Steve Obidi: Poetry Lines In Search Of The Truth (Book Review)

 Book: Eternal Truth (Poems: Timeless Wisdom for Purposeful Living)

Author: Steve Obidi

Pagination: 122

Publishers: Kraft Books Limited, Ibadan, Nigeria

Reviewer: Banji Ojewale

Russian-American poet and essayist, Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987, going on to become, in 1991, the United States Poet Laureate, which classed him ‘’among the most influential Christian poets of the 20^th Century.’’

Betta Edu: Why Ministers Abuse Public Office In Nigeria

 By Olu Fasan

Few things confer greater honour and privilege than being a minister in the government of one’s country. From a wider population, you are one of the select few called upon to run your nation. But a ministerial office is not a source of personal wealth, power or prestige.

*Betta Edu and Tinubu

Rather, it’s a call to service, an opportunity to use your talent to advance your nation’s progress and the wellbeing of its people.

Therefore, it’s an unpardonable betrayal for any minister or officeholder to abuse his or her office and put private gain above public good. Sadly, in Nigeria, private gain triumphs over public good. 

Prospects Of Fighting Poverty In Nigeria

 By David Ugolor

As you already know, the fight against poverty remains one of our society’s most pressing challenges today, particularly in regions where a substantial portion of the population live in abject poverty. Current data from the World Poverty Clock, has pegged the number of extremely poor Nigerians at 71 million. Nigeria, with its 213.4 million-strong population, faces this stark reality.

Approximately 63 per cent (133 million people) live in multidimensional poverty according to National Bureau of Statistics data, experiencing a range of deprivations that underscore the urgency of robust intervention. Certainly, the sudden removal of fuel subsidy only increases these numbers exponentially as the cost of living is at a very worrisome level, one of the worst since Nigeria gained independence in 1960.

How Nigeria Can Break From The Poverty Trap

 By Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka

The SDGs, among others seek to reduce poverty, improve access to health care and education, mitigate the effects of climate change and attain food security by 2030. We are not meeting the key Goals.

Africa is unable to feed itself. We found during COVID-19 that we cannot produce a large percentage of drugs we need. The region relies on imports for food and will remain so unless there is an urgent paradigmatic shift in the structures of African economies. Food imports cost Africa US$55 billion a year but this could double to $110 billion by 2030. Many African cities will double in size by 2050, increasing demand for food and other infrastructure and services.

Climate Change And Threats Of Another Pandemic

 By Adeze Ojukwu

Another deadly pandemic is imminent. In fact, it looms large. It is scary. It is dreadful. The world is rattled. Environmentalists, researchers, doctors and policy makers are agitated. Questions about the when, why, how of the omnious outbreak and other flustering posers are mounting at various high-level interventionist global conferences. Indeed, this verdict remains a reality, that cannot be easily waved away. 

Director General of World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Adhanom Ghebreyesus, handed down this grievous news, at the just-ended 76th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. He said, “The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains, and the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.” 

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.’

The World Ahead 2023: Whither Nigeria?

 By Marcel Okeke

The World Ahead 2023” is the 2022 end-of-year special publication of The Economist (of London) in which the journal reviewed the global economy in the outgoing year and made detailed projections about 2023, including what issues are most likely to dictate the trends in the coming year. It says: “After two years when the (COVID-19) pandemic shaped the immediate future, it is now the Ukraine war.”

The journal gave four things to think about for 2023, namely: (1) the impact of the conflict; (2) the struggle to control inflation; (3) chaos in energy markets; and (4) China’s uncertain post-pandemic path. Going granular in its analysis, the publication gave ten themes and trends for 2023—thus: all eyes are on Ukraine; recessions loom; climate silver lining; peak China; divided America; flashpoints to watch (India-China, Turkey-Greece); shifting alliances; revenge tourism; metaverse reality check; and New year, new jargon.

Why Politicians Need To Address Poverty During Campaign

 By Stanley Achonu

The 2023 elections loom, with politicians making campaign promises that offer hope. Yet, poverty, probably the biggest threat to Nigerians today, has gone unaddressed.

In October, the World Bank released its ‘Poverty and Shared Prosperity’ report outlining progress in the global fight against extreme poverty. According to the report, the world is unlikely to meet the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, with COVID-19 as a major factor in upending progress made in recent years. The total number of people living in extreme poverty has risen to 719 million globally, with 71 million people added in 2020 alone.

COVID-19 Burden Lessens In Africa, Vigilance Crucial As Year-End Season Begins

 Brazzaville, 8 December 2022 

While Africa is witnessing its lowest level of new COVID-19 cases since the onset of the pandemic, a recent four-week rise—the first such sustained increase in four months—underscores the criticality of maintaining vigilance as the end-year holiday seasons sets in.

The continent recorded a four-week long rise until 20 November, but the number of new cases dropped slightly in the past two weeks ending on 2 December breaking the upward trend. However, the new cases reported in late November account for less than 10% of cases recorded in the same period in 2021 and 2020. While deaths rose by 14% in the week ending on 27 November from the week before, they were low at 53—approximately 4% of the deaths recorded in the same period in 2021 and 2020. The current COVID-19 caseload is not exerting any significant strain on health facilities, with hospitalizations remaining low.

The International Day Of The Girl-Child

 By Feyinwa Chime

International Day of the Girl 2022 has come and gone. Should we simply tick ‘done’ and move on? I say ‘no’. Let’s us continue celebrating and working for the good of our female children. 

This year’s International Day of the Girl was celebrated on Tuesday, 11th October, 2022. Its theme was, “Our time is now – our rights, our future.” 2022 commemorates the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl (IDG). 

The girl-child is a biological human female offspring from birth to eighteen years of age. Recently, we have seen a surge of girl-child education debates surrounding the primary, secondary, tertiary and health/safety education in particular for girls and young women. 

The Girl Child: Our Future And Hope

 By Ifeyinwa Chime

International Day of the Girl 2022 has come and gone. Should we simply tick done and move on? I say no. Let’s us continue celebrating and working for the good of our female children. 

This year the International day of the girl child was celebrated on Tuesday 11th October 2022. Its theme was “Our time is now- our rights, our future.” 2022 commemorates the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl (IDG).

The Girl-child is a biological human female offspring from birth to eighteen years of age. Recently, we have seen a surge of Girl-child education debates surrounding the primary, secondary, tertiary and health/safety education in particular for girls and young women.

What Leaders Could Learn From The Life Of Late Queen Elizabeth II

 By Alim Abubakre 

I am writing this piece not because I am British. This article is also not composed for the reason that I have been invited to St. James Palace or because I have engaged with two Prime Ministers of the UK. Nevertheless, I reckon that I have a responsibility to share my reflections on snippets of the life of one of the world’s most famous diplomats and arguably one of the most impactful global leaders in the 21st century who just proceeded to another dimension. I agree with King Charles that Queen Elizabeth the second is a pattern for all princesses living and I add for all leaders hoping to have an enduring legacy.

*Queen Elizabeth II

The death of Queen Elizabeth II is undoubtedly one of those endings that one would argue has a bitter-sweet conclusion of impactful, strategic and global self-less leadership spanning seven decades and filled with an enduring legacy. It is bitter in the sense that Britain and, indeed, the rest of the world have lost a great leader with massive wealth and experience of impressive transformation.

African Union And WHO Urge Swift Action Against Childhood Tuberculosis

 
The African Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) today called for immediate and comprehensive measures to end the significant toll of tuberculosis among children in Africa. The appeal was made jointly with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and the Stop TB Partnership on the side-lines of the Seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Lomé, Togo.

Integrity Matters In Politics: Britain Shows It, Why Not Nigeria?

 By Olu Fasan

Call it a tale of two countries. One, Britain, puts integrity at the heart of its politics and punishes any departure from it, as evidenced by the recent toppling of its prime minister, Boris Johnson. The other, Nigeria, lacks integrity in its politics and tolerates acts of impunity, as proven by the prevalence of vote-buying and other dishonest practices in its elections. The contrasting stories of both countries and the implications for Nigeria’s democracy are instructive and deserve our attention. Let’s start with Britain!

*Buhari and Johnson

In December 2019, Boris Johnson secured a landslide victory for his party, the Conservative Party. He won an 80-seat parliamentary majority, the party’s biggest for 40 years. Yet less than three years later, he was brutally defenestrated by Members of Parliament, MPs, from his own party.

Ironically, last week, the same Tory MPs gave Johnson a standing ovation during his final prime minister’s questions, PMQs, after a barnstorming speech, which he ended with the words: “Hasta la vista(goodbye; see you later), baby!”

So, within three years as prime minister, Boris Johnson was ousted from the job he coveted his entire political life. The question must be: Why? Well, here’s why. Conservative MPs admired Johnson’s charisma and electioneering skills, but they strongly detested his personal flaws, his perceived lack of integrity, and the latter feeling trumped the former. As one Conservative insider put it, “the principal reason for removing Johnson was to restore honesty to public life”.

How Oil-Dependence Truncated Nigeria’s Development

 By Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka

It is the devil’s excrement. We are drowning in the devil’s excrement. —Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonso, Founder OPEC.

All in all, I wish we had discovered water. —Sheik Ahmed Yamani, Oil minister, Saudi Arabia

Ordinarily, finding a “treasure” tends to bring joy to the one who found it. Oil discovery has become Nigeria’s developmental Achilles’ Heel: in popular parlance, a Resource Curse. Six decades after independence, Nigeria remains one of the poorest countries in the world. It has evolved into one of the least economically diversified country in the world because of a pathological dependence on oil export earnings. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the dangers of such dependence in ways never experienced in the past. The yoke of Nigeria’s colonial past of being a supplier of raw materials rather than a processor of commodities resulted in a country of a net exporter of crude petroleum and importer of products mired in perennial debate about “fuel subsidy.” 

Nigeria Is Falling Apart! How Are We Going To Fix It?

 By Joel Popoola

The 2023 election may feel like a long way off, but the battle to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari is already underway.

But who will step into his big shoes?

Just recently, the influential international news agency, Bloomberg, asked the question “is Nigeria falling apart?”

Unfortunately, it’s hard to argue that it isn’t.

*Buhari 

However, the real question is “how are we going to fix it?”

How are we going to fix an economy where unemployment is 33% and inflation is running at 18%?

What are we going to do to improve the lives of the 80 million Nigerians who live on the equivalent of less than $2 a day – a figure the World Bank predicts may rise to 100 million following Covid-19?

How is a nation economically dependent on oil going to face up to a post-oil future?

Nigeria: Buhari, Pantami And The Burden Of A Nation

 By Charles Okoh

The recent unearthing of the not-so-wholesome past of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, has brought doubts on the sincerity and desire of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to end insurgency and all sundry security issues that currently engulf the nation.

 *Buhari and Pantami

Pantami has shown little or no regards for the tenets of democracy and democratic principles in his capacity as a minister in a democratic government. He has carried on as a despotic leader who would brook no contrary view no matter how genuine and objective. His disposition to governance would only come as a surprise to those who knew little about him before the tremor caused by the expose on his sordid past came to the fore recently. 

Nigeria’s Unprofitable Lockdown

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

How exactly is the lockdown helping to halt the spread of coronavirus in Nigeria? Or put another way, how is the Buhari regime which announced the lockdown in three locations, Lagos, Ogun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), ensuring that the measure unleashed is at least achieving a reasonable percentage of the purpose for which it was declared?

*Buhari 

Has there been any thorough audit of the exercise? Who is also undertaking such an assessment in the various states that are equally on lockdown? What is the level of compliance at the various places and what percentage of the anticipated gains has so far been achieved?    

One may never get a coherent answer.  That is the problem a people must learn to live with when they are stuck with a regime that appears to derive some kind of strange animation from maintaining an icy distance from the people it claims to be governing, a leadership that seems to have become incurably estranged from the people, their problems and feelings, and appears to be trapped in abject lack of the capacity to muster any empathy and fellow-feeling either when speaking to the populace or taking actions that are sure to harshly affect their lives.

What Is Left For Coronavirus To Conquer In Nigeria?

By Banji Ojewale

While the rest of the world is receiving a deadly hiding at the hands of the coronavirus pandemic, we in Nigeria seem distant from this global anxiety. We are complacent, living in cloying bliss, expecting deliverance from an outsourced ‘invisible hand’, if Covid-19 finally hits us the way it is crowding on the others with a threat to wipe them out.

The nations of the Americas, Europe, Australasia, and a few here in Africa are panicking, resorting to wild and extreme ploys to outwit the disease. Even in wartime, World War 2, Europe wasn’t as mortally frenzy, didn’t reach for the uttermost ends its nations are aiming for at the moment. They sense danger. It’s universal insecurity communism and ‘rogue’ countries like Cuba and North Korea and Iran were not able to unleash on mankind at their apogee. Military allies have broken pacts and all are becoming recluse, shutting their borders.