IT is no longer news that the Federal Government has announced a reduction in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol.

While I have made my position known on my Twitter handle that ‘a little over 10% reduction in cost of the final (crude oil) product (PMS) in response to an over 50% drop in the cost of the raw material is a good try and that Nigerians can get a better deal’, I am constrained to make this further intervention for a few reasons.

Let me admit that the two main parties talk around the major development challenges—corruption, insecurity, economy (unemployment/poverty, power, infrastructure, etc) health, education, etc. However, it is my considered view that none of them has any credible agenda to deal with the issues, especially within the context of the evolving global economy and Nigeria’s broken public finance. The UK Conservative Party’s manifesto for the last election proudly announced that all its programmes were fully costed and were therefore implementable. Neither APC nor PDP can make a similar claim. A plan without the dollar or Naira signs to it is nothing but a wish-list. They are not telling us how much each of their promises will cost and where they will get the money. None talks about the broken or near bankrupt public finance and the strategy to fix it

The banks depend on the GSM network which has been glaringly inefficient and over subscribed, and shows no appetite for progress and efficiency because of a suspicious cosy relationship between the regulators and the GSM companies. Has computerization come before its time? I am not sure; but it’s alright for the young ones and hell for older folks. But how about banking in the villages, in this push for a cashless society?

Still reputed to be the youngest ever to edit a national newspaper, Peter Enahoro’scourageous commentaries were known for the wit and satire. He was forced into exile but remained unbowed. In an exclusive interview with Ben Asante, long-time political analystand contributing editor of internationalpublications specialising on Africa, Peterspeaks on Nigeria and life at eighty.

I do not remember when I first stumbled on Peter Enahoro or which of his articles I read first. All I know is how awestruck I was when I first read his article in Daily Times. His way with words was astonishing.

There is never a dull moment with Peter Enahoro. I started working with Peter in 1978, some thirty-seven years ago, when he asked me to join him in London to serve as political editor on a magazinehe was about to rebrand and edit. I was not a stranger to the Enahoro family name. We had an expression in the student community in Ghana: to ‘Enahoro’ someone arose from a story involving Tony Enahoro and S. G. Ikoku, his fellow refugee in Accra but that is another story. Also, in those days the Nigerian Sunday and Daily Times newspapers in which Peter’s name cropped up and which we were encouraged to read under Kwame Nkrumah’s fervent pan-Africanism were circulated in Accra.

By Toyin Obire In today’s fast-moving markets, new technologies have a proclivity for becoming old news fairly quickly. Against this backdrop, consumers now have to deal with the challenge of technological obsolescence, a situation where technology-based products and services lose their appeal, even though they are still in good working condition. What was stylish and […]

Barely two years ago, foreign businesses and analysts were hailing Africa as the world’s economic miracle. With economic, political and social reforms sweeping the continent, a burgeoning middle class and growth rates hovering around the 6% mark, people were queuing up for a slice of a $1 trillion opportunity.

THE PDP presidential rally that took place in Imo State at the weekend was predictably a huge success. The massive turnout of Imo sons and daughters, aged and young and the genuine solidarity they expressed to President Goodluck Jonathan and his campaign team underscore this and set the stage for what to expect from the state in the February 14 presidential elections.

There are numerous examples of old capitals but none was abandoned by the central government, except of course, Nigeria.
On August 7, 1975, the then Head of State, General Murtala Ramat Mohammed (1938-1976) inaugurated a five man panel on the creation of more states in the country. The committee was headed by Justice Ayo Gabriel Irikefe (1922-1996). It was the panel that increased the number of states in Nigeria from twelve (12) to nineteen (19). Justice Irikefe later became the ninth Chief Justice of the Federation between (1985-1987).