Kanu’s speeches are not strategic, and do not betray any knowledge of global geo-political dynamics

By Dr. Frederick Oritseweneye Pessu As a child, I grew up in Warri metropolis and I would consider myself “the boy from the street”. I lived the real and hard life, yet identifiable hustle that epitomises the vibe! the rhythm! the sights! the sounds and suave that defines the city and residents of Warri. I […]

AS at the dawn of the current millennium, if there was any prediction that Nigeria will become the poverty capital of the world in less than 20 years away, such prediction would have been dismissed as arrant nonsense. That is obviously because, according to statistics, Nigeria’s poverty rate was on the decline   during the transition from the last millennium to the current. Presenting a report by the National Bureau of Statistics,   last year, the head of the NBS bureau, Yemi Kale said: “Despite the fact that the Nigerian economy is growing, the proportion of Nigerians living in poverty is increasing every year, although it declined between 1985 and 1992, and between 1996 and 2004.”

Nigeria, which is founded on the tripod of the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and the Igbo ethnic nationalities, is still contending with the divisive problem of bitter ethnic hatred and rivalries. In fact, the January 1966 coup, which threw up Aguiyi Ironsi as our Head of State, was alleged and believed to be an Igbo coup. And it contributed in no small way to the outbreak of the Nigeria civil war. That fratricidal civil war pitted the Igbos of the South East of Nigeria against the rest of the country.

RECENTLY, in the news media, there have been various reports about the introduction of certain Genetically Modified, GM, crops and seeds into the country. Examples of such include: the release of genetically modified cowpeas to farmers in the country; the release of two transgenic cotton hybrid varieties into the Nigerian Seed Market; the granting of permits by the Federal Government for confined field trials on genetically modified maize, rice, cassava, sorghum and cowpea to ascertain ability to resist insect attack; etc.