Who Is Afraid Of Regional Government?

 By Ayo Baje

“To fight against untruth and falsehood. 

To fight for our memory; of what things were like. That is the task of the artist. 

A people who no longer remembers 

has lost its history and its soul” 

– Alekzander Solzhentsyn 

The recent wave of opposition against the proposed re-introduction of regional government, stirred by some senators – mostly from the northern geo-political zone of the country is both paradoxical and unjustifiable.

Tinubu, Abort The Suicide Mission To Niger!

 Professor Niyi Osundare's Open Letter To President Bola Tinubu 

Dear President Tinubu,

It all began as a roadside rumour before blasting its way to the front pages of Nigerian newspapers, and the talking points of the electronic media. Now it has become a news item discussed with torment and trepidation by many Nigerians still struggling to cope with the political dysfunctionalities, socio- economic problems, and numerous anxieties of present Nigerian life.

*Tinubu 

The ‘subject of discourse’ is the coup d’etat in Niger, our neighbour to the north, and the present plan by ECOWAS under your leadership to force the restoration of democratic governance in that beleaguered country. What has got many Nigerians talking – and wondering – is the inclusion of military action in the cocktail of options under consideration by the ECOWAS leaders. 

How Hunger Affects Education, Elections

 By Emmanuel Osadebay

Food security is an essential part of social wellbeing and social security, the absence of which results in health harms, severe social crisis, delayed development in young children and behavioural problems such as anxiety and aggression in kids through their formative years. 

Due to food poverty, many Nigerians and households have difficulties accessing sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary requirements for a healthy life. The effects of food poverty are represented by a spectrum of severity, including the negative consequences on elections, governance and development processes. When people experience severe food insecurity for a long period of time, due to various reasons such as lack of food or fund, it affects them physically, mentally and psychologically.

The Beauty Of The 2023 General Elections

 By Luke Onyekakeyah

The 2023 general election, which is around the corner, is the easiest for Nigerians to vote and vote rightly. The anger and hardship in the land should be visited at the poll. People should be angry enough to say enough is enough and translate it by voting only those who are capable and prepared to bring relief to the people. This election is a matter of life and death for a country. It is either that Nigeria gets it right or this might be the last chance.

Luckily, choosing the right presidential candidate would not present any difficulty. The choice is very glaring among the contestants. It has never been like this since 1999, when the present democratic dispensation birthed. This is the beauty of the 2023 elections. In the previous elections, there were many capable contestants, which made it difficult for the electorate to select. The situation is different this time around.

Taming The Monster Of Poverty

 By Adeze Ojukwu

The gory details of pain, anguish and hopelessness have become the calamitous lot of many Nigerians today. The cry of the masses is reverberating everywhere. From Katsina, Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara to Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Lagos, Plateau and Edo states, the stories of suffering and sorrow are the same. Poverty is the new norm for the masses. 

Latest reports published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) are frightening and disconcerting. Here is the verdict: “About 133 million Nigerians, representing about 63 percent are poor.” This has again confirmed Nigeria’s status as the world’s poverty capital of the world, surpassing India, with a massive population of over 1.4 billion. 

Obasanjo And His Search For The Ethiopian Twins

 By Dare Babarinsa

If the November 2, 2022 peace deal in Ethiopia holds, it would be the biggest prize ever won by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo since he retired from the Presidency in 2007.

*Obasanjo

For the past 15 years, Obasanjo has become Africa’s most dedicated troubleshooter, dashing from one trouble spot to another in the frequent African bushfire wars. But Ethiopia has a bigger stake. It is one of the most important African countries, sharing the Alpha Grade with Nigeria, South Africa, Congo DRC and Egypt.

Perhaps, it has seen more wars than most African countries. Hitherto, it is the most successful African experiment in state formation. Its unravelling would be a great tragedy. We need to salute all those who are involved in this peace deal.

Tragedies Of Buhari Presidency

By Ominabo Wealth Dickson

Nigeria is a nation of many ills: recession, impending famine, dearth of justice, political betrayals and humanitarian crisis.  President Muhammadu Buhari, the man of hope and great expectation, is undoubtedly betraying hope. Morning by morning, he leads Nigeria to economic hardship, he beams to the nation light of no rays, he feeds the citizens with meal of lacks, sings to them daily from the songs of lamentations and narrates to Nigerians tall tales of unseen achievements. His sweetest rhetoric is perhaps his ability to deploy many fallacies in attempting to justify his inability to meet with public expectation.

*Buhari 

With inflation hitting 18 percent, economic analysts suggest that the nation’s economic woes are intrinsically linked to the lack of economic direction by the government of the day. Worse still, is the administration’s confusion on economic measures to address the financial hardship in the nation. It is a government of many mouths. In the night, the government tells you it wants to sell the country’s assets but in the morning, it will tell you again that it wants to borrow from agencies to address the country’s economic crisis; the same government comes up again in the afternoon to inform the masses that through its financial prudence, it has been able to save enough money by blocking leakages and recovering looted funds that will meet the social needs of the populace. Which voice would the masses believe?

It has been tales of confusions, contradictions and tragedies of errors since President Buhari came to power.  At one point it was the tragedy of the other room, at some other time it was the error of double speaking, and in many instances it is a tale of confusion and contradiction coming from the President and his team. If Nigerians would permit the ignorance of the President in not knowing the difference between Western Germany and Germany, Nigerians find it insulting that their leader would err in spelling his own name.  In his correspondence to the Nigerian Senate on October 7, 2016,  praying the Senate to confirm  two supreme court justices, the President mistakenly spelt his name as Muhammdu ( instead of Muhammadu) Buhari.  Nigeria also has had reasons to question the President in time past when the President wrote a letter to the National Assembly last year and it was wrongly dated as October, 2016 instead of 2015.

There is hardly anything that the President does that is not characterized with some measures of errors and mediocrity. His public speeches have been subject of many errors and embarrassment, the reality is that the President started with errors and will likely to end his administration with errors. These traces of mediocrity have continued to manifest in all actions of the President. It is on record that President Buhari presided over the most controversial national budget in the history of Nigeria. The 2015 national budget was so erroneous, that it was reported that most ministries just photocopied the budget of the previous year. Yes, no one is attempting to envisage a state of perfection by the President and his team but avoidable errors should as the name suggests be avoided.