Fuel Subsidy Removal Insensitive, Will Devalue Lives By 300% –NLC

 

Statement By The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) On The Proposed Removal Of Subsidy On Fuel

“We at the Nigeria Labour Congress are outraged by the pronouncement of President Bola Tinubu removing ‘fuel subsidy without due consultations with critical stakeholders or without putting in place palliative measures to cushion the harsh effects of the ‘subsidy removal’.

“Within hours of his pronouncement, the nation went into a tailspin due to a combination of service shutdowns and product price hikes, in some places representing over 300 per cent price adjustment.

“By his insensitive decision, President Tinubu on his inauguration day brought tears and sorrow to millions of Nigerians instead of hope. He equally devalued the quality of their lives by over 300 per cent and counting.

Can We Have A New Nigeria, Please?

 By Ayo Oyoze Baje

Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the beacon-bearer of Nigeria, nay Africa’s peaceful coexistence and the flag-flying patriot certainly deserves sincere apologies, eight years after he graciously and peacefully left the corridors of political power, at Aso Rock, Abuja.

And the apologies should in fact, come from the All Progressives Congress (APC) political party with its ‘Change’ mantra, which the millions of overtly naïve and gullible supporters swallowed line, hook and sinker. That played itself out of course, during its well-oiled, puerile propaganda-fuelled presidential campaigns back in the 2014/2015 season.

Who’s Really On Trial At The Presidential Election Tribunal?

 By Isidore Uzoatu

Permit this controversial entry. For you see, I’m one of those who ardently believe that all the democratic regimes we have had in this country suffered the same fate. Consecutively, they have been ruined by the daylight robbery passed off as rigging. I know many will disagree.

After all, Nigerians have always advertised their peculiar penchant for the unrecorded. From Adam (and Eve, perhaps), we have been more taken in by enjoyment and its multifarious accoutrements. Any wonder that, even at the best of times, all we have ever laboured to cope with is the accolade of occupying the happiest space on planet earth.

Nigeria Tripped In 2015, Then Stumbled For Eight Years

 By Owei Lakemfa

Today, Nigeria stands ragged and worn out on the global highway. Should it look back at the last eight years and try to make sense of the rough road it had been dragged through? Or simply pick itself up and face the future?

*Buhari 

The misfortune of the last eight years that was the Buhari regime was foretold. No, not by a fortune teller who might have degrees of in-exactitude. But by the exactitude of lived history. A history that opened the book of remembrance reminding us that this taciturn general who was being propped up on stilts of profane propaganda, wrapped in the borrowed robes of a democrat and falsely presented as an unmatched fighter against corruption, is the same man who for 20 months from 1984 subjected the country to terrors of military misrule.

Muhammadu Buhari And The Tragedy Of The Long Grudge

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

On December 31, 1983, Sani Abacha, then an unknown brigadier in the Nigerian Army, went on radio to announce the overthrow of the elected civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari, claiming that the military had done so “in the discharge of our national role as promoters and protectors of our national interest” because of “the great economic predicament and uncertainty, which an inept and corrupt leadership has imposed on our beloved nation”.

*Buhari 

The following day, Nigerians learnt that the new military regime was to be led by Muhammadu Buhari, a wiry major-general with a reputation for asceticism, serving as the general officer commanding (GOC) the Third Division of the Nigerian Army in Jos. Commissioned into the Nigerian Army in January 1963 following training at the Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England, Buhari was not just the most senior among the officers involved in the coup, he was also the most experienced. His contemporary and would-be nemesis, Ibrahim Babangida, who emerged as the chief of army staff, was commissioned eight months later, in September 1963.

Options Before Bola Tinubu And His Critics

 By Jideofor Adibe

The Friday, May 26, 2023 Supreme Court’s dismissal of the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party seeking the disqualification of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in the February 25, 2023 presidential election over alleged double nomination of his Vice-President Senator Kashim Shettima, essentially removed the last hurdle to his inauguration on May 29, 2023.

*Bola Tinubu

This means in essence that those who cannot bear the thought of Tinubu and Shettima as President and Vice President respectively will have to find a way of adjusting to the reality that they will be stuck with the duo till August this year (at the earliest) when the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the challenges to the INEC-declared outcome of the election. We are of course assuming that there will be no other unforeseen variable in-between. 

Did Buhari Lose Weight In Eight Years?

By Banji Ojewale

A new race of men is springing up to govern the nation; they are the hunters after popularity, men ambitious…the demagogues, whose principles hang laxly upon them, who follow not so much what is right as what leads to a temporary vulgar applause— Joseph Story (1779-1845), American Judge

*Buhari 

Let’s be guided by the former president’s own measuring rod to assess him and other public officers.  We don’t need to go into any arcane research or some tongue-twisting grammatical constructions to determine whether our outgone leaders served themselves or served us. All we should do is to consider the body optics: has the office holder lost weight or gained extra flesh?

Bye Buhari: Good And Timely Riddance…

 By Dele Sobowale

“In every community, there is a class of people, profoundly dangerous to the rest. I don’t mean criminals. For them we have punitive sanctions. I mean the leaders. Invariably, the most dangerous people seek power” – Saul Bellow, 1915-2005.

*Buhari

Before revealing to you how dangerous a Nigerian leader can be, permit me to explain the title of the last column of the Buhari Presidency. We were asked to write a short story, maximum length ten pages, for our term paper at the university in 1965 for our English Literature course. Help would be provided as needed. I soon required assistance.

May 25: Why Politics Matters For Africa’s Development

 By Obiageli Ezekwesili, Alioune Badara Fall and Adama Gaye

Sixty years ago, yesterday, May 25, Africa led the world in creating the first-ever pan-continental political body with the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). It was in 1963 when 30 leaders of Africa’s sovereign republics came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to sign the founding Charter of the new body. This is where the celebration of May 25 as Africa Day originated.

The OAU had, from its inception, a bold and transformational mission as it was set up to facilitate the attainment of economic development, social transformation, political freedom, and the completion of independence in the African countries still under the yoke of foreign actors while also launching the struggle to dismantle racists’ regimes in Rhodesia – later Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.

2015-2023: The Years Of Pestilence

 By Adekunle Adekoya

When the All Progressives Congress, APC, came up to challenge PDP’s hold on power since 1999 in February 2013, not a few Nigerians incubated the hope that something refreshingly different will happen to Nigeria. Formed as a merger of three parties — the Congress for Progressive Change, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, and the Action Congress of Nigeria, the APC went ahead to field Major-General Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate against Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP in the 2015 elections. The rest, as they say, is now history.

*Buhari's 73rd Birthday Dinner - December 17, 2015

Before and after the 2015 elections, Buhari and the APC made a lot of promises about how they would work to ensure that life and living gets on the upward swing for Nigerians. In fact, ahead of the elections, Buhari was at Chatham House, the UK think-tank where he made a lot of proclamations regarding what he would do if elected president. In the opening paragraphs of the Chatham House speech, Buhari said: “When speaking about Nigeria overseas, I normally prefer to be my country ’s public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists.” 

Nigeria: Who Is Afraid Of Accountability?

 By Azubuike Ifejika and Bill Newton

Nigerians from all walks of life should applaud The Guardian for its Editorial on May 22, 2023 (page 12). It exposed the shameless abdication of AMCON’s Chief executive, who had no qualms with reducing his role to that of a mere bystander, blaming an organisation’s astronomically dismal performance on everyone else but AMCON itself.

The appointed chief missioner and custodian entrusted with the wherewithal to deliver economic restoration attempted to justify irresponsibility, which is seemingly pervasive of his entire organisation. The poster boy for this monumental failure premised on a lack of genuineness of purpose, nepotism and brazenly unprofessional management of assets, is its appointed Receiver Manager for Arik Air.

Imo: How Not To Police A State!

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Penultimate week, I wrote an open letter to the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, lamenting the travails of Ikechukwu Ojokoh, who is in police custody in Imo State. For those who may not have read my column on May 11, let me restate the facts. On Saturday, April 15, 2023, Thaddeus Ikechukwu Ojokoh, a 53-year-old professional tailor, from Umugwa Umuokirika, Ahiazu-Mbaise LGA, Imo State, was arrested at Afor-Oru market.

Ojokoh, who is married with five children, had just left his shop where he has been practising his humble trade in the last two decades to buy some tailoring materials when armed security men swooped on him and whisked him away on the allegation that he is a member of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB. He was beaten mercilessly and dehumanised.

Good Riddance, Buhari: You Came, You Saw, You Failed Woefully!

 By Olu Fasan

Muhammadu Buhari, president of Nigeria since 2015, will leave office on Monday, May 29, after eight disastrous years. The late Chief Bola Ige famously coined the phrase, “good riddance to bad rubbish”. That, truth be told, is the best way to describe the exit of Buhari, his presidency and his government from power.

*Buhari 

For the past eight years of Buhari’s administration have been an unmitigated failure; a monumental waste of time, of resources, and of the hopes and aspirations of a nation and a people. True stewardship is leaving a place better than one found it. But Buhari is leaving Nigeria far worse than he found it in 2015.

Remembering The 1986 ‘Ango Must Go’ ABU Students Protest

 By Ahmed Yusuf

Thirty-seven years ago, precisely on May 22-23, 1986, Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, students embarked on a peaceful protest against their Vice Chancellor, Professor Ango Abdullahi, who invited the police to quell the protest. The violence inflicted by the police is only comparable to that of the 1978 “Ali-Must-Go” nation-wide students’ protest against the increase in education financing.

*Ango Abdullahi

The Police brutalised, shot, injured, raped, murdered students and other citizens both on campus and the neigbouring Samaru community. The Academic Staff Union of the Universities, ABU Branch, wrote that the general conduct of the police “violated every known code of conduct for such operations”, adding: “To the police, it did not matter whether or not one was a ‘rioting’ student or a 13-year-old sitting quietly in a secondary school classroom; whether one was fleeing or refusing to disperse, whether one was armed with stones or not. It was as if they had a deep seated grudge against their victims.” 

Nigerians Are Helpless!

 By Obiotika Toochukwu

When you are weak, when there is no power, when you are poor, in the time of sorrow, war and when you are not certain of what will happen next; then you are helpless. This is the condition of Nigerians after the flawed February 25 Presidential elections in the country. At the moment, everyone looks up to the judiciary which in recent times has become the last hope of political moneybags.

When the mockery; “Go to Court” became over-flogged, Nigerians knew that there is not any hope in the Nigerian courts. If there is any government that downplayed the judiciary and flagrantly disobeyed court orders, it is the present APC-led government of Muhammadu Buhari. This is the reason Nigerians are deeply religious, and they focus more on prayers or what God would miraculously do for them.

What Did Sanwo-Olu Come To Lagos With?

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The first story is about a young Nigerian 45 years ago, and you see the coincidence in the story, 45 years ago, a young Nigerian came to Lagos all the way from another mega-city, Kano, who saw the prosperity, and diversity of our country, who came with nothing but in 45 years has built the biggest empire in the world — Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State.

*Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his wife, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu

Ordinarily, this statement, which Governor Sanwo-Olu made amidst befitting accolades for Alhaji Aliko Dangote for finally delivering the world’s largest refinery in Lagos, should not raise eyebrows. So, why is it arousing mixed feelings? The reason is obvious. It is a bitter reminder of the fallout of the just-concluded elections, particularly in Lagos, where Sanwo-Olu, his political principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and his political party, APC, used ethnic bigotry and violence to save themselves from being shipped out of power by Lagos residents who are tired of their oppressive rule.

Buhari’s Eight Years Of Governance Disaster

 By Kiikpoye K. Aaron

With the exception of the first and last election cycles, President Buhari’s name was a regular feature on Nigeria’s presidential ballot in her current experiment with electoral democracy. Needless to add, he was a serial failure until 2015 when a convergence of forces, for all the wrong reasons, threw him up as Nigeria’s President. His desire to be President was pursued with such consuming passion that his lacrimal glands broke loose when defeat was imminent in the 2011 election.

*Buhari 

Yes, a retired Army General openly and uncontrollably wept like a peevish schoolboy. He wept for a nation that could not see the messiah in him. Had Buhari died in 2011 or had he withdrawn from further participation in politics, the most predictable popular epithet about him in death would have been ‘the best President Nigeria never had.’

Buhari’s Huge Parting Debt Profile

 By Eric Teniola

The outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has made sure he is leaving a huge debt profile of N80 trillion when he leaves the villa on Monday, May 29. Well, well, well. While he will be celebrating in Daura or in Niger Republic, we shall be sorting out the mess he has created for us in last eight years. No problem. By popular demand, I want to republish an article I wrote that was published on 21 January 2021.

*Buhari 

“In June 2005, we were so ecstatic in celebrating the debt relief offered us, a relief of over $20 billion, which was beyond the total revenue of Nigeria for one year. So happy were we that President Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, had to make a broadcast to the nation on June 30, 2005. He followed the broadcast by appearing before the joint sitting of the National Assembly on July 26, 2005 to speak on the issue.

Baba, Go Straight To Niger, Forget Daura

 By Dele Sobowale

“The evils that men do live after them…”- William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, in Julius Caesar

Outgoing President Buhari announced a few weeks ago that he might relocate to Niger Republic – if people disturb him too much in Daura. Since then, some commentators have assumed he was serious with the declaration; a few said he was only joking and his comments should not be taken too seriously. I take a different attitude.

*Buhari 

Irrespective of whether he meant it seriously or as a light joke, I think he should fly straight to Republic of Niger – where a befitting Presidential Lodge is probably waiting for him. After eight years as President of Nigeria, during which he did Niger more good than Nigeria, he should, quite rightly, expect a warmer welcome there than Daura or any place else in Nigeria.

As Nigeria Prepares For The Zoom Presidency

 By Chidi Odinkalu

Having gone to London to watch the crowning of England’s King Charles III earlier this month, a friend joked last week, that President Muhammadu Buhari extended his stay so his dentist could crown his teeth. That was how he read the line from the Presidency that Buhari had stayed back in London for a dental procedure.

*Buhari and Tinubu 

Ten days before the end of his presidency, on his return to Nigeria, Buhari commissioned the Presidential Wing of the State House Medical Centre, SHMC. Estimated to be worth N21 billion, this project provides an insight into the mindsets of Nigeria’s higher-ups. 

Saving Nigeria’s Manufacturing Industry

By Elvis Eromosele  

The manufacturing industry is crucial to a nation’s economy. It plays a significant role in generating employment, increasing productivity and driving economic growth. In Nigeria, the manufacturing industry is a critical sector that contributes significantly to the country’s gross domestic product, GDP, through job creation, wealth creation, and increased tax revenue for the government.

It has equally been identified as a key sector in the nation’s quest for diversification away from oil dependency. It can enable a country to reduce its reliance on imports, improve its trade balance, and increase its overall competitiveness. Manufacturing is almost all things good.  Unfortunately, the nation’s manufacturing industry has long struggled with a host of challenges that have prevented it from achieving its full potential. Some of these challenges have intensified in the last decade.  

Nigeria Air And Buhari’s Ministers Of Magic

By Adekunle Adekoya

You may not agree with me, but I have taken the position, for quite some time, that some of Buhari’s ministers are magicians. By the way, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary says a magician is a person that is “skilled in using supernatural forces”. 

A synonym of magician is sorcerer, which the same dictionary defines as person “who performs tricks of illusion and sleight of hand”. We are also informed by the dictionary that sorcery is “the use of power gained from the assistance or control of evil spirits especially for divining”. 

Beware: My Impersonators On Rampage! – Peter Obi

 By Peter Obi

My duplicates are still on the rampage, they now mimic my voice and call people. There is no limit that people cannot go to cause mischief on their target. I have been a target both locally and internationally.  

*Obi and his wife 

The latest incident happened in Abuja yesterday, 17th May at the Court of Appeal premises of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal venue, where my attention was drawn to what was going on outside the courtroom. 

A report came to me while I was seated in court that one Prince Mustapha Audu, son of the late Governor of Kogi state, held the OBIdient's Chief Spokesman, Dr Yunusa Tanko and some others spellbound – castigating and talking down on me, describing me as an ethnic and religious bigot.  

Rising Crime Rate In Nigeria 2023

 By Obiotika Toochukwu

During the campaigns for the 2023 General Elections, the known militia and pariah state of Nigeria experienced calm, peace, and safety. It was nuanced that the sponsors of terrorism, banditry and other crimes were too occupied with the electioneering campaigns. Few weeks after the elections and announcement of results, the spate of insecurity took over the Nigerian space again.

It is quite disheartening to see young men of school age involved in various crimes. Education in Nigeria has been so much degraded that most youths view it as a waste of money, time and resources. Due to incessant strikes and other bottlenecks in the high institutions, majority of the students have embraced cybercrimes, internet fraud (Yahoo plus) and kidnapping. The university professors on the other hand are used by the incumbent government to perpetuate electoral fraud and announcement of election results marred by irregularities.

Chinua Achebe, 10 Years After: ANA Unveils Programme To Mark Passing Of Africa’s Literary Icon

-----------------------------------------------

 Chinua Achebe’s 10th Year Anniversary Commemoration Begins May 19, 2023 As ANA Unveils Zoom Link For Virtual Participation...

*Chinua Achebe 

The much-awaited programme to mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of literary icon Chinua Achebe is set to commence tomorrow, Friday, May 19, 2023. Organized by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) under the leadership of Camillus Ukah, the programme will honor the enduring legacy of Chinua Achebe, whose literary contributions have left an indelible mark on the global literary landscape. 

Ekweremadu: Britain Is Nigeria’s Nemesis On Criminal Justice

 By Olu Fasan

Let me say this: I take absolutely no joy in the plight of Senator Ike Ekweremadu, former Deputy Senate President, and his wife, Beatrice, who were recently jailed by a British court for human-trafficking and organ-harvesting offences.

But those begging the new British monarch, King Charles III, to grant the couple royal pardon are misguided. Such pleas fuel the perception of Nigeria as a lawless country and expose the sharp contrast between Nigeria and Britain on criminal justice and the rule of law.

National Assembly Sovereignty: Joke Taken Too Far

 By Owei Lakemfa

As an undergraduate in Great Ife, the Obafemi Awolowo University, I was a member of the Students Representative Council, the parliament. Whenever we met, the generality of the student body surrounded the venue to observe. The idea was that the parliament represented the students, so they have a right not only to observe, but also influence it. In a far limited sense, that is what is called the gallery; except that while the gallery can be cleared, same does not apply to the parliament.

The idea that parliamentarians are autonomous and should not be influenced either in picking their officers or legislating, was ridiculous.

Igbo Adventurism In The World Context

 By Luke Onyekakeyah

Adventurism in the context used here refers to the tendency of the Igbo to migrate to other lands and consciously decide to settle, build homes and develop those lands while their homeland is abandoned in a pathetic and undeveloped state.

Some assume traditional titles and begin to command influence in the Diaspora. The Igbo proclivity is different from what obtains with other migratory peoples around the world. There is nothing wrong with migrating to other lands but there is everything wrong with abandoning the homeland, which is senseless.

Did Buhari Really Deliver ‘Change’?

 By Dan Onwukwe

To be sure, the jury has been out since on the performance of Muhammadu Buhari as President. It  is in the natural course of things for an outgoing government to appraise its performance in office and score itself  ‘excellent’ . In this part of the world, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to see an administration close to the exit door, up against the wall, to accept, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, that it has underperformed.

*Buhari 

But truth is constant. It does not fudge facts or define truth downwards. Truth does not exaggerate or oversimplify matters. It simply hits the bull’s-eye. Truth says it as it is.  Truth holds those who play fast -and- loose with the facts in derision, in utter contempt. The problem with all the President’s men is that they view admitting the truth as a sign of weakness.  In the last one month, most of the President’s men, and even the President himself, have been strutting the stage, thumbing their chests over the his accomplishments. Nothing wrong with that. But what are the facts on ground? 

Growing Poverty In Nigeria

 By Peter Imouokhome

In layman’s terms, poverty is seen as the inadequacy of financial means to sustain a needed standard of living or to afford the necessities of life. Now largely tagged a global phenomenon and a state of emergency, previously, poverty was restricted to defined territories and a people. However, this has now been overly properly dimensioned as it is known that even in developed nations of the world, poverty exists.

Today, the first goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals seeks to end poverty in all forms everywhere. There has been a prior understanding of nations of the world in a pact signed under the Heads of Nations in June 1998.

Resolving Nigeria’s Electricity Conundrum

 By Dakuku Peterside

Every Nigerian knows that we have an electricity prob­lem. It has been a recurrent sound bite in development discourse in Nigeria post- indepen­dence. This challenge is generation­al and has defied all attempts in the past to solve it. And Nigerians are gleefully looking to the incoming administration to end the search for the solution to this hydra-head­ed problem and terminate Nigeria’s electricity conundrum. Whether this administration will succeed where others have failed in unravelling the electricity conundrum depends on its careful study and understanding of the problem. 

It will entail an in-depth review of all previous initia­tives to solve the problem, and the current state of the whole electrici­ty value-chain in Nigeria as well as providing bespoke strategies to pro­vide sustainable electricity supply that meets the massive demand in Nigeria. Electricity, especially in Af­rica, connotes light, which signifies progress, knowledge, and awareness. 

Buhari’s Frivolous Medical Trips Abroad

 By Charles Okoh

When the presidency announced that the out-going (thank God) President Muhammadu Buhari would be visiting the United Kingdom for the coronation of Charles III and his wife, Camilla, as King and Queen Consort of the United Kingdom penultimate Saturday, something told me that the presidency was telling its usual lies and that the president ultimately was going for a medical trip. And I said that openly to those around me.

*Buhari 

Now, the president is human and like every other human being, is liable to fall ill and deserves all the best the country can give as a nation to its president. But I dare ask, must the best healthcare be delivered outside this country? What image is the president portraying of Nigeria to the larger world? That we can’t even treat his dental challenge locally?

Political Class: Let NDDC Develop Niger Delta!

 By Tonnie Iredia

The oil-rich Niger Delta Region of Nigeria consists of Nine (9) coastal southern states of the country; namely: Ondo, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Imo, Abia, Cross River and Akwa Ibom. The 2006 controversial census recorded for the area some 31 million Nigerians – a figure that would today be about 40 million. What is certain is that the Niger Delta provides over 80 percent of Nigeria’s budgetary revenues and about 95 percent of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings.

Consequently, one would have thought that the area would have on its own merit be at the front burner of Nigeria’s development framework but that has not been so. Instead, the area has been subjected to severe collateral damages caused by the multi-dimensional nature of oil operations thereby completely devastating the environment.

Why Nigeria Must Join BRICS Alliance

 By Femi Falana

About five years ago, the Federal Government of Nigeria and China entered into a currency exchange agreement.

*Leaders of BRICS countries 

The transaction, which was valued at Renminbi (RMB) 16 billion or N720 billion, was aimed at providing adequate local currency liquidity to Nigerian and Chinese industrialists and other businesses, thereby reducing difficulties encountered in the search for the United States Dollar. The swap was also designed to improve the speed, convenience and volume of transactions between the two countries.

The Dignity Of Labour

 By Victor Ofou

A talented Nigerian musician, Adekunle Gold, in one of his popular songs entitled: Work, encouraged people to work hard. This is in harmony with what God’s word, the Bible, recommends in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verse 10, where it says: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might.” Work – whether paid or unpaid – is good for our health and well-being. It contributes to our happiness, helps us to build confidence and self-esteem, and can reward us financially. Work is an essential tool through which individuals can achieve their goals, flourish, and live happy, meaningful lives.

Work has different dimensions, such as work for making a living and work for developing one’s talent and potential. For example, a little girl in one of the corners of the world who goes to kindergarten and learns how to count, draw, or write, is working. Likewise, an adult, who goes to his/her job every day, and gets paid for that, is also working. Thus, based on the age, circumstances, needs and desires of individuals, work, or labour, takes different shapes.

Where Are Incorruptible Judges?

 By Promise Adiele

Olu Olagoke’s timeless play The Incorruptible Judge is a profound literary piece. It penetrates the Nigerian social fabric, exposing the clammy, savage grip of criminality, especially bribery and dreary obsession with lucre within government establishments. The text dramatizes how a young school leaver, Ajala, in search of a job, falls victim to an immoral employer, Mr. Agbalowomeri, who demands a bribe of five pounds before employing him.

Instead of offering the bribe, Ajala reports the matter to the police. The detective in charge of the case, Sergeant Okoro, gives marked notes to Ajala for onward delivery to the corrupt employer. The bait works, and Mr. Agbalowomeri is arrested red-handed. The matter is charged to court where the incorruptible Justice Faderin takes charge.

Metamorphosis Of Tolls And Taxes On Nigerian Roads

 By Steve Obum Orajiaku

Anyone especially in Nigerian government who cries wolf that taxes are successfully evaded by the citizens cannot be more stingy (economical) with the truth. Nowhere else in the world do the people forcibly pay for tolls and taxes in different shades and styles than in Nigeria, particularly Southern Nigeria.

Sometimes it is quite resentful the manner this ad hoc tax collector in police, military, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO), Vigilante men, etc uniforms go about fulfilling their illegal duties. Many lives of unsuspecting victims in South East, Lagos State have been lost to the brutality and unconscionable treatment meted out to the road users who refuse to play ball.

Travails of Citizen Ojokoh: Open letter to IGP Usman Alkali Baba

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Sir,

Let me apologise from the onset for reaching you through this medium, considering that a private, albeit, official letter may have been more ideal. But two things informed my choice of open letter. First, I don’t want the letter to be lost in transit, mislaid in the miasma of officialdom. Second, time is of the essence here.

*IGP Usman Alkali Baba

So, my hope is that even if you don’t get to read this letter first-hand, someone who did will promptly draw your attention to it. I am also aware that Mr. Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre, RULAAC, sent a petition to you on Monday, May 8, on the same issue. This letter is to reinforce the position of RULAAC on the travails of Citizen Thaddeus Ikechukwu Ojokoh in the hands of officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force, Imo State command.