Bola Tinubu’s Taxing Times!

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu 

A mere four years after emerging from a civil war, in 1974, Nigeria was at the beginning of an oil boom. Then, as today, the country was in the middle of a debate about fiscal federalism and revenue allocation.

*Tinubu 
Unlike today, however, there were significant differences: the country was under military rule and the men leading the debate were all soldiers. In the fifty years since then, the structure of this debate and the geo-political symmetries that define it have evolved only a little.

Why Nigeria Is Worsening Under President Tinubu?

 By Mike Ikhariale

Nigeria has arrived at a very sorry pass, far worse than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago. The title of our discussion today is a rehash of our earlier evaluation of the pitiable condition of Nigeria which was itself an adaptation of the title of the seminar work by the intellectual duo of Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson, which they aptly entitled Why Nations Fail.

*Tinubu

The economic quagmire which the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has stampeded Nigerians into is the classical definition of a failing state, where the gov­ernment and its organs become ethically and conceptually handicapped and become incapable of performing the hallowed du­ties of government with patriotic, pruden­tial and analytical dispositions.

GDP Growth Report: Whose Figures?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.” — Mark Twain (1835-1910). Please note that Mark Twain himself attributed it to former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

Last Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, released a report on the National Gross Domestic Product for Q1 2024, that is, the first three months of this year. On its website, NBS gave the following overview: Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.98% (year-on-year) in real terms in the first quarter of 2024.

Tax Reform Bills: Tinubu Lacks The Will For National Consensus Building

 By Olu Fasan

Hardly anyone will disagree that Nigeria needs a fundamental tax reform. This, after all, is a country with one of the most cumbersome tax regimes in the world, where tax laws and regulations are overlapping and burdensome, where the administration and collection of taxes, and their spending, are ridden with inefficiency and corruption, and where tax avoidance and evasion are prevalent. Nigeria’s tax system is in deep crisis.

*Tinubu

However, while crises are a trigger for fundamental reforms, making the status quo unsustainable, they are not sufficient for reform success. In a democracy, there’s a critical need for an explicit electoral mandate for reform and for a carefully crafted policy design, shaped by a broad consensus for change.

Northern Elite Should Take Responsibility For Region’s Underdevelopment

By Aliyu Maigari Aliyu 

In the ongoing discourse surrounding the socio-economic challenges plaguing Northern Nigeria, the time has come for the long-standing elite in the region to take a step back and engage in meaningful self-reflection. 

Over the last 64 years of Nigeria’s independence, Northern elites have ruled the country for approximately 41 years. Despite this significant tenure, the region remains mired in underdevelopment, and the accusations being levied against President Bola Tinubu, who has spent less than two years in power, are not just disingenuous but also a stark exhibition of irresponsibility, to say the least. 

Nigeria: The Return Of Kwashiorkor

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu 

The deadly kwashiorkor disease that was so much associated with the Biafra war has made a return to peacetime Nigeria. It was not a pretty sight seeing malnourished children with distended stomachs, nylon-like skins and dopey eyes during that evil war.

The belief was that kwashiorkor had gone for good with Biafra. My shock knew no bounds when I read in the Nigerian Tribune of Saturday, October 26, 2024 that kwashiorkor is back in town.

Enough Of IMF/World Bank Puppets

 By Nick Dazang

Individuals, corporate entities and countries which succeed are those who plan for the long haul, provide for contingencies and keep their eyes firmly on the ball. They think long-term; they delay immediate gratification; and they deny themselves in the knowledge that things will turn out well in due course.

Such individuals, corporate entities and countries do not cut corners. They follow due process. They are transparent. They only tweak their policies to align with their long-term goal(s). Their leaders complement these qualities by demonstrating emotional intelligence; by delivering good governance; by demonstrating prudence; and by exuding respect and fellow-feeling for their compatriots.

Before Nyesom Wike’s Fire Consumes Nigeria

 By Luka Danboyi

The self-immolating tendency for people to be indifferent to situations in which they are not directly involved seems to be playing out in the debacle in Rivers State. Curiously, there are people who are enjoying the political drama between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor-cum-godfather, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

*Wike 

There is no question that the vast majority of Nigerians are inured to the shenanigans of a disoriented political elite that hardly reckons with the plight of the people. Only such a situation would produce the present economic nightmare afflicting a country so richly endowed that, less than 50 years ago, other countries were visiting to understudy its impressive developmental effort and to borrow ‘seeds’ for their agricultural revolution.

EFCC And Yahaya Bello’s Hide-And-Seek Game

 By Charles Okoh

The Economic and Finan­cial Crimes Commission (EFCC) may have with re­cent events, proven to those who never believed in its abilities to properly prosecute financial fraud offenders without bias, that it has outlived its usefulness. An anti-graft agency that seems only out to diligently hunt and pros­ecute small fries while bungling high-profile cases involving men and women of means certainly can­not provide the much desired check on economic and financial crimes that hold this nation hostage.

*Tinubu and Bello 

At the outset of the agency, inci­dentally under Nuhu Ribadu, who is the current National Security Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there were at least some attempts to prosecute high-pro­file cases. Even though it was ar­gued that ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and succeeding presi­dents after him, have been using the agency to persecute political enemies but it was still not hopeless as it currently is.

Edo 2024: A Fait Accompli!

 By Jane Uyi Orobosa

As far as many people are con­cerned, the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) can­didate, Monday Okpebholo, as the winner of the Edo State gubernato­rial contest on Sunday, September 22, was simply a fait accompli and not the outcome of an election. For them, it was long predetermined. All that happened was working from the answer to the question by shameless national institutions. An unmitigat­ed travesty of electoral contest.

*INEC Chair Yakubu and Tinubu

It is an open secret that before the election, an alleged viral video of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, while canvassing votes from would be delegates in the 2023 presidential election, allegedly vowing to hand over Edo State to APC as a sitting President, was repeatedly circulated. It was ostensibly to remind Tinubu, the institutions involved and the general public that there was an ‘ex­isting pact’, or so it seems, to deliver Edo State to APC by hook or crook.

Governing Nigeria: Does The Economy Trump Politics? No, It Doesn’t!

 By Olu Fasan

It is the age-old chicken and egg question. Which comes first: the economy or politics? That’s the question at the heart of this intervention, and it was triggered by two recent events. The first was President Bola Tinubu’s response to the call for a new Constitution. The second was Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s speech at this year’s Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in which she called for a social contract for Nigeria. Everyone knew about those events, but few detected their logical fallacies. So, first, let’s recall the events.

Recently, in August, the highly venerated elder statesman Chief Emeka Anyaoku led a group of eminent Nigerians under the aegis of The Patriots to meet Tinubu at the State House and asked him to convene a constituent assembly to produce a draft people’s constitution for Nigeria.

Bola Tinubu: The Unravelling Of A Bigot

 By Onyema Omenuwa

Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been unravelled. As a bigot, that is. Eventually, and completely, it needs to be added. And it is all due to the hypocritical kind of politics that he plays, particularly in Lagos State where he holds sway as the alpha and omega of politics. Significantly, his unrelenting and desperate quest to become the President of Nigeria led to his unravelling. Though he has succeeded in that regard, since he is today the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the success came at the great cost of shattering the façade of progressivism that has all along defined his politics.

*Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi

Tinubu projects progressivism as his political worldview. But presently in Lagos State, the “Igbo Must Go” hashtag has become something of a mantra across social media platforms for the Yoruba residents of Lagos and their supporters. That is starkly anti-progressive by any stretch of imagination, and it is happening in Tinubu’s Lagos. “Residents” is used advisedly in this context because not every Yoruba in Lagos is an indigene of Lagos State or a “Lagosian,” as the indigenes of the state delight in describing themselves. And that is the irony. 

As Tinubu Redefines Protest To Mean ‘Movement To Effect Change Of Regime By Force’

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

After quelling what, to all intents and purposes, was a peaceful protest by economically challenged Nigerians over insufferable high cost of living, President Bola Tinubu has moved quickly to consolidate his grip on power. Taking a page from the archetypical fascist playbook, he summoned a meeting of the National Council of State, NCS, on Tuesday, to pass a vote of confidence in him and the Council obliged.

*Bola Tinubu 

For those who may not know, the NCS idea, which was introduced by General Murtala Muhammed in a broadcast on July 30, 1975 after overthrowing General Yakubu Gowon, was to create an advisory body.  

“The structure of government has been re-organised. There will now be three organs of government at the federal level namely: The Supreme Military Council, The National Council of State, and the Federal Executive Council,” he said.

Nigeria: After The Protests Storm

 By Sunny Ikhioya

Let us call a spade by its real name. The address by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fell far short of resolving the issues raised by protesters. It only helped to exacerbate the prevailing situation. But what can the cowed masses do? It ended as expected. So much senseless destructions, time and money wasted, avoidable deaths and the battle shifted to another auspicious time and, that will be the day.

 The protests exposed the high level of neglect in the North as evidenced by illiteracy and poverty. The people are hungry down there in the streets; that is the real situation. If government does not vary its strategies to address the scourge of poverty in the land, there will surely be another protest, because you cannot keep a hungry and angry man at home. What we have been offering is just palliative, and palliative is not a final solution to problems, it is ameliorative and temporary. 

Why Ethnic Profiling Must Stop!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

It would have been funny if it were not so DANGEROUS! When Muhammadu Buhari was in power, there was ethnic profiling of the Igbo people in the North. Some sponsored “youth coalitions” gave Ndi Igbo quit notice in 2017 because of Biafra agitations in the South-East, which arose from Buhari’s 97%/5% formula of Igbo exclusion.

*Sanwo-Olu, Tinubu and and his wife, Tinubu

Buhari and Bola Ahmed Tinubu co-founded the All Progressives Congress, APC, which has never enjoyed Igbo support.

Ndi Igbo constitute by far the second largest ethnic group in Lagos after the Yoruba indigenous residents. They control the commercial sector of Africa’s sixth largest economy, especially the markets and a sizeable slice of property ownership. They contribute a hefty chunk of the internal revenue that sets Lagos apart compared to the rest of the 36 states. Under a normal political atmosphere, the Igbo population in Lagos should be courted because of their electoral and economic values.

Can President Tinubu Emulate Kenya’s Ruto?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Earlier in the week, there were reports of massive protests in Kenya, an East African country. The protests were actually not new, having begun in 2023, in reaction to bids by the government of Kenya to raise taxes. According to the 24-hour English news channel, Al Jazeera, the protests signify a major shift in Kenya, where, previously, most people accepted the inadequacies of government.

*Ruto and Tinubu 
I dare say in that regard, Kenyans are like Nigerians as my people also swallow, lock, stock, and barrel, all the balderdash that goes on here in the name of governance. It is instructive to recall that both Nigeria and Kenya were colonised by the British. Kenya gained independence in 1963.

Trading Blames, Living In Denial While Nigerians Suffer!

 By Dan Onwukwe

No matter the clouds of controversy that trailed how he won the Feb 25, 2023 presidential election, one year has passed since Bola Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s President. But the manner in which he has governed the country in the last one year still generates intense public debate. The following questions remain top of public discourse: Is Nigeria better now than Tinubu met it?

*Tinubu 

 Are the lives and livelihood of the citizens better or worse  now than before Tinubu came to power? And how will history judge him and the policies he has implemented in the last one year ? Of course, opinions  differ, but the general consensus is that history will not be kind to most of the policies that he initiated unless he changes course. On that score, it’s not unkind to say that his administration still carries more baggage than an ocean liner. 

Change Your Ways And Not The Anthem

By Dr Sota Omoigui  

When I wrote my words for the anthem, in 1978, it was my dream for the country to move forward and take its place among the great nations of the world.  But all that potential has been hijacked and degraded by a political leadership that constitutes a criminal enterprise. Many of our people now wonder if we were ready for independence.

The regressive reverting of our anthem to the colonial anthem is a betrayal of our independence. It is a symbol of a political leadership that is clueless and has so lost its way that it goes crawling on its hands and knees back to kiss the ring of its colonial master to adopt its anthem – music and lyrics.

Killing Of Soldiers In Aba: Matters Arising

 By Obi Nwakanma

Two weeks ago, armed attackers stormed Aba, and at the Obikabia military checkpoint on the outskirts of the city, shot and killed two soldiers. It was a very unfortunate and dastardly act by these very cruel, heartless and rampaging gunmen who targeted armed soldiers, and have been making the South- East of Nigeria a terrible jungle of contemporary Necropolitics. These killer gunmen must be ferreted out and served their just dessert. But the reaction both by the military authorities, and by the president of Nigeria left bile in many mouths.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu issued orders to security agencies to lay siege and not only apprehend the killers of soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces, but also those calling for a “sit-at- home.” The Nigerian Armed Forces, he said, was capable of coming down heavily and crushing “non-state actors” making our communities unsafe. It is heartening to know that the Federal Government and our Armed Forces can crush these non- state actors making our communities unsafe, restless and increasingly unhabitable and insecure.

Is Dave Umahi Also Igbo?

 By Ugo Onuoha

Yes, he is. A bonafide Igbo for that matter. After all, he was a two term governor of Ebonyi, one of the five states in the south east of the country. And south east is the core of the Igbo nation. It really does not matter that some elements in Ebonyi state do not really see themselves as Igbo. 

*Umahi and Obi 

There are many dialects of the Igbo language. Sure. But there is something common in the dialects- almost all Igbo people understand and comprehend themselves no matter the dialect they speak. However, there is a particular part of Ebonyi state who, when they speak their dialect, the typical Igbo person from outside their community will never make out any meaning from their words. This assertion is not designed to exclude or make any part of the south east less Igbo.