Economy: Falsehoods In Belt-Tightening Narratives

 By Andrew Erakhrumen

It will be a hasty generalisation to conclude that Nigeria does not have people (among politicians) with genuine positive intentions for the country, but they are in the minority, powerless and suppressed. The subsisting tragic experience is that those in criminal entrepreneurship are increasingly forcing their way to power!

We welcome those who disagree with us to give clear indices demonstrating that this country, through the activities of these stationary bandits (and their followers), has made sincere efforts towards moving forward in the last 20years; this is to simply limit their analyses to that brief period. All we are hearing of, and seeing, are shameful ludicrousness giving good reasons to people in other countries to scoff at Nigeria that has tolerated, and is now used to, mediocrity and inferior materials!

Prof. Tony Afejuku: Teacher Of No Mean Repute

 By Henry Agbebire

The news filtered in on the 5th of June, 2023 that the erudite Professor of English and Literature, Tony Afejuku, has mandatorily disengaged from the University of Benin after over four decades of university lecturing. The following article was published in his honour eight years ago in The Guardian to speak of his exemplary virtues as a worthy teacher. I believe it is still a fitting eulogy for a man who committed his entire vibrant life to scholarship…

*Afejuku

Whenever I ponder the sordid state of our university education in Nigeria today, and the persistent outcry of many employers over the perennial crisis of unproductive university graduates, I remember Tony Afejuku, the distinguished Professor of English and Literature at the University of Benin. Great teachers are rare, but Afejuku stands out as an Icon to me. His style was greatly criticised by different categories of students. Some students felt the standard he required was too high.

Nigeria: Mad And Dangerous Times

 By Sunny Awhefeada

These are mad and dangerous times for Nigeria and I must concede that we never saw this coming. Not even the famed prophets en­visioned the calamities now buffeting us as a people. Nobody foresaw or warned us. Those among us who lay claims to clair­voyance are largely charlatans who think about causes and effects of actions and offer surmises which they call predictions.

That is why they always turn around to tell us they were misquoted, quoted out of context or point at what they claimed they told us, but they never did. Charles Dick­ens’ Hard Times tells of a time of acute social insecurity and how the people were impoverished and pulverized. Like other narratives by Dickens, the novel mirrors the grim, dark and dreary side of life in a manner considered to be exaggerated.