From used clothes to rifles: Customs tackles new smuggling trends
By Okey IBEKE For decades, the battle against smuggling in Nigerian seaports was largely associated with familiar commodities — rice, vegetable oil, frozen poultry, used clothing, vehicles and other prohibited or restricted imports. These goods still feature prominently in the enforcement activities of the Nigeria Customs Service, but seizure records emerging from the country’s seaports […]
Obi’s welfarist approach to governance
SOME small things are overlooked by many people but they are the things that really matter; the kernel of things.
The journey that leads nowhere
BEFORE the January 15, 1966 Military Coup, there were five constitutions operating in this country.
Freedom of Misinformation (Cooking the books at the Vatican)
I kid you not. Being in the presence of The Pope is an awesome experience. The aura is truly beyond description. My first encounter with the Holy Father was in 1952 when at the insistence of my aged grandmother Maria, all the children in our household trooped to the Race Course (now known as Tafawa Balewa Square) Lagos to meet Pope Pius XII.
A brief encounter with General Buhari
AT the time Buhari ruled, Enebeli Elebuwa was the face of Nigeria. He played Andrew, a comic, in a short propagandist documentary widely circulated through the government media particularly the NTA which was at that time the veritable vehicle of government propaganda with its Siamese twin, Radio Nigeria. This was way before the advent of privately owned radio and television stations. The NTA opened and closed with the national anthem and pledge. News was broadcast only at 9pm.
Revisiting the Edo property tax law
WHEN Governor Adams Oshiomhole mounted the saddle as Governor of Edo State in November 2008, he met Edo in a sorry state.
Infrastructure was in shambles. The roads were impassable; schools were not even fit for chickens; the state-owned hospitals and health centres were at best death centres; industries were shut and non-functional; unemployment was at its highest level as previous governments had imposed a freeze on fresh employment; workers and pensioners were owed months and months of arrears; water was a scarce resource in parts of the state, especially, Edo Central and the state was bleeding from corrupt practices from those who were at the helm.
