In Praise Of Strike

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Until humanity blurs the power distinction that privileges the leaders and afflicts the led with misery, the magic for banishing strike would remain eternally elusive. Like in most post-colonial states, the power relations in Nigeria have rendered the majority of the citizens nugatory. The citizens’ input is not sought into how the resources of the nation are shared. Even if it is sought, it is not reckoned with when decisions are made.

This is why while the leaders have security, the citizens are left at the mercy of marauders, kidnappers and armed robbers. Again, the leaders can live in plenitude, thanks to the resources of the society, while the other citizens go to bed on empty stomachs. Yet, when the citizens say they are fed up, they are told not to complain.

President Buhari’s Certificate Saga, Worst National Embarrassment!

Press Statement

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says public demonstrations that the Presidency may have procured a forged West African Examination Council (WAEC) Certificate Attestation and Confirmation for President Muhammadu Buhari is a huge smear on our nation’s integrity and the Office of the President.

The party laments that the development has turned our nation into a laughing stock in the West African sub-region and the entire global community, as our President is now being mentioned as beneficiary of a duplicitous act.

University Of Ibadan At 70

By Sunday Saanu

From faculty to faculty, drums will rumble and grumble so thunderously as the campus of the University of Ibadan (UI), will be kept agog with all manner of festivities involving dancing, singing, acting – all in celebration of the Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan which turns 70 years this November. In marking the milestone, however, the management of the university, headed by Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka has declared a year-long ceremony, beginning from October this year to November 2019 in order to fully commemorate a university that has remarkably imparted the world.

Established in 1948, UI which is admirably tagged “the First and Best,” could be described as a relatively young university when compared with some prestigious universities across the globe. For instance, a 70-year old UI can’t be compared with the University of Cambridge in England which is 809 years old this year, neither can UI at 70 match the record of Harvard University, which marked its 382 years this year.

Buhari, Certificate Scam And Declining Plank Of Integrity

By Evaristus Bassey

It does seem that when a politician is popular people overlook his sins and when he becomes unpopular they want to examine his faults. In 2015, the  Buhari-mania and its mantra of Change would not allow anyone examine the matter of Buhari’s certificate but it does seem that with the turn of events, those who were ready to accept recharge card and NEPA bill in place of a certificate are insisting they want to see the real certificate. 

*WAEC Registrar presents certificate to Pres Buhari 

Those who regularly respond to calls for proposals in the humanitarian and development sector know that one of the first places you must read through are the guidelines for application. These are more or less criteria for eligibility. If among the things required are audited reports for five years and you are only four years old as an organization, you simply know ipso facto that your organization is disqualified; and if they require only a ten paged summary and you go ahead to make it fifteen, or they want an anti-terrorism certification attached and you forget to, or attach only two out of three required letters of support from established organisations, then you must already know you are out, being that the first step is to prune the applications and without even reading the proposals, screen out those who had not met the criteria.

When Africa Began To Slumber

By Joseph Atchulo

When Africa began to slumber her gold was stolen from Ghana, when Africa began to slumber her oil was stolen from Nigeria, when Africa began to slumber her gas was stolen from Angola, when Africa began to slumber her Diamond was stolen from Serra Leone and Liberia, when Africa began to slumber her diamond was stolen from the DR Congo, Tanzania, Botswana and Namibia, when Africa began to slumber her Iron Ore was stolen from Sudan and all her natural resources where stolen by the West. Awaken oh mother Africa because in your state of slumber your youth, the young and vibrant, the energetic young people of this Continent no longer see any pride in you.

Africa today has become in the words of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair ‘a scar on the conscience of humanity’. Africa today has become a tragedy of gigantic proportion, how did it happen that even today the youth in Africa have no pride in Africa, in Africa's state of slumber her youth are stolen.

Demonising Northern Christians Before 2019 Elections

By Sunday Adole Jonah

These days, political pundits are all in agreement about the fact of the matter that the swing regions for next year’s presidential polls are the Middle Belt and the Southwest. As it stands today, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari has not done any meaningful engagement with these regions other than its overarching desire to establish “cattle colonies” in both places to the detriment of the peace that exist there.

*El-Rufai and Buhari 

The people of the Southwest region simply want a country that is fair to them in terms of the component contributions that they make into the unitary polity, and the people of the Middle Belt region simply want peace so they can continue to till the lands they have inherited from their ancestors. Simple demands and expectations. Regrettably, instead of seeking avenues to ensure lasting peace in the Middle Belt region, the “intellectual think-thank” of this Buhari administration headed by a serving governor of a Northwest state is coming up with lots of balderdash to ensure that elections would not hold in some key anti-Buhari locales because of “security reasons.”

What Does Atiku Abubakar Want?

By Hope Eghagha   

Early in 2018 when Mallam Atiku Abubakar began to reference restructuring the nation’s polity as one of his cardinal goals, I thought I should take him seriously. As a man from the Niger Delta whose region has been fundamentally shortchanged by the current quasi-federal arrangement I naturally took interest in this core northern leader who had decided to make restructuring a campaign issue. 

*Atiku Abubakar 

Middle of last year I tried through some of his aides to reach him. No luck. He was either too busy or the aides I reached did not have the clout to arrange a meeting. So I let it rest. Once Atiku Abubakar secured the PDP’s nomination as presidential candidate I thought I should use this medium to broach some of the issues I would have presented to him.

Nigeria: Will There Be Revolt Vote In 2019?

By Banji Ojewale

Of two evils, choose neither
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon
(English Baptist preacher) 1834-1892

Now, it is certain that of the nearly 100 political parties asking Nigerians to vote for them in 2019, two are in the forefront: the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) governing at the centre and in some states, and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in opposition at the national level but in administration in a couple of states.

*Atiku and Buhari 

We are glued to these two, courtesy of what our media gives us and the tin gods we have made of the candidates thrown up by the two political groups. So regardless of who they are, what they stand for, what they have said, their background and the implications of the sum and weight of all these on them when they become elected public office holders, we deem them worthy of our vote solely on account of their party and endorsement by a godfather or a cabal. 

Breaking The Electricity Supply Jinx

By Sunny Ikhioya

What is it about electricity supply in Nigeria? Why is it so difficult to simplify and bring under manageable indices, when other climes have taken it for granted and moved on to greater things?

We have had our hopes raised to the zenith and brought down to mother earth during the Obasanjo era, with Bola Ige’s promise of six months delivery. We have also seen our common patrimony shared and handed over to an oligarchic few in the name of privatisation, hoping that the situation will improve. Yet, no luck. 

Revisiting Jonathan’s Single Term Proposal

By Anthony Akinola

The destination of the presidency will continue to be an issue in Nigerian politics, prompting here another look at the single-term proposal.

Erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan’s proposal of a single, six-year tenure for president and governor is not seminal but significant nevertheless.

*Fmr President Jonathan

The idea of a single-term enjoys informed opinion and was in fact forcefully presented to the Political Bureau established by the military government of General Ibrahim Babangida in 1986.  General Olusegun Obasanjo, one honest critic of the politics of the Second Republic (1979-1983) specifically suggested a single-term of six years to the bureau.

Buhari Owes Shiites Justice, Not Massacre

By Paul Onomuakpokpo

Even in its twilight, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration remains impenetrable to the simple logic that democracy is leavened by the disparateness of opinions. It is in epochs of heightened divergence of opinions that sometimes spawn crises and tend to unspool the state that the genius of a great leader is given stellar expression.

*President Buhari 

The man or woman who comes into leadership fully prepared for such near-fatal periods know how to parlay them into opportunities for national development.  Thus, the best leaders are not brewed in epochs when the people luxuriate in ease but when they are confronted with life-threatening crises.

Was the genius of Winston Churchill not unfurled, and thus he became a touchstone of good leadership, because he had Adolf Hitler to prevent from adding Britain to his definitive list of conquered territories? Did Franklin D. Roosevelt not etch his name in the memory of Americans because he had the Great Depression to contend with on behalf of his people?

2019: The Risk Nigerians Must Take!

By Jerome-Mario Utomi

Risk viewed conventionally is an observable reality that people sprint away from as it is both covertly and overtly considered an unpleasant situation. But contrary to this belief, Peter Drucker, a United States of America born management consultant in his book; Managing For Result, underscored the inescapable posture of risk-taking in human existence and essentially classified it into four categories; the risk one must accept, the risk one can afford to take, the risk one cannot afford to take, and the risk one cannot afford not to take.

Indeed a virulent reality, however, from the recent/unpleasant political and socioeconomic occurrences in the country, it has become a barefaced truth that for Nigeria to accelerate economic growth and make social progress, the people must use the 2019 general elections as a vehicle to  confront/correct the ‘inbuilt’ anomalies  debilitating our nationhood.

Nigeria: A Requiem For The Lifeless One

By Femi Fani-Kayode

”A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more”- Jeremiah 31:15.

O lifeless one, you have lost all sense of decency and you are drunk with power.

As the children are murdered in cold blood and cut short in the streets of Abuja by your soldiers you watch silently from a distance: smug, smiling, detached, indifferent and secretly egging the killers on.

For Hauwa Liman, Martyred!

By Obi Nwakanma

Since the movers of Boko Haram think of books as “haram,” it is most unlikely that they, being illiterate, can comprehend, and therefore are likely to read this tribute to the young woman whom they have killed, Hauwa Liman. And so, this is not directed at them. 

*Hauwa Liman

They cannot read. In any case, one must address a community of humans, those who share human traits; who have the natural human, and healthy instinct for empathy. It takes a subhuman freak, and a deadly form of misanthropy, to take another life. Members of the Boko Haram movement are not human. 

Nigeria: The Problem With Gov El-Rufai’s Gonin Gora Demolition Threat

By Moses Ochonu

The problem with El-Rufai is not that he is a bad Governor. The problem, rather, is that he tries so hard to be seen as a good governor, so hard that he ends up undermining his own good works, causing unnecessary controversy, and exposing his bigotry and lack of executive governing temperament. He is a much better technocrat than he is a wielder of executive authority.

*President Buhari and Gov El-Rufai 

He threatened to demolish an entire community, Gonin Gora, in the middle of an ethno-religious crisis. It is a terrible idea to threaten or to actually demolish an entire community whatever crimes some members of that community may have committed. For one, it amounts to collective punishment, a primitive punitive action incompatible with modern, enlightened notions of justice, correction, and recompense. Second, it is a rather lazy, knee-jerk, thoughtless, and ultimately counterproductive response.

Nigeria: The Usman Yusuf Saga

By Ray Ekpu

The Professor Usman Yusuf saga is obviously sapping the energy and the health of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) of which he is the Executive Secretary. It all started last year when a group called United Youth Alliance Against Corruption (UYAAC) sent a petition dated April 21, 2017 to the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole. In that petition garnished with supporting documents, the group accused Yusuf of fraud, abuse of office and nepotism. The supervising Minister thought, as is the practice in government, that the accused person should be suspended to create room for a fair investigation by the EFCC.

*Professor Usman Yusuf

The recommendation for his suspension received the nod of Professor Yemi Osinbajo who was then acting as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. President Muhammadu Buhari was at that time receiving medical attention in the United Kingdom. When Buhari returned he overruled the Minister and the Acting President and recalled Professor Yusuf from suspension apparently without the EFCC completing its investigation. The presidency said at the time through the tongue of Mr. Garba Shehu, one of Buhari’s spokesmen, that Yusuf was a victim of ethnic and political conspiracies which was an unmistaken indictment of the Minister of Health, Professor Adewole and the Acting President, Professor Osinbajo. 

The Alarming Rate Of Poverty In Nigeria

By Victor Ikem

As the world marked the 2018 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on the 17th of October, it has become imperative to remind governments and policy actors in Nigeria of the growing rates of poverty and the urgent need to reverse this ugly trend through a well thought out and compressive strategy, policy and programmes towards eliminating the causes of poverty in Nigeria. 

While the debate generated by the Brookings Institution’s World Poverty Clock report which rated Nigeria as a country with the highest number of extremely poor people in the world, is yet to wane, it is disturbing to see how the British Prime Minister, Theresa May at her recent visit to Africa, described Nigeria saying much of Nigeria is thriving, with many individuals enjoying the fruits of a resurgent economy, yet 87 million Nigerians live on less than $1 and 90 cents a day, making it home to more very poor people than any other nation in the world.

Nigeria: Senseless Killings As National Pastime

By Dan Amor

Irrational impulses are not surprising in the stress and tension that characterize a demented society. In an atmosphere of violence, reason is sometimes abandoned and humanitarian principles forgotten. The inflamed passions of the time lead men and women to commit atrocities. 

*President Buhari and Army Chief, Gen Burutai 

But the concern here is not with the psychological pathology of those who commit atrocities but rather with what has turned our nation into a slaughterhouse where human beings are daily killed with intimidating alacrity. Throughout modern history, atrocity propaganda has often mesmerized readers thousands of kilometres away from the scene of the crime. Often, the improbability of the actions described suggests that the stories were little more than fantasies concocted for diverse reasons from even more diverse sources.

President Buhari, Show Us Your Certificate!

By Reno Omokri
Nothing could prepare me for the shock that greeted me when I opened the dailies on Friday, October 26, 2018. Right there on the front-page headlines was the news that President Buhari, again, could not present his West African School Certificate Examination certificate because the original is with the army. 

*President Buhari and his wife, Aisha

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me! That lame excuse could hardly suffice in 2015 when President Jonathan was the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, but it is certainly an untenable excuse today!

NYSC: National Service Or National Scam?

By Olatunde Akinyemi

It is the pride of most parents to see their wards all dressed up in khaki and boots. A symbol that the child has scaled through tertiary education, and successfully served the country,  a matured individual. For some,  it signifies a bonafide citizen of the nation, ‘omo ijoba’, as my Yoruba friends will say, a bragging right. 

Many years ago, as a Primary 5 student, my uncle came home on one particular  day in that popular uniform. I didn’t know what course he did in school, I didn’t know what school he attended,  no idea he had graduated, all I knew was that he had gone to serve.