Nigeria: Metele As Price Of National Swindle

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Aside from the occasional death of soldiers in their battle against Boko Haram, the nation is now confronted in Metele with a seeming culmination of the military’s losses to the insurgents in the north-east. The government has often fumed at the obduracy of its traducers who instead of trumpeting the wonders of its military in Sambisa Forest have rather warned that more still needed to be done to defeat the insurgents in the light of the occasional suicide attacks on civilians and losses of two or four soldiers to the insurgents.

But the recent killing of about 100 soldiers in Metele, Borno State, so shattered the charade of triumph over the insurgents that President Muhammadu Buhari had to dispatch his defence minister to Chad for more collaboration in defeating them. Clearly, the dead soldiers deserve all the garlands for their bravery and patriotism for which they have paid the supreme price.

President Buhari As Prisoners’ Taker

By Tony Afejuku

What is the significant significance of President Muhammadu Buhari to us in contemporary Nigeria? For readers who possess a medical or psychological or religious or even chauvinistic perspective he is Mr. President, who, always in his Northern medieval-like chausses, impresses or tries to impress as an answer to the illness, to the sickness of our contemporary times.

*President Buhari 

For those readers with a forward-looking view he is a mere undertaker, who proffers no constructive plan to living Nigerians who are being denied living wages and fabulous education and bodily and economic health they direly need. The man has simply fluffed his three years plus pre-presidential election promises and wishes. And his new next level theory – which I won’t bother to read – will not make him the saccharine president of our dreams. His next-level wishes must enter our Nigerian psyche as those of a political and presidential homunculus. 

‘Technically Defeated’ Boko Haram: The Sad Case Of Metele

By Reno Omokri

A most disturbing thing happened in Nigeria. Over a period of 3 days last week, the allegedly ‘technically defeated’ Boko Haram managed to overrun multiple military bases and reportedly killed close to a hundred Nigerian troops and carried away heavy military hardware.

*President Buhari with COAS Gen Burutai 

But that is not the disturbing thing that occurred. The killings were shocking, but something much more disturbing happened. The Nigerian President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the military and who is supposed to be the most pained over these avoidable deaths had time to:

*attack former President Jonathan for agreeing with Transparency International that corruption had increased in Nigeria

Who Will Be Nigeria’s Next Mistake In 2019?

By Banji Ojewale

“In all science, error precedes the truth, and it is better it should go first than last” —Horace Walpole (1717-1797) English writer and politician.

If we go by what our politicians (the major presidential candidates notably) are saying about each other this campaign season, we can’t but conclude that they are all ‘misfits’ for office in 2019. They have smeared themselves. They have used invectives dug from the gutter to paint themselves. They have cancelled one another from the log of men and women of integrity.

*President Buhari 

They have thrown away their gloves and bruised their faces with bare fists. They have either asked the umpire to stay off or have left the ring altogether to slug it out in the mud. Now it’s a bloody street fight all the way. When the vote is cast and the result declared, both the winner and defeated and spectator would be losers, none a victor, even if there is a coronation. Why? It would be a pyrrhic triumph, where you’d ask yourself if you haven’t run all this marathon race only to end up with a mistake as your leader.

Why Many Nigerians Are Checking Out

By Dan Amor

It sounds very much like an apocryphal tale. But it is true that the joke is once again on the Nigerian society. What I am saying is that Nigeria is constantly losing batches of experts to the larger world. Thousands of highly trained medical doctors and other professionals are daily departing these shores for greener pastures abroad.

They are going to join millions of talented Nigerian intellectuals, academics and professionals, who had been driven out of our land by the harsh realities of our current existence. It is not a matter of profound argument or intellectual debate to say that the death of the Nigerian middle class due to equivocation and compromise has long been awaited. Yet, implicit in the very meaning of compromise as a means of harmonizing the best features of opposing values is an element of tension.

Self-Medication Is Kiss Of Death

By Kayode Ojewal

In Nigeria, the open sale of drugs – both traditional and pharmaceutical— through unregistered outlets is a major concern. It is not strange to see unregistered ‘doctors’ and ‘pharmacists’ advertising and selling medicines in commercial buses and by the roadsides.

These drug hawkers are sometimes seen selling prescription-only antibiotics and other powerful painkiller drugs. They do not only prescribe drugs, but they also go as far as recommending the dosage to be taken to these unsuspecting commuters.  Some street hawkers have their shops, stores and makeshift ‘clinics’ located in motor parks and market places where they offer ‘general body checkups’ and also display their medicines for sale.

The Death Of Truth In Nigeria

By Passy Amaraegbu

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election 

– Otto von Bismarck. 

The first documented census in Nigeria was carried out by Britain in 1866. Following this, others in 1971, 1896, 1901, 1911, 1921 and 1952/53.

However the first census after independence was in 1963. Thereafter, the degree of reliability of the figures has been on a spiral descent and decline. The official Nigeria position is that Lagos State with a population of 9,013, 534 is second to Kano with a first position of 9,401, 288 (Nigerian Finder). However, the Lagos State government puts the census of the State at 22 million while the United Nations puts it at 14 million.

Waiting For Atiku’s Women

By Banji Ojewale

There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women

—Kofi Annan (1938-2018), former UN Secretary-General.

I am among millions of Nigerians who can’t wait for the day God will bless our dear country with a visionary and radical female president, along with a great host of the fairer sex of kindred spirit governing the states and heading the MDAs. The tragedy of an effete economy, social stagnation and political paralysis that we have lived with over the years is the consequence of the neglect of this formidable section of society by our leaders. 

*Atiku  Abubakar 

Developing society and its constituents boils down to making use of all the functional human capital at your disposal. The moment you succumb to so-called imperatives of culture, false religion or superstition, and you drop the women, youth and the working class from your strides, you begin to enter a reverse march. That’s been Nigeria’s misogynist history, always drawing us into the bottomless depths of backwardness. 

Who Controls The Quality Of Products Supplied To Africa?

By Wolff Geisler

Participants in the joint UN program on HIV / AIDS, claim that between 1981 and 2006, 25 million people died of AIDS! The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that in 2007 alone 33.2 million HIV-infected people were registered, and 2.1 million people died.

Leading the number of infected and the dead is the part of the African continent, located south of the Sahara (Black Africa). Only 10% of the world's population lives in the region, but 70% of them have AIDS!

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of people living with HIV has increased by more than 150% over the past few years. And in Vietnam over the same period, the number of patients doubled. Among Asian countries, the first place in Indonesia. 

2019: The Irony Of Buhari’s Second Term

By Evaristus Bassey

If all politics is local, there must be an exception in Nigeria. Here, all politics is selfish, especially southern Nigeria politics. If President Muhammadu Buhari wins another four year term, it wouldn’t be because of any stellar performances; it would be because of southern Nigeria politicians. Buhari has always won large in the North East and North West until the 2015 momentum thrust victory into his hands largely because he teamed up with Tinubu the strong man of the South West.

*President Buhari 

Just a few months ago the Senate President Saraki confirmed my earlier suspicion that Tinubu’s aggressive support for Buhari for 2019 after a lull in their relationship was essentially because he hoped for Buhari to handover to him in 2023. Tinubu is quoted by Saraki as saying that he would support Mr. President for 2019 even if he Buhari was on a stretcher because it was the surest way to guaranteeing his own 2023 ambition of being president.

Nigeria: A Troubled Country In Search Of Redemption

By Chiedu Uche Okoye

Nigeria’s political troubles and the vexed issue of her disunity date back to our pre-independence era. We should remember that we had the 1953 Kano riot during which the northern people produced the nine point programme and threatened secession, thereafter. And soon after the country had become a sovereign nation-state, it descended into an internecine civil war, which raged for thirty months and caused the loss of millions of human lives.

*Nigerian leaders' during the 58th
Independence Celebrations 

It is a known fact that political squabble, which has existed among the ethnic groups that make up Nigeria, is one of the major features of our political history. Have we forgotten the annulled June 12, 1993 Presidential election, which led Nigeria to a political cul-de-sac? That Nigeria didn’t disintegrate owing to that cancelled Presidential poll is a miracle of high magnitude. 

Nigeria: Jonathan’s Politics As Gold Standard

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

After former President Goodluck Jonathan launched his memoir My Transition Hours on Tuesday, he might have heaved a sigh of relief. It might not be because the ordeal of writing and preparing to present the book to the public was now off his shoulders. Nor because he was now luxuriating in the cathartic effect of dislodging the single narrative that de-privileges his role in nation-building and the 2015 elections. Rather, it could be because of the sweet contemplation of the fresh horizon of possibilities that had opened before him. Now, he realised that it was not all gloom – he might not have been denigrated as an irredeemable villain after all.

*Former President Jonathan 

For over three years, Jonathan might have been shocked by how his legendary good luck has mutated into a source of personal tragedy as he was weighed down by the thought of his now being eternally identified with a dark role in the crisis of development of the nation. He might have felt that he and his government were held in utter disdain by the President Muhammadu Buhari government that has continued to afflict them with a rash of allegations of sleaze. The Buhari government has been unrelenting in portraying the Jonathan government as presiding over the unconscionable despoliation of the country. It seizes every moment to catalogue the depredations instigated by Jonathan and his co-travellers. 

Gov El-Rufai And Temperament To Lead

By Simon Abah

Until we groom good people for elective office, people who are selfless, driven by a sense of mission, folks who understand the importance of urgency for change, belief in community, do not wear their opinion on their sleeve, avoid flagging religious views in favour of egalitarianism and to stop putting their snout in the trough of the gravy train and free-booting.

*Gov El-Rufai 

Even if a Martian comes from Mars on a white horse with Marian ideas to transform Nigeria, we would never go above being the self-proclaimed Giant of Africa. (Simon Abah, The Guardian, 30 May 2017, Between presidential and parliamentary system of government). 

What DSS Report Says About Adams Oshiomhole

By Fredrick Nwabufo

The depth of filth in the APC primary election can contain a tsunami. The “inglorious” exercise and its resulting attrition betray the anti-corruption sloganeering of the Buhari administration.

*Adams Oshiomhole 

A lot has been said about the alleged involvement of Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman, in the corruption shin-dig.  But what is the position of the Department of State Security (DSS)? The secret police interrogated Oshiomhole, and really did ask him to resign over allegations of bribery.

Kgalema Motlanthe, Fmr South Africa President, To Deliver Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum Lecture

Press Release 

*Chinua Achebe 

The Christie and Chinua Achebe Foundation and the Black Studies Department of the City College of New York have announced that on December 12, 2018, at 6:30 pm, in the Aaron Davis Hall of the City College of New York, United States of America, Mr. Kgalema Motlanthe – Former President of South Africa – will deliver the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum Lecture, a statement credited to Dr. Chidi Achebe, Director of the Foundation and President and CEO of African Integrated Development Enterprise Inc, said.

Averting Dearth Of Igbo Language, By Pita Ejiofor

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

The passion in the man was like a charge of electricity. Prof. Pita Ejiofor may look calm but when the subject is the neglect of the Igbo language calmness gives place to passionate intensity. The celebrated professor was introduced to me in Awka by the Anambra State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, and almost instantly our discussion gravitated to the vexed matter of the travails of the Igbo language.

*Prof. Pita Ejiofor

Prof Ejiofor had served in esteemed positions as commissioner, vice-chancellor and so on, but what gives him the greatest oomph is the drive to save his beloved Igbo language from extinction. He has arduously championed the cause for all of 12 years through his group Otu Suwakwa Igbo that he initiated on February 14, 2006. He laments that a great number of Igbo leaders can never ever be seen taking the Igbo language issue seriously.

APC’s 2019 Crumbling Under The Machination Of 2023

By Obi Ebuka Onochie

As 2019 elections draw closer, activities informed by future projections, calculations and manipulations keep manifesting in different areas with different people at different times. Take for a striking example of what is going on in Imo state. It is now breeding many interests and actors within and outside South East geopolitical zone under the APC. In other flash points of APC crisis of Ondo, Ogun, Rivers and Zamfara states, they still bear the same fingers except Zamfara and Rivers states.

Former governor of Lagos state, Bola Tinubu is believed by many to be at the manipulative center of the commotion. Tinubu hasn’t hidden his desire to take over from Buhari in 2023 if Buhari wins another term. Let’s go to the beginning and put things in proper perspective. Buhari promised to do only one term and he was supported and succession game started almost immediately he was announced the winner by Prof. Jega in April of 2015. El-Rufai was said to be hawking himself to the cabals as possible choice to finish the remaining one term that President Buhari would be leaving behind. The Lagos boys led by Tinubu were hoping on unplanned eventuality of events that the Vice president would serve out the term in case the president could not see it to the end.

Tackling The Plight Of Niger Delta Region

By Grace Omowumi Semudara

Niger Delta, as a geographical entity, her folks and the enormous gift of nature (crude oil) have been the cynosure of all eyes as their struggles dominate national discourse. It can be said with all sense of humility that the region and her people, by their endowment with abundant natural resources, should not have anything to do with stifling poverty, as postulated by many.

But that is not the case, the tale of the Niger Delta is that of misery, despair, penury and haplessness in the face of immeasurable wealth, that would have accrued them, if the proceeds of their crude oil resources are judiciously used to develop their polluted lands. The region is only a microcosm of the dense citizenry of our African Giant Nigeria.

Lai Mohammed And Others Feeding Off El-Zakzaky

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

With a pedigree of an incurable self-advertisement behind it, the Muhammadu Buhari government is not known for half-measures.

Alas, this propensity has not found its profoundest expression in the prosecution of an agenda for engendering good governance. 

*Lai Mohammed 

The upshot is that the emergence of the Buhari government has burdened the citizens with a miserable existence that harks back to a Hobbesian state of nature where life is nasty, brutish and short on account of the half-hearted measures for governance that has been deployed. For the political party of Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC), there is the tragedy that this predilection has also become the petard on which it is being hoisted.

Abuja Earth Tremors: A wake-Up Call!

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Natural disasters often occur without prior notice. In most cases, when they occur, they have devastating effects on human lives and property. While not much can be done to prevent nature from taking its course, early warning mechanisms should be taken seriously to mitigate the effects of natural disasters. 

Few weeks ago, there were outbreaks of multiple earth tremors in some parts of the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja that caused many residents to be in dire state of panic, agony and discomfort. Abuja tremor For three days, the tremors caused great fears in communities of Mpape, Katampe District and parts of Maitama. Uncertainty faced the residents because earth tremors were unheard of in the FCT. Not only that, buildings and roads also suffered damage, forcing residents in the affected areas to relocate.

Nigeria Is Going Nowhere Fast – Stuck On A Treadmill

By Olu Fasan

Nothing agitates me about Nigeria more than its parlous state and uncertain future. So, it’s a huge privilege to be asked to write for this great newspaper, a welcomed opportunity to use its respected medium to contribute to public discourse on the state of the nation!

*President Buhari 

The questioning of institutions and received wisdom is a democratic virtue, and a skeptical lack of deference towards leaders is the first step to reform. So, this column will provoke thought and speak truth to power. In that spirit, and to set the scene for future discussions, I want to use the column’s debut to draw attention to an issue that should concern every well-meaning Nigerian: the fragility of this country and its worrisome lack of progress.

Gov El-Rufai: Throwing Stones In Glass Houses

By Luke Onyekakeyah

The unwarranted attack by the Governor of Kaduna State, His Excellency Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, against the person of former Governor of Anambra State and running mate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, has exposed the bigotry of El-Rufai which he is now shifting to Peter Obi. Nigerians should ignore a personal opinion that has no weight.

*Gov El-Rufai 

I tried to look up for the meaning of bigot for better understanding. According to the Encarta Dictionary, a bigot is “an intolerant person; somebody with strong opinion, especially in politics, religion, or ethnicity, who refuses to accept different views.”

Cruelty And The Future Of Nigeria

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

When Niccolo Machiavelli first came up with the idea that cruelty could be rightly or wrongly employed in governing a country, he may have had Nigeria in mind. According to him, ‘cruelty is used well ‘(if it is permissible to talk in this way of what is evil) when it is employed once for all, and one’s safety depends on it, and then it is not persisted in but as far as possible turned to the good of one’s subjects.

*Buhari 

Again, cruelty badly used is that which, although infrequent to start with, as time goes, rather than disappearing, grows in intensity’’. Unfortunately, this is where we are today.

The Demystification Of Adams Oshiomhole

By Reno Omokri

Has anyone seen Adams Oshiomhole’s pretty face in public? Rather strange that such a handsome man who is not shy of talking to journalists suddenly disappears from public view. I hope all is well?

*Oshiomhole 

In all my life, I have never met a man suffering from the small man syndrome like Adam Oshiomhole. So eager is he to compensate for his brief stature, that he overreacts to any perceived opposition and ends up destroying the institutions he was meant to build. Former President Goodluck Jonathan is my boss and close personal friend. Together, we traveled to Edo State in 2014 and the former President was very courteous (courtesy is second nature to Dr. Jonathan) to Oshiomhole. 

When Courts Replace The People

By Hope Eghagha

The theory and principle of democracy effectively removed the power of elevating officials into the ruling class from the hands of potentates and transferred same to the people. In practice there had always been interference from strong economic and political forces in the democratic process.

These seek to undermine or influence and manipulate the electoral process to favour a point of view, an ideology, a selfish interest or some candidates. This has happened in all democracies; it is indeed a human trait. What has differed is the degree and for what ends. As a result, democracy or the principle of it has not always had its way. The checks and balances are in the hands of men; not angels or saints! It is this crack; the crack of human element and weaknesses that often times transfers the final pronouncement from the hands of the people to a select few.  

Nigeria's Poverty And Social Relations

By Dan Amor

Recently, there emerged two very disturbing reports, each dealing with chronic poverty in Africa vis-a-vis Nigeria, that are very unsettling. One is from the Brookings Institution, a Washington DC-based Economic think-tank. Its report titled: "The Start of A New Poverty Narrative", was specifically based on the work of three experts who are associated with the "World Poverty Clock", an Economic Study Group launched in 2017, to track trends in poverty reduction across the world. 

The kennel of the report is that Nigeria had overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor in the world, to be seconded only by the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. What this means is that Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world. The other one is a damning document entitled, "Report Card on World Social Progress". Released also in the United States of America by the International Society for Life Quality Studies, the report has identified the best countries in which to live in the world. These include Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Belgium , in that order. 

Who Should Be Held Responsible For Drug Misuse, Abuse In Nigeria?

By Sam Ohuabunwa

In the year 2001 or thereabout, I was a member of a delegation of the Nigerian American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) that visited President Olusegun Obasanjo at Aso Rock. The delegation was led by the President of the chamber at that time, Chief (Mrs) Priscillia Kuye (SAN). When Kuye finished addressing the President, she graciously requested if I had something to add.

I rose up to grab the opportunity. But before I would speak, she introduced me to the President as a pharmacist and chairman/ CEO of Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc, a successor company of Pfizer Products Plc. As I tried to open my mouth, the President charged at me, “You pharmacists, you are the ones that import fake drugs into the country!” I was stunned, but quickly remonstrated that his statement was untrue.

Governor Okowa, Fix Warri Roads

By Lexzy Ochibejivwie

Warri, a one-time beautiful and bustling city, has become a laughing stock. The city has been severely scoffed at several fora as a place where people appreciate talk more than physical development. Some social media freaks have recently used its state of roads as raw probative data for articulating what is not right about Delta State. The city has so much promise.

*Gov Okowa

It has all the potentials to be Africa’s Dubai. Many of its indigenes are very talented. Warri, it was, groomed and ignited the first spark of inspiration to famous professional stand-up comics like AY, I Go Dye, Gordons, and many others, who brought thrill to stage comedy and modern live theatre in Nigeria.

The Peacetime In Ghana Collapsing?

By Abdul Karim Issifu

 “Globally, Ghana is noted for her democratic practice. The country has witnessed more than two decades of democratic political transitions from 1992 to 2016. Ghana continues to play a key role in peacekeeping missions in other war devastated countries. 

However, in recent times, a series of threats to democracy and security could ruin the enviable peacetime that Ghana is currently enjoying. There are testaments from elsewhere that shows unemployment, history of past wars, poverty and weak state was the causes of civil war onset in countries like Syria, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, DR Congo, Central Africa Republic and many more.

Nigeria: Don’t Forget Leah Sharibu

By Tony Ogunlowo

On the 19th of February this year more than a hundred girls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Science and Technology College, Dapchi in Yobe state by a faction of the dreaded Boko Haram.

*Leah Sharibu

Five weeks later 105 girls were released, 5 had died in captivity and one girl was held back. The name of the girl held back is Leah Sharibu, only 14 years old at the time, and her captors refused to release her because she refused to convert to Islam.

Biafra, Buhari And King Darius Of Persia

By Nwachukwu Ngige

King Darius I (522 – 486 BC) was the fourth in line and the  greatest of  the kings of the  ancient Persia, today’s Iran. During his reign, the empire covered the entire middle East, modern Turkey and parts of  Balkans, India and Asia.

*Buhari 

His ambitious plan to overrun and annex the city states of Greece however met the waterloo at the battle of Marathon where the highly spirited Athenians inflicted a debilitating defeat on the Persians in B.C 490.

In Praise Of Strike

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Until humanity blurs the power distinction that privileges the leaders and afflicts the led with misery, the magic for banishing strike would remain eternally elusive. Like in most post-colonial states, the power relations in Nigeria have rendered the majority of the citizens nugatory. The citizens’ input is not sought into how the resources of the nation are shared. Even if it is sought, it is not reckoned with when decisions are made.

This is why while the leaders have security, the citizens are left at the mercy of marauders, kidnappers and armed robbers. Again, the leaders can live in plenitude, thanks to the resources of the society, while the other citizens go to bed on empty stomachs. Yet, when the citizens say they are fed up, they are told not to complain.

President Buhari’s Certificate Saga, Worst National Embarrassment!

Press Statement

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says public demonstrations that the Presidency may have procured a forged West African Examination Council (WAEC) Certificate Attestation and Confirmation for President Muhammadu Buhari is a huge smear on our nation’s integrity and the Office of the President.

The party laments that the development has turned our nation into a laughing stock in the West African sub-region and the entire global community, as our President is now being mentioned as beneficiary of a duplicitous act.

University Of Ibadan At 70

By Sunday Saanu

From faculty to faculty, drums will rumble and grumble so thunderously as the campus of the University of Ibadan (UI), will be kept agog with all manner of festivities involving dancing, singing, acting – all in celebration of the Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan which turns 70 years this November. In marking the milestone, however, the management of the university, headed by Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka has declared a year-long ceremony, beginning from October this year to November 2019 in order to fully commemorate a university that has remarkably imparted the world.

Established in 1948, UI which is admirably tagged “the First and Best,” could be described as a relatively young university when compared with some prestigious universities across the globe. For instance, a 70-year old UI can’t be compared with the University of Cambridge in England which is 809 years old this year, neither can UI at 70 match the record of Harvard University, which marked its 382 years this year.

Buhari, Certificate Scam And Declining Plank Of Integrity

By Evaristus Bassey

It does seem that when a politician is popular people overlook his sins and when he becomes unpopular they want to examine his faults. In 2015, the  Buhari-mania and its mantra of Change would not allow anyone examine the matter of Buhari’s certificate but it does seem that with the turn of events, those who were ready to accept recharge card and NEPA bill in place of a certificate are insisting they want to see the real certificate. 

*WAEC Registrar presents certificate to Pres Buhari 

Those who regularly respond to calls for proposals in the humanitarian and development sector know that one of the first places you must read through are the guidelines for application. These are more or less criteria for eligibility. If among the things required are audited reports for five years and you are only four years old as an organization, you simply know ipso facto that your organization is disqualified; and if they require only a ten paged summary and you go ahead to make it fifteen, or they want an anti-terrorism certification attached and you forget to, or attach only two out of three required letters of support from established organisations, then you must already know you are out, being that the first step is to prune the applications and without even reading the proposals, screen out those who had not met the criteria.

When Africa Began To Slumber

By Joseph Atchulo

When Africa began to slumber her gold was stolen from Ghana, when Africa began to slumber her oil was stolen from Nigeria, when Africa began to slumber her gas was stolen from Angola, when Africa began to slumber her Diamond was stolen from Serra Leone and Liberia, when Africa began to slumber her diamond was stolen from the DR Congo, Tanzania, Botswana and Namibia, when Africa began to slumber her Iron Ore was stolen from Sudan and all her natural resources where stolen by the West. Awaken oh mother Africa because in your state of slumber your youth, the young and vibrant, the energetic young people of this Continent no longer see any pride in you.

Africa today has become in the words of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair ‘a scar on the conscience of humanity’. Africa today has become a tragedy of gigantic proportion, how did it happen that even today the youth in Africa have no pride in Africa, in Africa's state of slumber her youth are stolen.

Demonising Northern Christians Before 2019 Elections

By Sunday Adole Jonah

These days, political pundits are all in agreement about the fact of the matter that the swing regions for next year’s presidential polls are the Middle Belt and the Southwest. As it stands today, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has not done any meaningful engagement with these regions other than its overarching desire to establish “cattle colonies” in both places to the detriment of the peace that exist there.

*El-Rufai and Buhari 

The people of the Southwest region simply want a country that is fair to them in terms of the component contributions that they make into the unitary polity, and the people of the Middle Belt region simply want peace so they can continue to till the lands they have inherited from their ancestors. Simple demands and expectations. Regrettably, instead of seeking avenues to ensure lasting peace in the Middle Belt region, the “intellectual think-thank” of this Buhari administration headed by a serving governor of a Northwest state is coming up with lots of balderdash to ensure that elections would not hold in some key anti-Buhari locales because of “security reasons.”