, the AfDB President declared: “The biggest deal for […]
