We have not come to read the Book of Lamentations about Nigeria’s woes, nor to sing the songs of David. We see the half-empty glass, but we prefer to focus on the half-full glass. We want to focus on the future—rather than the past or the present. As mentioned above, we are asked to speak on “The Economic Restructuring of Nigeria”—an omnibus topic indeed! Since the First National Development Plan (1962- 68), transformation of the economic structure/diversification has been the fulcrum of all national plans. For decades, every government has tried its brand of ‘economic restructuring’ or economic diversification and yet the economy remains tied to the life-support of oil, peasant agriculture and largely informal services sector. Income inequality, poverty, and unemployment remain major defining features of the economy. 

Since the advent of democracy in 1999, the link between party financing and corruption in Nigeria has become more like Siamese twins. It is difficult to separate. They cut across political divides, whether perceived as “saint party” or a “sinner party”, progressives or conservatives. Perhaps, this may be the reasons why people of integrity, technocrats, professionals, and retired civil servants appear to distance themselves from party politics as they do not see it as an avenue through which they can make their contributions to the building of a nation because of the presumption that politics is for those who have the wherewithal different from integrity and expertise.

by Garba Shehu Last week, Nigeria’s senate majority leader reintroduced anti-sexual harassment legislation to parliament, following a serious exposé by the BBC of sex for grades scandal at the University of Lagos. The bill had been tabled before in 2016 but it was not passed: some members of our party, working with the opposition, then […]

Somewhat curiously, there appears to be a belief that illegal transmission of pay television signal is no crime. And if at all it is, perpetrators seem to believe that it a less severe form of theft than piracy of CDs, DVDs, and books for which, understandably, there is a larger market. My conviction that illegal transmission television signal is deemed harmless grew stronger last week, following media reports of a crackdown by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on three Port Harcourt-based cable television operators- CANTV, Metro Digital TV and Communication Trends Limited (CTL)-all of which have been redistributing content exclusive to MultiChoice, StarTimes and Bein Media, the Qatar-based broadcast giants, among others, without authorisation.

Death, many people say, can be the biggest career move and for proof, they point to Michael Jackson who was mired in debt at the time of his death but whose estate is now worth millions and millions more than he made while alive.