On This ASUU Matter

 By Obi Nwakanma

I was at the University of Nigeria in February to give the keynote to a conference jointly organized by Nsukka’s Institute of African Studies and the Harris Center of the University of Chicago. I remember the gaunt listlessness of the campus, because I arrived there the very day the ASUU strike began. But there was something else beneath the palimpsest of dust that covered the campus of Nsukka. It was decay that felt like a settled crust on the campus of Nigeria’s premier university. 

*ASUU leaders in a meeting 

I felt an out of body experience because I am a product of the Nigerian universities of the 1980s. The University of Jos of the 1980s, for instance, still had its Country-Club atmosphere in those years. It was what you might call a “party school.” But serious business went on there. The students were competitively selected for admissions; it was a very diverse group of students, including the presence of international students. Its faculty was equally diverse and international. Conduct and activities on campus was still cultured and mannered. University faculty still had their dignity, and carried themselves with dignified purpose.

Babangida And Recent Nigerian History

 By Dan Amor

To live on this sinful earth for 80 years (whether it is original or official age) is no mean achievement, especially in these terrible times when conditions have sapped real life out of comparative existence leaving the average lifespan of a Nigerian at just 55. 

*Babangida

But here is General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (retd.) celebrating 80 years with pomp and pageantry in the midst of family members, friends, associates, former colleagues and country men and women. Since Tuesday August 17, his date of birth, Nigerians from all walks of life have paid tributes to this former military President, from varied perspectives. 

As Fashola Delivers ‘TheNiche’ Lecture

When the newspaper came on board in April 2014, the editorial policy captured its mission: “TheNiche will always anchor its position on the need for social justice, fairness and respect for human and communal rights … will be uncompromising against any form of discrimination and subjugation either by tribe, gender or religion.”

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On Thursday, September 8, 2022, former Lagos State Governor and Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, will deliver the 2022 edition of TheNiche Annual Lecture at the MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos.

Getting the minister to deliver the lecture is by no means a walk in the park. We didn’t expect it would be considering the fact that as a hands-on minister traversing the length and breadth of the country, ensuring that projects under the purview of his ministry are delivered timeously, time will always be a challenge.

But the theme of the lecture – 2023 Elections And The Future Of Nigeria’s Democracy – did the magic. Fashola is not only cerebral, he is an unrepentant democrat, always seeking ways of deepening Nigeria’s democracy, which is still fledgling at 23. The lecture provides him an opportunity to live his passion.

Nigeria: Issues In The Campaigns

 By Obi Nwakanma

The election season geared towards electing a new president for Nigeria is now upon us. In about two weeks, according to the rules of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), the official bar on campaigns will be lifted, the whistle will then blow for the parties now currently on their marks, to take off. This campaign season is more a mile race than a dash. For those who do long distance races, they understand that they must pace themselves: know when to conserve energy, keep an even pace and stay in the race, do not lag, pick up speed towards the final laps, and end with a blinding finish.

No one runs the Mile race as though they were doing the 100 Meters dash. Sprinters, especially very experienced ones, learn very quickly, the strength of their opponents, their speech, and most importantly, how to bank against the direction of the wind, or sail with it.

The coming political campaigns remind me of Stanley Ngwaba, that elegant stallion on the tracks, do the 400 meters race on the “Lower Fields,” at the Government College Umuahia, to win the Victor Ludorum during the Inter House Sports Competition.

Corruption And Nigerian History

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

There is talk here and there of bringing back History with a capital “H” in the Nigerian school curriculum. It is cool by me to do a short history course with the ruling party, APC, and President Muhammadu Buhari. Necessary lessons need to be learnt before the elections that will lead into the next dispensation of Nigeria’s much touted democracy.

To start back in time, Nigeria’s first coup as arranged by Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna, Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, Adewale Ademoyega etc. did raise the issue of corruption as a major prong of why they struck to sack the First Republic. The entire coup attempt got mired in the corruption of ethnic politics until there was the bloodier counter-coup in which they revenge squad wanted secession, code-named “araba”, until the British colonial masters advised against herding into arid nothingness. 

Is The Judiciary Beyond Redemption?

 By Sonnie Ekwowusi

To affirm that the judiciary is corrupt is an understatement. The judiciary is not just corrupt; the men and women entrusted with the affairs of the judiciary are suffering from a huge character deficit. It is painful that our judiciary has been constituted into an object of derision by the very people who should labour to maintain its prestige.

The level of official corruption and moral degeneracy at both the Bar and the Bench is alarming. It seems as if the judiciary is beyond redemption. 

While the Bench sickens for lack of moral renaissance, the Bar fairs no better. Regrettably, many members of the Bar lack the lowest common denominator of acceptable character. 

As regards the judiciary workers often loosely referred to as the judicial personnel-court bailiffs, Chief Registrars, Assistant Chief Registrars (ACR), court clerks, court messengers, court cashiers, court stenographers and so forth- their lives are ruled and governed by the civil service bureaucratic extortion.  

Nigeria: When Stinginess Becomes A Virtue

 By Hudson Ororho

In  our first year in secondary school at St. Peter Claver College, Aghalokpe, Delta State, we read a book, under the watchful eyes of our Priest/Principal, Rev. Fr. Jeremiah Cadogan, SMA, titled: Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. If my recollection has not failed me, the book has two principal characters:  Scrooge and Manley. They were business partners.

*Obi

In the story, not much was said about Manley save that he was a good man. Scrooge, on the other hand was described as a mean and miserly fellow. He would give shishi to no one. He does not even respond to the Merry Christmas greetings from the locals, describing same as sheer humbug. He was even stingy to himself as he would not enjoy the traditional Christmas turkey. The locals despised him. In retrospect, I wonder if he ever wore a St. Michaels label or a Marks and Spencer shoes.

2023 Elections And Future Of Nigeria’s Democracy

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

The 2023 elections will be consequential. Though six months away and campaigns yet to be officially flagged off, politicians are already crisscrossing the length and breadth of the country, shadowboxing their way through all manner of policy disputes. They are making a show of tackling the myriad problems the post-Buhari era will present, while avoiding any direct engagement with opponents.

The elections will be consequential because Nigeria is at a crossroads, haunted by demons many thought had been long exorcised. Seven years of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency has brought out the worst in Nigerians. Ironically, while this self-inflicted leadership crisis and the uprising it has engendered is bringing out the beast in us, as the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, noted in his epic song, “Beast of No Nation”, it has also re-ignited the hitherto dimming Nigeria’s democracy candle light.

Why ASUU Strike Is For Benefit Of The Poor, Needy

 By Jeff Doki

For many years, the ideological nature of political struggle in Nigeria has been systematically suppressed by the press. When Nigeria politics is written about, it is in misleadingly crude terms of power struggles between political parties—usually the All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party and (very recently) the Labour Party. Or sometimes, the reportage is about individual personalities—Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi—or the economic problems (hunger, poverty, disease, joblessness, soaring energy prices and lack of access to quality education, among others) supposedly caused by poor leadership.

As a matter of fact, such strands of politics, reported by the Nigerian media, are mere subplots in the battle between a backwards-looking regime, erected on the structures of shameful revisionism,  corruption, denial of truth and unpatriotic divisiveness on the one hand, and the nationalists and intellectual workers headed by Academic Staff Union of Universities on the other. It is important to state from the outset that this latter group (led by ASUU) is acting as a check on the increasing gross inequality between the bourgeoisie and the 90% of the Nigerian population who are peasants and urban workers.

African Union And WHO Urge Swift Action Against Childhood Tuberculosis

 
The African Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) today called for immediate and comprehensive measures to end the significant toll of tuberculosis among children in Africa. The appeal was made jointly with the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and the Stop TB Partnership on the side-lines of the Seventy-second session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Lomé, Togo.

Nigeria: How Drug Lords May Influence 2023 Poll

 

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

I was in deep conversations with stakeholders in the organised civil Rights community in the Country on the revelation that was made by the then Anambra State’s governor-elect Professor Chukwuma Soludo shortly after he emerged as the successor in office of the immediate past Chief executive of that state that drug barons have captured political powers in Nigeria.

The erudite Professor of Banking and Finance then proceeded at length to offer profound exposition of his claim. As we progress we will cite his assertion in full.

It was in that same period that the Chief executive officer of the National Drugs Laws Enforcement Agency, Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa, hinted that the agency may conduct drug tests on politicians aspiring for political offices.

Nurturing Creativity In Young Learners Is Crucial In Today’s Changing World

By Abigail Barnett

The United Nations have designated 2021 as the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development. Around the world, partly due to the pandemic, people are drawing on their creativity like never before to find innovative, creative solutions to the problems and challenges we face.

Creative skills are always in demand, and this applies to many sectors and careers across the globe, including in the fields of research, computing and the performing arts. A study by the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (2021) shows that employment in creative industries is growing at four times the rate of the UK workforce.

Liberian Women Subjected To Modern-Day Slavery!

 ...The Danger Of Human Trafficking

By Rufus Dio Neufville

Why are some people so wicked? Why do they keep others in bondage? Are they not aware of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons? These questions are tailored to put into context the abuse of Liberian women in the Republic of Oman. They were deceived or coerced into modern-day slavery by human traffickers who created the illusion of prosperity on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula – thousands of miles from West Africa.

Human trafficking is extremely abusive. It takes away a person’s autonomy or right to self-determination. The victim becomes the “personal property” of the trafficker. The United Nations defines Trafficking in persons as: “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation”.

2023: Nigeria Can’t Afford Another Lame Duck Commander-in-Chief!

 By Gbadebo Adeyeye

One thing is certain: we cannot learn anything new from a dope; and those politicians who believe that democracy is nothing but exploitation, are no better. That is why Abraham Lincoln warned, decades ago, that humanity should “beware of rashness; but with energy and sleepless vigilance, go forward and give us victory.”

*Prof Yakubu, INEC Chair

To many of us, we can say categorically that there is no strong assurance of achieving any political victory in our country unless Nigerians join hands together in 2023 to choose someone who is highly qualified for the office in which wisdom, intelligence, good character, and guts are the requirements.

The reason is simple. In times like this, nothing is more important to hardworking Nigerians than a government that can defend its defenders and protect its protectors! It is true that a leader may not be able to solve all the problems of the future but he must be able to solve the problems of his generation. Failure to do that is a failure in the journey of life.

The Trouble With Our Political Parties

 By Nick Dazang

Nigeria’s 18 political parties are the pre-eminent and foremost stakeholders in the electoral process. They are the chief beneficiaries of elections in that they field candidates and contest for elective offices.

Nigeria’s political parties, to some extent, meet the classical definition of political parties. They are organised largely by people who think alike. They contest elections and field candidates. They approximate to special purpose vehicles and platforms for recruiting leaders who then proceed to contest elections. They canvass certain platforms and programmes. And they provide the voter with a number of candidates from which to choose.

2023 Places Extraordinary Responsibility On Ordinary Nigerians

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

The 2023 elections are still six months away but the polity is already heated up. Expectedly, governance at all levels has stopped and the resources of the Nigerian state have been cornered by those in the corridors of power, as of right, to prosecute the electoral battle. 

That is what is called “structure” in local political parlance. That also explains why the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, will remind anyone that cares to listen that with 22 state governors, the 2023 presidential election is already in the kitty.

What the chieftains of the party are saying is that having captured the resources of 22 states, they already have an enviable war chest for the battle.

Nigeria: Pains Of Misgovernance Have No Tribal Marks!

 By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

Many Nigerians are stuck with zero experience of what it means to live in a decently run society. Laden with a long history of mostly inept, insensitive and less-than patriotic leaders, it seems abnormal to expect any bit of improvement in their daily existence from the government. Massive infrastructural decay and regular reports of primitive accumulations of illicit wealth by light-fingered public officers have since lost their capacities to shock.

*Peter Obi

In fact, most people have since adjusted their lives to perennially absorb the vicious impacts of these debilitating vices. They only extract some bit of cold comfort from continually reassuring themselves that they are in such a hopeless and helpless situation where these excruciating fallouts of leadership failure will remain the resilient, inseparable companions they are condemned to perpetually coexist with – which will always be there to hurt their country and diminish their joy, peace and fulfillment.  

Those who lack the resources to obtain some form of alleviations resign themselves to fate hoping that they would be able to sustain the capacity to continue enduring these searing rewards of successive wayward and rudderless leaderships – which will remain their perpetual sources of torments.

Even the Nigerians who reside in well-ordered societies, where leaders are accountable and basic amenities are meticulously provided and maintained, once they touch down on Nigerian soil automatically adjust their minds to endure the excruciating realities of life in Nigeria. They only derive some consolation from the fact that they would soon jet out again to where sanity and orderly existence are taken for granted.

Muslim-Muslim Ticket: The Shortest Distance Between Nigeria And Islamic Caliphate

 By Hamilton Odunze

When Bola Ahmed Tinubu chose to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he set Nigeria on the shortest distance to becoming an Islamic Caliphate. But unfortunately, a Tinubu win would put Nigeria on a slippery slope; no one can predict where the country’s religious balance would rest.

APC chairman, Adamu, vice presidential candidate, Shettima and presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu  

And if you thought that palpable ethnic, religious and economic tensions would compel Tinubu to be thoughtful and mindful of his choices. In that case, you are as far away from reality as possible. Instead, Tinubu looks more like a man auditioning for another title in bravery. Therefore, he throws caution to the wind this time and does not care what image of Nigeria the world sees.

When Tinubu decided to run on a Muslim-Muslim ticket, he signaled that his race for Nigeria’s presidency is not about 50 per cent of Nigerians who profess the Christian faith. He also signaled that his race is not about an inclusive Nigeria, and it is not even about democracy. If it is about democracy, he will make choices that bring Nigerians together. Instead, he further divided Nigerians for political gain and his ambition to be president.

Corruption And The Failure Of The Nigerian State

 By Sam Amadi 

"It was a big deal that the VP attended a local hospital to have a low-risk surgery" 

It is official. Nigeria has been caught in a fiscal trap. In the second quarter of 2022, the country spent all its revenue and borrowed more to service its debt. This means that Nigeria is broke, even if its Debt-to-GDP ratio is still within ‘prudential’ level. 

*Amadi

But Nigeria is a country that is blessed with abundant natural resources. It is a country that has earned hundreds of billions of dollars from oil exports but has no good hospitals, nevertheless. The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, had a minor surgery in a Nigerian hospital, and it was a heroic deed that elicited praise and celebration. That is how bad healthcare is in the country. All Nigerian notables attend foreign hospitals for even the most routine checkup. So, it was a big deal that the VP attended a local hospital to have a low-risk surgery.   

Is Buhari A Nigerian?

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

The President of any country is the number one citizen of that nation, all things being equal. He is first amongst equals, being the one that all other citizens look up to for leadership and direction. The President is the first ambassador of the nation and so the rest of the world views the country through the President. It is no wonder therefore that most laws defining the qualifications of those who aspire to the office of the President have a major requirement that the aspirant must be a citizen of the country; he must carry the life and blood of the nation, which would be the engine of the patriotism that he takes with him to that exalted office.

*Buhari 

You can imagine the embarrassment it will cause any nation to discover that its President is a foreigner! In Nigeria, under and by virtue of section 131 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), ‘a person shall be qualified for election to the office of President if (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth’. It is therefore an anathema for anyone to aspire to be elected as the President of Nigeria when he is not a Nigerian citizen through the bloodline.

The Constitution is deliberate in putting emphasis on the phrase ‘a citizen of Nigeria by birth’. In other words, Nigeria must run in the blood of the President and not just any type of citizenship. This is so because by virtue of section 26 of the Constitution, you can become a Nigerian citizen other than by birth, through registration or naturalization, but this category of citizens cannot aspire to lead Nigeria as its President. So, if it can be proved that anyone occupying the position of President of Nigeria is not a citizen of Nigeria by birth, then his presidency can be queried.