Nigeria: On FG’s Planned Demand For Transparency From Discos

By Idowu Oyebanjo

The Federal Government has announced plans to escrow and beam its searchlight into the revenue accounts of the operations of the DisCos due to poor monthly remittances. Although DisCos have condemned the move, this is a good step in the right direction. To address the problems of NESI, a holistic view of every aspect of the multi-faceted problems plaguing it is required with a view to solving them in a coordinated manner. 

One of the major problems in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) today is the potential for illiquidity. In simple terms, this arises when DisCos declare, whether truthfully or otherwise, that they have not collected enough money from consumers of electricity and so are unable to make full payments to the bulk electricity trader, NBET, for electricity received.

This has the potential to always create illiquidity in NESI because their remittances should have been used to pay all key stake holders in the industry including but not limited to GenCos, TCN, Gas providers, market operator, NERC, NBET etc. The solutions to address this anomaly include a massive investment in customer metering, reduction in network losses, preventing electricity theft and collusion of staff of electricity companies with consumers to defraud the industry, discontinuation of estimated billing, and ensuring that revenues collected by DisCos in behalf of NESI is transparent to all key stakeholders, and not least the Federal Government which still owns 40% of DisCos. The government has chosen to implement the last of the afore-mentioned solutions but the DisCos have frowned at the move. Thus a critical review of the position of DisCos is in order.

Olisa Agbakoba Files A Fundamental Rights Class Action Against The Federal Republic of Nigeria

*Olisa Agbakoba (pix: vanguard) Mr. Olisa Agbakoba has filed a Fundamental Rights Class Action against the Federal Republic of Nigeria for himself and on behalf of the South East Zone on grounds of discrimination pursuant to Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution. This action was by Originating Summons supported by an affidavit of 99 paragraphs and a statement. The grounds of Mr. Agbakoba’s application are summarized as follows;  (a) Total neglect of the Applicant’s Geopolitical Zone by the 1st Respondent in terms of infrastructure and general federal presence making the Applicant feel not part of the 1st Respondent.  (b) Abandonment of the Niger Bridge to collapse and failure to build the ‘Second Niger Bridge’ making the Applicant feel isolated from other parts of 1stRespondent and causing him apprehension about disaster on crossing the existing bridge.  (c) Abandonment of Federal Roads, which are death traps and robbery baits and occasioning and constraining on the Applicant grueling road journeys within the Geopolitical Zone. Failure to develop strategic new roads especially the Anam-Nzam Federal Road linking the South-East with the North-Central at Idah in Kogi State to give the Applicant easy access to the northern part of Nigeria. (d) Failure to exploit the Oil/Gas Reserves in the Anambra Basin and stalling the Applicant’s legitimate expectation from employment and derivation funds for development of the Applicant’s South-East Zone.  (e) Abandonment of the Enugu Colliery and depriving the Applicant of his legitimate expectation from employment and derivation funds for the development of the Applicant’s South-East Zone.  (f) Failure to develop trade-friendly ports and customs policies and establish ‘ease-of-business’ platforms to assist the Applicant’s trading brothers and sisters to do better and operate on a higher and modern scale in trading, which makes the Applicant to spend money to support relatives.  (g) Failure to have an operational international cargo airport at Owerri to aid trading, which causes the Applicant to spend huge sums of money to support trading relatives to haul airborne goods by road from Lagos, , with the attendant risks.  (h) Failure to dredge the Lower Niger and establish a Port at Onitsha to aid trading which causes the Applicant to spend huge sums of money to support trading relatives to haul seaborne goods by road from Port Harcourt or Lagos, with the attendant risks.  (i) Disparity in States structure which puts the Applicant’s South-East Zone behind every other Geopolitical Zone in political and judicial appointments and representation at the National Assembly, as well as in revenue allocation.

Nigeria: Perils Of Looters’ Anonymity

By Paul Onomuakpokpo 

It is a disturbing paradox that the Ibrahim Magu’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has left unresolved – the more breathtaking the speed with which it pursues its campaign of ridding the country of corruption, the more chinks are inflicted on its armour for sceptics to question its credibility. Just recently, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Senate attempted to nibble away at the confidence of Magu by directly impugning his competence and integrity. Worse, the commission has been woefully losing its cases in the courts.

(pix: NigerianEcho)

The above could be considered as externally induced bumps in the path of the commission to wage a successful war against corruption. But there are other obstacles that the agency has seemingly spawned deliberately to serve a purpose other than its avowed pursuit of national good. The newest obstacle that the EFCC is now erecting in its path is its declaration of its inability to identify the owners of loot it has recovered.

By taking this path, the agency has failed to realise that it has set up itself for mockery. For the EFCC’s declaration is a self-indictment as it means that it has failed to do the first things before rushing to the media to announce its haul to its excited audience that cheers it on. It has failed to do a thorough surveillance and investigation that could have made it to unveil the identities of the culprits and render its case irreproachable. It is this unbroken absence of fidelity to the first things that have made the courts to dismiss most of the cases of the EFCC.

 As the controversy rages over the N15 billion cash haul from the Osborne Towers’ raid, we must not really be shocked by the EFCC consigning the owners of the loot to the zone of anonymity. This is because this position of the agency is only a new dimension to the byzantine character of the campaign that has the rapturous blessing of the government beginning with President Muhammadu Buhari. Remember, it was Buhari who offered to the public the prospect of waging an anti-corruption war that knows neither friend nor foe.

The Hypnosis Of Little Brother Naija

By Tony Iwuoma

It is with great relief that the television (un)reality show, Big Brother Naija, #BBN, has come to an end after 70 agonising days. It was 70 days of depravity gone overboard. It was a period the devil was given reins over our country, Africa, and possibly the world, when budding youths were quarantined in a house of sin and manipulated to dance to surreal and macabre music orchestrated by merchants of immorality, smiling to the banks.

It was a time when Nigeria was hypnotised to sacrifice decency to the gods of mammon. Even at that, the spell cast upon the nation was so strong we ended up enriching South Africa and gaining nothing but the few coins given to the winner of the show, Efe, and his two compatriots.

How do I mean? I will tell you. Nigeria surrendered the hosting of the show to South Africa despite her citizens, and, in fact, the nation itself being the focus. They sold Nigeria the dummy that power challenges would not allow the hosting of the show in Nigeria and, so, shipped our youth to that South African madhouse. All the technicians were South Africans and Nigerians lost opportunity to make a few bucks for themselves from a project they should have been first beneficiaries. It was a big rip-off! South Africans made heavy financial gains. Over 24 million people voted on the last day alone and if that is translated to cash, and input all the votes of the previous days preceding the final, you can see how dumb the minders of our economy are to have given South Africa that much room to manipulate them out of much revenue.

It is annoying that South African firms would play big in this country, earn billions and corrupt our youths, with our leaders moping and yet that country for which Nigeria sacrificed everything has nothing but disrespect and hatred for our citizens in their own country that are daily hacked down in hideous xenophobic circumstances.

Not By Salary Alone

By Paul Onomuakpokpo 

What the citizens would be confronted with at the end of the squabble between Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and the Speaker of the House Assembly Yakubu Dogara is not a resolution of the crisis that redounds to the transparency of their financial dealings. For the more either of the parties strives to portray himself as the poster boy for fiscal prudence, the darker the opacity that surrounds their remuneration becomes.

*House Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and
Gov Nasir e-Rufai of Kaduna 

Clearly, we cannot indict these officials for financial impropriety. That is a job for the anti-graft agencies and the courts. However, they represent the political class who has been identified with profligacy. In that case, it may be difficult for them to extricate themselves from the cesspool of corruption that has engulfed the entire political class from the heady days of the oil boom when our leaders did not know what to do with money, through the military era and the current democratic dispensation. For if there had been transparency in the financial dealings of our public officers, this spat would not have arisen. It is because of the lack of transparency that there have been speculations about the humongous salaries of our political office holders. Obviously, the National Assembly and other arms of the government have been so secretive about their remuneration because it is in stark contrast to the nation’s economic crisis that has impoverished the majority of the citizens. 

If the lawmakers were keen on bequeathing a legacy of transparency in their financial dealings, they would not have needed an El-Rufai to prod them onto this path. In the past two years since this democratic dispensation, there have been recurrent calls for the National Assembly to make public their remuneration. Their failure to heed these calls has led to a situation where the citizens have come out with a comparison of the remuneration of lawmakers here and that of their counterparts in other parts of the world. The citizens are shocked that lawmakers here are the highest paid in the world. This is despite that they are not as committed to their duties as their counterparts and the fact that in such other nations, their economies are more developed than ours and thus they have more money to pay their lawmakers higher salaries.

Lessons From Julius Nwalimu Nyerere

By Banji Ojewale 

Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Nigeria’s most captivating  columnist of the 1970s who rewrote history as editor of Sunday Times of that era, once returned from Julius Nyerere’s Tanzania and thrilled his compatriots with an account of the stoic exploits of this illustrious African leader. Just like his staid gait, Ogunsanwo said, Nyerere had no airs about him to suggest he was the president of Tanzania.

*Nyerere

This picture of an abstemious statesman sharply contradicted the Nigerian paradigm. Here, our leaders, even at the local government scene, would loot the public till to build personal empires, to  satisfy their palatial palate. The predilection of our leaders for financial rape has always been there and Ogunsanwo was among a small circle of ethical journalists who railed against this evil.

So the Tanzania experience had to excite this colourful columnist. Through his celebrated style of writing that nettled bad leaders and won applause from the public, Ogunsanwo said that if he placed the lifestyle of Nyerere side-by-side with what we had in Nigeria, the weight of the East African leader wouldn’t surpass the wealth of a level 9 officer in the Nigerian Civil Service. A shocked Ogunsanwo said something to the effect that the home of Nyerere had uninspiring furniture compared to what a middle level civil servant in Nigeria might offer. Nyerere’s was a study in Spartan decor.

Years later in 1999 when the beloved Tanzania leader died at 77, the New York Times correspondent, Michael Kaufman, wrote what has gone into the books as a most charitable essay by a Western reporter on an African president who mercilessly chided capitalism as a curse on humanity, thus confirming Ogunsanwo’s point. He admitted Nyerere’s “habits of modesty and ethics.”

The Big Brother Naija Show: Enough Of This Nonsense!

By Udoisoh Moses

There's a notorious programme just recently concluded called THE BIG BROTHER NAIJA. The winner of this notorious show walked away with a whopping N25 million and a breathtaking car. All that is required to win this show is to be Live with a bunch of fellow crazy, irresponsible people, do all sorts of immoral things, and, viola, you're the winner.

Next thing, you're called a celebrity, winning big advertisement contracts and becoming the face of multinational companies. In fact one of them has already been made the ambassador of entertainment by the Plateau State Government (you are shocked?)

If only there could be an educating version of this programme. If only they could house some intelligent people in like manner and make them compete for similar prizes. But, no! Our people do not encourage sanity. Our society promotes evil over good, indecency over decency, immorality over morality, and ungodliness over godliness.

The best in Mathematics competitions will go home with either a carton of cowbell milk or Indomie noodles, ridiculous stipends and laughable prizes. Yet these morons in BBN earned millions for coming to suck breasts, speak thrash, display nudity, and get under the sheets on International TVs.

Nigeria: A Clear And Present Danger

By Anthony Cardinal Okogie

Does the life of the Nigerian have any value? If it does, can it be truly said that Nigerians appreciate the value of life? The questions are meant for all of us. We all have to take responsibility for protection of life and property in this country.

*Okogie

We live in clear and present danger. We are not safe when we are at home. Neither are we safe away from home. Life runs the risk of being cut short by armed robbers, kidnappers, dangerous drivers driving on dangerous roads, driving cars that are dangerous for transportation. And just when we thought we were gaining the upper hand in the battle with Boko Haram, violent herdsmen stare at our helpless faces while governors who ought to be at the vanguard of security, are accused of acting in ways that are prejudicial to security. Our politicians – our president, our governors, our legislators and judges, ministers and commissioners – are well protected. But we the citizens are not. What a nation!

Political leaders who cannot provide security are a total failure, their generation an unmitigated disaster. How then can any of them proudly introduce himself as President of Nigeria, or governor or senator or member of the National or State Assembly? How can they claim to be at the helm of affairs in a country so chaotic? To use a Yoruba expression, could it be that the average Nigerian politician is like the child who was miles away from home on the day shamefacedness was being shared?

Almost six decades after independence, almost 70 after the establishment of Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan, we still have to rely on medical tourism. But how many poor Nigerians can afford to spend one day in a hospital overseas? How many can afford to be away from their work for three months? When shall we cease to make our country a laughing stock in the comity of nations? We cannot reasonably dictate to people where they are to seek medical attention. But we Nigerians have the capacity to run good hospitals. All we just need is a leadership that enables, not one that disables. 

Buhari: Worst President Nigeria Ever Had?

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

***This article was first published in my column, Candour's Niche, September last year, about the same time Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State wrote his secret "love letter" to Buhari which has now been leaked to the media by the Aso Rock cabal.

Is anybody still in doubt that General Muhammadu Buhari was grossly overrated? Is anybody still in doubt that the man who was elected Nigeria's president in 2015 lacks the capacity to be even a local government chairman? If you are, please read this article once again.

*Buhari

I have two confessions to make from the outset.

I am an incurable optimist. I am a firm believer in the maxim that no matter how dark a tunnel may appear to be, there will always be some ray of light at the end.

Of course, this presupposes that for you to encounter this light, you must not stand still at the darkest end of the tunnel. Therefore, the philosophy underpinning this belief is that for you to get to the bright end, you must keep moving away from the darkest end.

You must stay the course; perseverance is the watchword. Don’t quit because quitters never win. Here, pragmatism is an inevitable companion.

This conviction also informed my reaction to the socio-political and economic developments in our country in recent times.

I strongly believed that no matter how starkly the national augury may seem to tilt south, we shall overcome as long as we have a leadership that is prepared to put on its thinking cap, prepared to listen, be pragmatic and innovative in handling the myriad of problems confronting the nation.

That Distasteful Attack On Pastor Adeboye

By Bolaji Tunji.

Today’s piece is going to be dedicated to readers of this column, to reflect their reactions. But before I go into that, there is a particular  issue that I feel so strongly about that would not wait till next week. It is the attack on Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) during a recent visit to Ekiti state shortly before the Christmas celebration. He had made a statement that other governors should emulate the Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose in the way he had stood up to defend his people.

*Pastor Adeboye 

“Your Excellency, we thank God for your life, courage, boldness and being willing to take the risk so that your people can be protected and I know you know what I am talking about. You can be sure that we are praying for you and you will succeed.‎ I hope other governors will stand for their people like you and defend their people and say enough is enough‎.” 

This seemingly innocuous endorsement of the governor opened a whole floodgates of attacks against the man of God. The All Progressives Congress (APC) threw the first jab when it disrespectfully asserted that the governor must have bribed Pastor Adeboye for the endorsement.

As much as I do not want to make a case on the propriety or otherwise of the statement by the respected pastor, I think the APC took criticism of the governor too far with the statement. I am not a member of the Redeem church and I have never met the highly respected cleric, this does not however mean that he has not impacted positively in the lives of many Nigerians and non-Nigerians across the world.

Obiano, Soludo And Anambra State

By Chuks Iloegbunam

Chukwuma Charles Soludo was the guest lecturer in Awka during the 3rd Anniversary of the inception of the Willie Obiano Administration. The renowned economist’s magisterial presentation was laced with numerous economic, political and social nuggets, all of which boiled down to his unequivocal endorsement of Governor Willie Obiano for a second term of office. His views make sustained interrogation imperative. But, some background information is apposite.

*Soludo and Gov Obiano

Professor Soludo is far from the first Anambra personage to endorse Governor Obiano’s bid for a second tenure as Governor of Anambra State. The impressive list contains such names as Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the first civilian governor of the new Anambra State; Dame Virgy Etiaba, a former Governor of Anambra State, and Chief Emeka Sibeudu, who was Deputy Governor to Mr. Peter Obi. Others include Senators Ben Ndi Obi, Annie Okonkwo and Emma Anosike, none of whom is of Governor Obiano’s ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), as well as Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, the former Nigerian Education Minister. Elder statesmen like Chief Alex Ekwueme, a former Vice-President of Nigeria, and Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the former Commonwealth Secretary-General, have equally thrown their lot with Governor Obiano. Non-politicians like Dr. Cosmas Maduka, the versatile industrialist, and Chief Innocent Chukwuma of Innoson Car manufacturers have equally given Governor Obiano the thumbs up.

Indeed, the support for an Obiano second term is gradually becoming a movement. It has gone beyond personalities and attracted the remarkable attention of groups that cut across socio-political, religious, and professional divides. In this category are to be found the Anambra North Peoples Assembly (ANPA); the Old Aguata Union (OAU); the Federation of Old Nnewi Division (FOND); the Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU) and the Anambra State Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, (ASMATA.) Yet, that is not all because the Anambra state branches of Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC); the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council; the Traditional Prime Ministers Council, the Anambra state branch of Southeast Women of Substance and the United Anambra Youths Assembly have equally endorsed Governor Obiano to continue with his exemplary leadership.

All the endorsements are held by one powerful bond – the fact that Governor Willie Obiano has acquitted himself creditably in the onerous responsibility of directing the affairs of Anambra State. In unison they sing the joyous song of his achievements: Obiano has made Anambra the safest state in the country. He has transformed the Awka capital territory from a provincial enclave to a worthy state capital. He has revolutionized agriculture, making Anambra a rice-producing state of note and a leader in dairy farming. He has sustained the prompt and regular payment of salaries, gratuities and pensions. He has displayed an uncommon sense of empathy for the sensibilities and sensitivities of Ndi Anambra. For these and many other reasons, they have taken the attitude that a second term is the appropriate reward for Obiano’s services to his people.

Nigeria: When ‘Clueless’ Is Better Than Calamitous

By Bolaji Tunji

The present government of President Muhammadu Buhari would, in a few months, be two years old. Ever since the government was sworn in, save for the euphoria that trailed a new government and the expectation of Nigerians looking for change, if truth has to be told, Nigerians have not really got anything to show for all the change that they were promised. There is hardship in the land occasioned by the poor state of the economy. Nigerians are hungry. Prices of essential commodities are soaring. Food items are no longer affordable. As for social amenities, Nigerians experience more of darkness than light as power has worsened. Former Lagos governor and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Raji Fashola has not been able to find solution to the problem.

*Jonathan and Buhari 

Most of the people who aided and supported this government such as former President Olusegun Obasanjo have equally signaled their dissatisfaction with the way things are going. He told the government to concentrate on clearing the mess inherited instead of complaining about the situation. In the early days of the administration, it was the in thing to blame the Goodluck Jonathan administration for the rot in the system. If the present government would continue to have its way, it would still have preferred to continue blaming the previous administration. But this would have shown the new government as lacking in initiative – for still blaming its predecessor at nearly two years of taking over.

Come to think of it, does this present administration have initiative, creativity? I do not think so. As much as Nigerians admire the person of President Buhari for his honesty, integrity (I equally do), he has fallen short of the expectation of so many Nigerians. This is not just about criticizing the president for the sake of it, but criticism is coming because the president, in the past 20 months, has shown his unpreparedness for governance. I want him to succeed but wishing is different from the reality. The reality is that nothing is working. Companies are finding it difficult to continue and jobs are being lost.

The Discharge Of Justice Niyi Ademola, Wife And Joe Agi SAN: Matters Arising

By Mike Ozekhome

Justice Adeniyi Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has just been discharged by an FCT High Court, Abuja, coram Justice Jude Okeke, after a no case submission by his defence counsel. His wife, Olubowale and Mr. Joe Agi,SAN, with whom he was tried, were equally discharged.

Justice Ademola and wife

This is an obviously laughable and anti-climax after all the "gra gra", grand standing, posturing, rabble rousing and wanton degradation of the judiciary by their transducers.

This discharge, after the horrific humiliation of Justice Ademola, whose home was savagely invaded by rampaging, masked and hooded DSS operatives, between the ungodly and unholy hours of 12 mid night to 5am! Windows and doors were bestially broken down and the Judge whisked off like a common criminal inside a pick up van.

We were told to shut up, not to complain, because the government was fighting the monster called corruption. Never mind that the inner corridors and dark recesses of the same government reek and stink of putrid and horrendous corruption, with the very government rising up on each occasion to defend its corrupt officials.

A case of wanting to sweep your neighbour's house clean when your own house is dirty and stinking. A clear case of attempting to remove the mole from your neighbour's eye when a log is embedded in yours. Justice Ademola was forced to abdicate his judicial functions.

President Mugabe Receives Wheelchair From Cabinet Ministers As Belated 93rd Birthday Gift

The President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe on Monday received a gift from his cabinet ministers and it was a wheelchair.

The belated birthday gift according to the ministers is to enable their boss who is 93 move around his office and home with ease.

News24 reported that the mobile chair was presented to the long-term Zanu-PF leader at a ceremony in his office.

Mr. Mugabe is quoted to have thanked the ministers for the gesture.

“I thank all of you for putting your heads together to come up with this gift,” he said as he took delivery of the special mobile chair which insiders claimed was bought in China” he said.

Nigeria: Gen Bamaiyi’s Heroes And Villains

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

When the odd-defying English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking quipped that “we spend a great deal of time studying history, which, let’s face it, is mostly history of stupidity,” he did not do justice to the relevance of history to a people’s development. But if he had people like a former Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi in mind when he said that, hardly can we find his postulation impeachable.

Babangida, Obasanjo and Buhari 

For in most cases, history panders to the dictates of power. Such history unabashedly transforms the foibles of its originators into virtues.

This accounts for the centuries of the denigration of the black population as a benighted segment of the human race, without history, culture and philosophy, and thus their appropriation as hewers of wood and drawers of water for their white counterparts. But we need not go far to understand the manipulation of history to suit the purpose of its writer. We find enough evidence in the history of the Nigerian civil war as different participants and observers in the crisis tweak the history of that period to suit themselves.

This trajectory of the manipulation of history has been replicated in the case of the June 12, 1993 election crisis that has defined the nation’s subsequent democratic experience. What we have witnessed is a preoccupation with a Manichean bifurcation of participants in the crisis into heroes and villains. But the tragedy is that there is hardly an agreement on whose perspective is right since the real masterminds of the crisis have refused to apologise and tell the nation the truth. The further danger is that the generation who did not witness the crisis would be left with a welter of perspectives from which they may not be able to sift out the truth.

Why Is Governor’s Office So Seductive In Nigeria?

By Martins Oloja

The ecclesiastical saying that there is a time for everything comes in handy today to interrogate some political matters that are weightier than the stale and inevitable tango between the sleepy executive and the restless legislature in Abuja. And here is the thing, it is time to examine what is so constantly seductive about the office of the Governor in Nigeria, that most politically active persons, federal and state legislators, returning foreign envoys, retired public servants, retired clerics, repentant militants and insurgents, special advisers and former Speakers want to contest that office.

It is curiouser and curiouser that even former governors that have run for only one term and even serving as ministers, a former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) all want to be nothing but governors. What is in it for the aspirants and even occupants of that office? Are they going to fulfill a constitutional provision for ‘welfare and security of the citizens, which shall be the primary purpose of government? Political intelligence has it that at the moment, Senator Chris Ngige, a former governor of Anambra state, a former Senator representing Anambra state, currently serving as a Minister is in a dilemma even as he is mobilizing fund to contest the 2017 election for governorship. So is Dr. Kayode Fayemi, former Governor of Ekiti State, a serving Minister who wants to return as Governor.

A former CBN Governor, a Professor of Economics who once contested the office, is said to be warming up again to plunge into the murky governorship waters. Mr. Dimeji Bankole, former Speaker of the House of Representatives who never had little or no experience before he was elected member of the House of Representatives, has been fighting to be governor of Ogun State, not minding the principalities and powers that would always frustrate him in his state. When his successor, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal raised his hand to be counted among those to challenge PMB, in 2015, he was quickly drafted by the powers behind the throne to accept to be governor of Sokoto State as a settlement. All protocols and legal processes were bent and broken for him to emerge as the only candidate. But the seducers got him with governorship ticket bait. What is in that office the occupants have added a qualifier to as “executive” governor” that is not in the constitution?

“There are a few exemplars that are quietly setting the tone for federalism at the moment: Lagos, Akwa Ibom,  Ekiti, Kano states, etc are strategically evolving as federalism brand ambassadors.” 

Ifeanyi Uba, an oil magnate, a successful football club owner and publisher of The Authority newspaper, in the eye of the storm over some allegation of missing N110 billion in his domain, would like to do all that is politically possible to be the next governor of Anambra state. Nothing else appeals to him. He had taken that road before. What is in that office?

Who Exactly Is An Igbo?

By Ozodi Thomas Osuji
This morning I read at Facebook a girl from Agbor, Nkechi Bianze, saying that her tribe is Ika and not Igbo. She fumed from both sides of her mouth saying how angry she is at any Igbo who calls her an Igbo; indeed, she asked why Igbos have the audacity to call those who do not see themselves as Igbos as Igbos. On the issue of her having what seems an Igbo name, Nkechi, she presented an interesting logic that goes like this: you (I am assuming that she is referring to those not from England) have an English sounding name, you speak English so does that make you an Englishman, she asks?

*Onitsha, South East of Nigeria

(This particular logic is interesting; it assumes knowledge of who is an English person; is English a function of biological heritage or language or culture? There are black people born in England who are called English. By the same token, what makes one an American? People from all over the world come to the USA, which is about the size of West Africa, and call themselves Americans. I was born at Lagos, Nigeria and am an American. What makes me an American? Since the USA was begun by the English is it possession of English DNA that makes one an American? Is it the ability to speak the English language? Is it enculturation to American culture? What is American culture? Nkechi, apparently, did not take courses in logic so we shall overlook her illogical and incoherent statements on who is English.)

How Do I Rescue Nigeria, My Country?

By Dan Amor

I am first and foremost a Nigerian child. Then I am a depressed Nigerian youth. Depression obviously has its several roots: it is the doubtful protection which comes from not recognizing failure. It is the psychic burden of exhaustion, and it is also and very often, that discipline of the will or the ego which enables one to continue fighting, continue working, when one’s un-admitted emotion is panic.

And panic, it is, I think, which sits as the largest single sentiment in the heart of the collective members of my own generation. Today, I find myself in an overwhelmingly urban society, a distinctly urban creature. Thus, I am adequately informed of current developments in my country. I am anxious, angry, humorless, suspicious of my own society, apprehensive with relation to the future of my own country.

Quixotic, yet optimistic, I am on the prowl for the immediate and remote causes of our national predicament. My nostrils fairly quiver for the stench of some injustice I can sally forth to condemn. Devoid of any feeling for the real delineation of function and responsibility, I find all the ills of my country, real or fancied, pressing on my conscience. Not lacking in courage, I am prepared, in fact, to charge any number of windmills.

But in so doing, I am often aggressive and unapologetically critical of my own society, critical of what I need to live by, critical sometimes of God’s own choice of creating me a Nigerian. You may wish to call me names. But do not call me a crank or an eccentric. For, on a very rough and ready basis, you may well see an eccentric as a man who is a law unto himself, and a crank as one who, having determined what the law is, insists on laying it down to others, like some dictator of many a black nation.

Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ Repackaged And Reissued By Penguin Books

A repackaged edition of  Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart republished by the publishing giant, Penguin Books, will soon be released as part of activities marking the sixtieth anniversary of the classic novel next year (2018). Penguin Books has equally obtained the rights to republish all of the famous author’s work.

Things Fall Apart, Achebe’s first novel, published in 1958, now exists in 57 translations, reports say. It has equally sold 20 million copies.

The repackaged edition comes with a new cover art work produced by the “distinguished Nigerian artist, Victor Ekpuk" and author photograph by  Don Hamerman. 

Chinua Achebe who died on March 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, at the age of 82, was widely regarded as the father of modern African literature and remains, in the opinion of many scholars, critics and readers, the best known and most widely read writer to come out of Africa.

On the back cover of the new Penguin edition, the distinguished Ghanaian philosopher and writer, Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah, is quoted as saying:  “Things Fall Apart may well be Africa’s best-loved novel. For so many readers around the world, it is Chinua Achebe who has opened up the magic casements of African fiction.”

Depression, Lagos Lagoon And The Allure Of Suicide

By Tayo Ogunbiyi

Recent research reveals that about 480 million people across the world experience depression during their lifetime. According to a WHO data, by 2020, major depressive illness will be the leading cause of disability in the world for women and children. The economic cost of untreated mental illness is more than 150 billion dollars each year in the United States. Thus, if not properly addressed, depression could as well turn out to be a time bomb waiting to explode in an already troubled world.

The Medilexicon’s medical dictionary depicts depression as medical conditions that disrupt a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, depression is a medical condition that often results in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life. Depression is more than just a feeling of being sad or moody for a few days. Symptoms of depression include feeling sad or empty, loss of interest in favourite activities, over eating, or not wanting to eat at all, not being able to sleep or sleeping too much, fatigue, feeling of hopelessness, irritation, anxiety, guilt, aches, pains, thought of death or suicide, erratic or changed behaviour, loneliness, desperation among others.

Medically, depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in things that the victim is ordinarily usually passionate about. It is also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression and it affects how the victim feels, thinks and behaves. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems which include finding it difficult to embark on daily activities. It can also lead to marital troubles as depression victims find it very hard adjusting to family values and ethics. Indeed, coping with the stress of family life causes more difficulties for victims of depression.