IT is not only Nigerians but also bewildered foreigners who wonder aloud why a country so blessed with human and natural resources is not presently challenging at the top of the summit of global economic powers. Many reasons (for excuses) have been variously adduced to explain Nigeria’s relative underdevelopment, ranging from political instability to its heterogeneity.

THE thought of where to spend a short holiday with my family suddenly became a somewhat arduous task. My husband had given us an open cheque to make the choice but he also gave us terms of reference: Anywhere in the West Coast or within the country. Ghana popped up but the kids did not show much excitement.

SINCE Professor Maurice Iwu was ordered by president Goodluck Jonathan to take a walk, the national debate and speculation about who may replace the highly controversial electoral umpire has quickly gathered the force of a whirlwind. A number of names of Nigerians adjudged by various analysts, groups and interests as being qualified to fill Prof. Iwu’s shoes have featured in the public media.

NOW that the dark strongholds of the cabalistic enemies of our country having been pulled down and the avaricious occupants of the corridors of power rendered prostrate, the kleptocrats who hold sway in Nigeria have now found in President Goodluck Jonathan, the veritable and terminal danger to their abominable empire who must be destroyed lest he changes Nigeria for the better for the common people and for the worse for their bloodsucking breed.

HIS coming to power was everything but smooth. The challenges, though contrived, presuppose that his ability to perform in office would be dulled by many years wasted while trying to validate a stolen mandate; or at best circuitous, since the factors that aided the criminal denials are not known to have abated. However, the limiting […]

Economic mismanagement, corruption in the highest places all put together fouled the Nigerian spirit. Nigeria’s independence brought with it promises of everything that a nation of hope could possibly provide for her people. The expectations and hopes that were associated with freedom from many years of colonial rule were quite high.

IN a seeming attempt to divert attention from false claims of achievements, the profligacy of his administration and lack of regard for due process in contract awards, the Ohakim administration in Imo State has introduced his fanciful idea of creating 10,000 new jobs for unemployed youths in the state.

RECENTLY, there has been a sustained campaign in Edo State, south-south of Nigeria, for every vote to count championed by Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The slogan that is fast becoming a cliché is called ‘One-Man-One-Vote’. With this campaign, the Oshiomhole government hopes to eradicate election rigging in Edo State and by extension in Nigeria. I support any campaign, slogans, agitation aimed at defeating election rigging.

The process of policymaking and management of public expenditure remain clothed in relative secrecy in spite of the enacting of a fiscal responsibility law. Some government agencies continue to transact outside the fiscal responsibility and public procurement laws. The oversight institutions are still weak and largely uninterested in effectively overseeing public expenditure by executive agencies.

A major feature of the Ribadu era was arrests and detention before investigations are carried out. This has continued even till today. The Farida Waziri era has also been characterized by the same arbitrary arrests and unlawful interrogation processes to hound people. Section 34(1) of the Nigerian constitution provides that “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person and accordingly no person shall be subject to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment”.

I ONCE read a story of how a thief went into a person’s farm and was harvesting crops he did not sow and all of a sudden, the farm owner visited the farm at that moment and was shocked at what he saw.

THE ongoing socio-economic crisis of Southern Africa is the crisis of truth approached sideways, like the crab would. Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma are no better alternatives to each other in the objective solution of the problems of South Africa and Southern Africa.

IT’S 23 years since Africa’s statesman and man of the Century, Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, the Asiwaju of Ijebu Remo, the Losi of Ikenne, the Apesin of Oshogbo and the Isikalu of Ado-Ekiti passed on.

News of the sudden demise of a dear friend often makes one feel as if left stranded with an intimate conversation that would now never get to be had, a story long crafted waiting to be told at the earliest opportunity that might never be, a message that would never be conveyed, a deep emotion placed in layaway waiting for the right time to be shared but that could now only be expressed in silent soliloquy except perhaps some day in a memoir.

IT is a known fact that political dummies who crave for attention or are in desperate need of party support and patronage use every opportunity to embark on T. A. bashing.