We made appreciable progress in the transportation sector. Although the British left us with a functional rail system, our leaders however extended the rail to boost the transport system in Nigeria. On water transportation they decided to dredge the river Niger to facilitate water transportation to the north for increased commercial activities. By independence, the road from Kano to Lagos was not tarred like several other major roads we have today, but the story is different today.

If you break up Nigeria, thinking that the small, small principalities will go away, it’s a joke

We have observed that the results that were issued by the presiding officers from the various units across the state were not the same as those announced at the collation centre

asil Ogbuanu is the President of Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, NALPGM, and also the Managing Director of Second Coming Gas Limited, a liquedfied petroleum gas LPG, company with offices in Lagos and diffrent part of Nigeria. In this interview with Sebastine Obasi he talks about the challenges in the gas subsecor and the need d=for governmnet not to sell its shares in the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas NNLG.

Nigeria as a nation is highly stressed and Nigerians as a people are under stress and that stress can only be cured through attending to the causes of the stress. President Muhammadu Buhari is the “stubborn” man who is not swallowed by problems and I can say that he is the man at the moment who can address that stress. When you look at w3hat is happening in Nigeria economically, even in the area of security and politically too, they are signs of the time. In other words, they are worldwide. And the solution needs a wide approach, not in terms of our training to take and take and take but the need to establish value to enable us give and give and give.

APOSTLE (Dr.) Hayford Ikponmwonsa Alile, pioneer Director General/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Stock Exchange, NSE, served on the Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for six years after his 24-year-stint at the NSE. In this interview, the spiritual leader of St. Joseph’s Chosen Church of God, SJCCG, throws his weight behind the sale of the nation’s assets to reverse economic recession.

Civil war hero and second republic politician, Chief Guy Ikokwu, in this piece to mark Nigeria’s 56th independence anniversary, asks President Muhammadu Buhari to resist the temptation to reject the calls, especially from eminent people, to initiate immediate moves to restructure the nation, saying that is the only way to prosperity. In the last few […]

In this interview with Professor Patrice Lumumba, a former Director of Anti-Corruption Commission in Kenya and the Director of the Kenya School of Law, he discusses the challenges of fighting corruption. Lumumba, who was on Channels Television, expresses the hope that with a sustenance of the momentum in President Muhammadu Buhari’s fight against corruption, the dividends of a corrupt-free society would be there for all to benefit.

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, in this interview, speaks on the challenges the Buhari administration is facing to take the nation out of economic recession. Udoma is, however, optimistic that the economy will be reflated as soon as possible.

I do not agree with the people that talk about break-up. We have fought a civil war in this country where about three million people died, some people said two million. We don’t need to go through that war again. Let’s make the best arrangement through the sovereign national conference. Nigeria has been groping in darkness. The British came and imposed a constitution on us. The military came and imposed a constitution on us. What about the Nigerian people?

Mr. Anthony Olatujoye is a legal practitioner, and Managing Partner, Difgland Partners, a law firm based in Abuja. Before his foray into private practice, he worked with the Central Bank of Nigeria for 31 years and retired as Legal Adviser/Director, Legal Services. In this interview, he talks about the economy and restructuring among other national issues.

They are only making and shouting slogans. Restructure! Restructure! Some of them are calling for ‘True Federalism,’ as if there is anything like True Federalism. The truth is that every federation in the world is unique, because of several factors. So, I think the agitators of this idea need a lot of work to convince Nigeria about what they need to achieve, not driving Nigeria into a hole.

Shagari took over in 1979. Shagari got people who were experts in managing the economy but after one term in office, the military struck again and took over the government from him and continued to rule until 1999 when they handed over to another military man. Though the 1999 election was a democratic election, they elected the same military man that was in uniform and transformed to a civilian. So, indirectly, its the same military man that continued and the military government continued.

When you have a powerful ruler, you have more local government councils, then you have more states created in your area. But as I said earlier on, in the first republic there were three regions; Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was in charge of Eastern Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the Western Nigeria and Ahmadu Bello for Northern Nigeria. They created this federation and they said everyone must be equal. No citizen of one region was superior to the other.

Nigerians are not thinking together to know that what is at stake is so huge. Let me not sound frightening but in fairness, we have to realise that the way we are, if we get policy-making right and get some form of consensus around it and people begin to believe in it before things will actually really change, it will be at least between 18 -20 months. So you can write off 2017. This trouble we are in will continue in 2017.