Killing Nigerian Economy And Killing Nigerians!

 By Kenneth Okonkwo

John Locke was a renowned human rights activist of the natural law school of thought. He wrote that certain rights, self-evidently, pertain to individuals by virtue of their being human beings. In his words, man entered into a social contract by which he surrendered to the sovereign, not his rights, but only the power to preserve order and enforce the human rights of man. The individual retained the natural rights to life, liberty, and property for these were the natural and inalienable rights of man.

According to him, the purpose of government is the preservation of the lives, liberties and possessions of members of society. He warned that as long as government fulfills this purpose, its law should be binding. When it ceases to protect or begins to encroach on these natural rights, laws lose their validity and the government loses its legitimacy.

Care For The Poor In Nigeria: Fuel Subsidy Test

 By John Adeoti

Who really cares for the poor? Nigerians are among the best in the world in many professions and human endeavours. However, Nigeria continues to stink with endemic poverty, not because it cannot be tackled, but because we have remained unable to organise and deploy the necessary resources required to effectively confront it. Addressing the poverty challenge has been done at personal and family levels by many. Today, many affluent and accomplished persons have stories of stark and abject poverty behind them.

Likewise, many contemporary rich nations have history of being very poor in the past. Examples of rich nations with history of deep poverty in not too distant past include China, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. One of the critical common factors to these countries is care for the poor by the civil and military leaders.

That U.S. Terror Alert And A Headstrong FG

 By Charles Okoh

On October 23,  the U.S. Mission in Nigeria issued what it tagged elevated risk of terror attacks in Abuja, the federal capital territory. In the advisory, the US government said there is an elevated risk of terror attacks in Nigeria, specifically in Abuja.

It said targets may include, but are not limited to, government buildings, places of worship, schools, markets, shopping malls, hotels, bars, restaurants, athletic gatherings, transport terminals, law enforcement facilities, and international organizations.

Some Western nations including the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland and others swiftly issued similar advisories to their citizens.

Nigeria: Requiem For Our Departed Glory

 By Obadiah Mailafia

Nigeria is dying. A dying elephant, encircled by vultures and hyenas. Waiting to feast on the carcass. A fractured, broken nation. The ghost continues to limp aimlessly in the shadows. The question is: Who will bury it?

Dr. Mailafia 

Every nation is born with a peculiar glory. Britain isn’t the most powerful nation on earth; but its name somehow evokes a certain radiance. The same goes for Japan, Germany, France, Switzerland, Russia and Sweden, to give but a few examples. There is this aura and prestige around some nations that speaks for them more than macroeconomic indices such as GDP, per capita income and external reserves. The very essence of national greatness.

Our glory once irradiated the nations. Nigeria was an illustrious country. Our naira was at par with the pound sterling and was stronger than the American dollar. Our armed forces acquitted themselves with distinction in international peace-keeping operations. When we spoke, the world listened.

Nigeria: What Does ‘Independence’ Mean?

By Hope Eghagha

The years between 1957 and 1963 were very crucial to African countries within the context of gaining independence from colonial powers. Great Britain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and the United States (in the Philippines) were at different times, colonial powers.

The scramble and partition of Africa from 1883 to 1900 benefited the imperial powers. Through force of superior power and masterful cunning, whole nations were subjugated under colonial rule in order to compel the ‘conquered’ nations to part with their resources at little or no cost to the colonial power.

Liberia Dwindles In The Cesspool Of Misery Under George Weah

By Eshiaka J. Kromah

Liberia, Africa's second-oldest republic is going down into the dark epoch of history marked with the increase in household poverty, economic hardship and injustice under the ex-soccer star - George M. Weah. It is happening so rapidly as many struggle to comprehend this unexpected paralysis. In these times when the mass of the people stand to embrace quality change, there is no sign of effective policies being crafted to curtail the prevailing national enigma and miasma.

*George Weah 

Because of these pervasive national crises, which are direct results of gross incompetence and greed in the country’s leadership, both its political and economic institutions are fast diminishing on their objectives of serving the collective pursuit of progress of the ordinary people.

Nigeria: National Assembly And The Retrogressive Media Bill

By Adewale Kupoluyi

Democracy requires an active media to thrive. This is because the parameters that constitute good governance, which is a common feature of a vibrant civil rule, can be measured by the level of accountability, transparency and rule of law that exist in a country. Ordinarily, it is a difficult task for many governments to appraise itself whether it is doing well or not. Hence, the importance of the media in serving as the prism to review the performance of democratic rule parameters is ever relevant. 

*President Buhari 

An attempt to stifle the media in carrying out these functions would bring about dire consequences for good governance. A case under contention is the Nigerian Press Council Amendment Bill, which has already been debated at the public hearing stage. The bill seeks to regulate journalism practice by creating a statutory body to arbitrate between the media and the public. It is on this premise that the media can be compromised that Nigerians were angered with the new media bill before the National Assembly has been described as retrogressive, unconstitutional and anti-people.

Nigeria: At Once Poor, Proud And Profligate

By Bayo Sodade  

Nigeria parades a plethora of unflattering socioeconomic indices. With a poverty head count of 53.9%, the population of the poor in Nigeria of about 100 million is more than the whole population of Egypt(93m), United Kingdom (65m), France (64m) , Turkey (79m), Democratic Republic of Congo(79m) among others. Nigeria’s Human Development Index value for 2015 of 0.514 is below the average for sub-Saharan Africa, putting the country in the low human development category, positioning it at 152 out of 188 countries and territories under the UNDP ranking.

Nigeria’s life expectancy at birth of 52.8 years is among the worst in the world compared to 60.6 years average for other low HDI countries and 64.1 years for Ethiopia and 58.7 years for Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Economic Forum uses Human Capital Report to rank countries on how well they are deploying their peoples’ talents. The index takes a life-course approach to human capital, evaluating the levels of education, skills and employment. The 2016 Human Capital Report ranked Nigeria 127 out of 130 countries, the worst country in Africa except for Chad and Mauritania.

Juxtaposed with these bleak statistics is monumental profligacy enshrined in our ethos and manifesting in the debasement and perversion of our cultural values. We habitually squander scarce resources on our routine household and business tasks, on parties and celebrations.

According to experts, for every one million population 1000 megawatts of electricity is required to satisfy every need. With a population of about 180 million, Nigeria’s optimum power requirement is about 180,000MW compared to more than 50,000MW that South Africa, with a population of 53 million, generates and distributes. Ironically, enormous amount of the grossly inadequate energy is being wasted. A study carried out by Lagos State revealed that 4,358Kwh of electricity is wasted annually. By switching to energy saving bulbs only, N12.7 billion could be saved in Lagos State alone. Only 1% of Lagosians practise energy conservation leaving the planet groaning with 9.5 billion pounds of carbon footprints per annum.

The World's Most Optimistic People Live in Africa

A farmer, left, accepts cash payment for his grain from a buyer in the

 village of Damo Dulele, Ethiopia, in February 2015. Growth in Ethiopia has beaten every sub-Saharan country over the past decade.  (Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Emerging Nations Are Home To More Upbeat Consumers, While Advanced Economies See Dark Clouds

Sure, France has Paris, Provence and the Palace of Versailles. But when it comes to optimism about the domestic economy, the French have nothing on Ethiopians.

The three countries with the brightest prospects in the next year are all emerging or developing economies in Africa, while three with the bleakest outlooks are advanced economies, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted March 25 through May 27.

Nigeria tops the charts, with 92 percent of respondents seeing their economy improving in the next 12 months, compared with a net 5 percent who said it would stay the same or worsen. Residents in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia were similarly upbeat, with more than 80 percent of people in each country projecting economic progress.

On the other end of the scale, Poland was home to the smallest share of respondents seeing faster economic momentum in the next year, with just 16 percent holding that view. France — where almost half of those polled thought things would get worse — showed the weakest readings among advanced economies. See the best and worst here:  

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