Buhari’s Death And The Political Economy Of Memory

 By John Onyeukwu

With President Muhammadu Buhari’s death, Nigeria entered a familiar season of national confusion, not about the event, but about how to feel about it. Some Nigerians invoked religion: “Only God can judge.” Others cited culture: “Don’t speak ill of the dead.” Yet a third group, often younger and historically alert, asked: “Why should death erase the need for truth?” 

*Buhari 

This division is not just emotional; it is structural. It is a mirror of the political economy of memory, how societies remember, what they choose to forget, and who controls the narrative. In the days following Buhari’s death, one thing became painfully clear: we are a country uncomfortable with honest remembrance. 

Dark Clouds Over The Nigerian Economy

 By Dakuku Peterside

Rome is burning, and Emperor Nero and Roman elites are busy revelling in gladiator rendezvous and despicable hocus-pocus with the empire’s future. The leadership in Nigeria is playing Nero, and the Nigerian elites are side-tracked by the macabre dance of preparing for the next elections.

Whilst neglecting the harsh truth that millions of Nigerians’ backs are broken by the harsh tripartite economic realities – hyperinflation, especially food; massive unemployment; and energy crisis occasioned by the Russian–Ukrainian war in a post-COVID 19 economy. The political class seems indifferent to the crumbling economy and collapsing living standards of Nigerians.

These days the average Nigerian may be an economic illiterate or may not be interested in economic indicators, but almost all Nigerians know by impact and experience that the economy’s health is in shambles. You do not need to be an economist to know that a loaf of bread you bought for N500 in June sold for N700 by the end of July or that cost of 10kg of cooking gas almost doubled in a space of four months from March to July 2022.