TB Response Rebounding From The COVID-19 Pandemic Downturn!

...World TB Day 2023 Marks the Start of a New Era: Yes! We Can End TB!

New Coalition of Leaders to End TB to be announced as preliminary data expected to show reduction in gap between estimated TB cases and diagnosed patients, to less than 3 million people in 2022 

GENEVA/VARANASI (24 March 2023)—The Stop TB Partnership today issued a positive World TB Day reset, ‘Yes! We Can End TB,’ to rally the international community to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030. The Stop TB Partnership Board and partners convened for the first time during World TB Day in Varanasi, India—the country with the highest TB burden but also with high political commitment, ambition, hard work and a robust plan to end TB. On the sidelines of the One World TB Summit, the board and partners embraced a post-pandemic call to action that will see new efforts, research, tools and innovations put into practice.

Time For African Leaders To Look Beyond American Democracy

 By Amos Adegbite

Time has come for African leaders to look inward and come up with a representative government not fashioned after American democracy. This becomes imperative because of another “Summit for Democracy” being organised by America where many African leaders have been invited to be “lectured” by President Joe Biden on democracy.

A grassroots politician in Nigeria, Raphael Adeyanju, is convinced that many African countries will continue to be in crisis if they did not develop a government that will take into consideration, the culture and values cherished by their people. To him, America is not in a position to teach Africans how to govern their countries.

2023 General Elections: Is Nigeria Beyond Redemption?

 By Clement Uzoanya

Whatever has a beginning is said to have an end. But it seems that the deplorable Nigerian situation keeps reinventing itself, thus robbing citizens of the dividends of democracy. Is this God’s will for Nigeria and Nigerians or have Nigerians failed repeatedly to actualise God’s plan for a country that is rich in virtually every ramification?

Many Nigerians looked forward to the 2023 general elections for many reasons, among which were: the large number of youth population involved and interested; the fact that the elections were not the traditional two-horse race; the repeated assurances from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC; the signing of the 2022 Electoral Act which contained the deployment of technology; the increasingly depressing state of the economy, among others. So, the build-up to the elections was one filled with a nostalgia of anxiety, apprehension, hope that the time has come for us to get things right. But did we? 

Nigeria: Democracy Is Dead!

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

On March 18, 2023, some Nigerians, incurable optimists I must say, still went out to cast their votes in the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections after the presidential and National Assembly elections fiasco of February 25, believing that Nigeria is still redeemable. 

Well, I am not one of them. I used to be sanguine as well before the presidential election, having been taken in by President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of bequeathing the country a legacy of credible elections. The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, was a real charmer who totally took me in in the days leading up to the elections.

The International Criminal Court And Alleged Selective Justice

 By ‘Femi D. Ojumu

Ordinarily, there would be no justification for the International Criminal Court (ICC) because domestic tribunals would effectively and robustly adjudicate criminal proceedings, meting out the correct sanctions. Interpol and related institutions would gather intelligence, apprehend criminals/suspects and, subject to relevant interposing extradition treaties between states, render them to those jurisdictions in which they are being sought for prosecution. Ditto, leaders and nations would routinely abide by the dictates of international law. 

Unfortunately, that’s all phantasmagoria. Realistically, there are bad actors, rogue states, criminal proxies; they seek to evade justice too! They commit terrible crimes, which by the way, are not victimless. On the contrary, the emanating crimes oftentimes result in financial loss. Even worse, the unholy trinity of destruction, displacement and deaths impacting innocent people in varying degrees. Should the world bury its head in the sand and do nothing? No!

Peter Obi Launches Legal Challenge Against The Outcome Of The February Presidential Election

 Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, has launched a legal challenge against the outcome of the February 25, 2023 Nigerian Presidential Election.

It promises to be a very interesting case which has captured the interest of the international media, diplomats, several agencies and people abroad. The attention of many Nigerians and non-Nigerians is glued to the case to see the outcome...

*Peter Obi and his wife, Margaret, after casting their votes during the presidential elections of February 25, 2023, in Anambra State...

Lagos: Just As I said!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

When strong presidential candidates of Igbo and Yoruba extractions, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP, and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, respectively, emerged from the primaries in the just concluded general elections 2023, I knew we were in for some trying times. I wrote on this several times. I warned that Lagos would be the worst hotbed of tensions.

*Peter Obi shakes hands with Bola Tinubu

While the tensions in other parts of the country would be political in nature, I reasoned that that of Lagos would be both political and ethnic. Some of the Yoruba elements would be programmed by desperate politicians who had lost the love of their people to beef the Igbo. The objective would be to unsettle the nationalistic Obidient Movement by stirring anti-Igbo sentiments in Lagos, and hopefully save Tinubu and his APC from losing power in the nation’s economic capital.

About God And Man’s Will In Democratic Governance

 By IkeChukwu U. Unegbe

It was the usual jocularly greeting and exchange of banters with this my friend (name withheld) recently; followed with “O, boy, hope you are seeing the political campaigns and issues in our country?” It was meant both as a question and an open ended comment. My friend then responded: “Well, I am not involved, I don’t believe in democracy; it does not swing with the Will of The Almighty.” 

We didn’t go into any further discussions on this occasion, as we just dispersed to our various other engagements for the day. But the response occupied my head, my mind and my thoughts; refusing to disappear. That discussion was before the 25th February, 2023 Presidential elections which were held all over Nigeria.

Buhari, Yakubu, Atiku And The Death Of Trust

 By Tunde Olusunle  

If anyone had prophesied the retention of Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in that office to which he was appointed in 2015 by Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, beyond 2019, he would have been pilloried as a false prophet. Yakubu, a Professor of Political History and International Relations, was on the staff of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna before his appointment to that office.

*Buhari and Yakubu 

We run a country which naively confers seriousness, integrity and respectability on people simply on the basis of their often padded and advertised curriculum vitae. Just being a professor and coming from the geo-religiously “correct” extreme of the country privilege certain people for consideration and appointment into specific offices and the accrual of benefits therein. 

Whither The Nigerian President?

 By Sola Ebiseni

Nigerians are so shell-shocked at the degree of lawlessness that characterised the 2023 elections, wondering if this country is still under any government which is symbolised in the President. As the head of state, President Muhammad Buhari has nowhere to pass the buck, especially of the orgy of violence during the elections in all parts of the nation. He is inexorably accountable. The Presidential and National Assembly elections of February 25 set the tone for the horrendous occurrences during the gubernatorial election which was initially slated for March 11, but postponed by one week.

*Buhari 

Some of us had thought it was mischievous, as some suggests that the real reason for the shift was to buy time  for those caught unawares during the first elections to redeem their losses by all means. We were proved wrong. Even at that, Nigerians were still hopeful that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and particularly its Chairman, would strive to prove pessimists wrong that its sole agenda was to deliver the country to the ruling part unashamedly.

Avoidable Cash Crisis: Any Lessons Learnt?

 By Ayo Baje

Most important, the Central Bank must keep public opinion on its side, because the public is the ultimate source of its power and independence.” – International Monetary Fund (IMF) report titled: “Rethinking Monetary Policy in a Changing World”. 

On February 3, 2023, the media was awash with the report of an unidentified man who slumped and died after spending hours at a new generation bank in Agbor, Delta state in what turned out a fruitless effort to withdraw some money. 

Cash Squeeze: As Buhari Plays Pontius Pilate

 By Charles Okoh

Last week, Nigerians got some sort of relief as the Central Bank and Federal Government finally complied with the Supreme Court ruling on the lingering cash squeeze which practically squeezed life out of many Nigerians.

*Emefiele and Buhari 

I am not particularly interested in the debate as it concerns the independence of the CBN or otherwise or the right of the Supreme court to intervene in monetary policy administration. 

The arguments for or against, are neither here nor there, my pain is the unwarranted hardship which the federal government under president Muhammadu Buhari unconscionably subjected the people to. This level of hardship is unprecedented. 

Genetically Modified Foods, Business, And Health Effects

 By Timi Olubiyi

The common social concerns are the country’s high mortality rate, poverty, and malnutrition. But for health concerns, the advice is usually to reduce fats, cholesterols, and sugar intake, improve nutrition and a good diet, do not smoke and so on to avoid health issues. However, the fact is food is about health and healthy living, but less is heard about the need to promote organic food eating in a world where innovation is now widespread in Agric-Business and farming, with the genetically engineering of crops and foods.

Genetically Modified (GM) foods are foods that are produced from genetically modified organisms (GMO) that have had their DNA altered through genetic engineering. Genetic modification, also known as genetic engineering, it simply means having the DNA of crops and foodstuffs altered using genes from other plants or animals to achieve specific aims.

A Nation Where Everyone Is Oppressed

 By Owei Lakemfa

Nigerians have the next 70 days to survive a regime that has chastised them with whips and is promising to further chastise them with scorpions. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, last week not only renewed the Buhari regime’s threat to increase Nigerians heavy burden by piling far higher fuel prices, but also told the incoming administration to immediately raise the Value Added Tax from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent.

While depleting all available resources and adding heavy local and foreign debts to the bargain, the regime seems determined to drain whatever finances are available. So, rather than wind down and start producing handover notes, it wants to conduct a census that promises to be controversial. But more importantly, the census will be used to legally take out N869 billion or $1.88 billion from our national coffers. It is like a retirement package.

INEC And Controversial Elections

 By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

Year in and year out, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conducts elections into various offices in Nigeria, either through the main general elections, the bye-elections or other elections. INEC has been involved in the conduct of elections for an unbroken period of twenty-four years on, from 1999 to 2023. It would seem however that there is still a lot to do to get the electoral umpire moving. For sure, INEC is the only statutory body authorised to organise or conduct elections in Nigeria, in respect of certain offices created by the Constitution.

*Yakubu 

INEC is one of the federal executive agencies of the State established under section 153 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, with its functions stated in paragraph 15 of the Third Schedule of the said Constitution. Under and by virtue of paragraph 14 of the said Third Schedule, the Chairman of INEC should be at least forty years old, he must be non-partisan, he must not be a member of a political party and he must be a person of unquestionable integrity.

President, Governors Disown The Poor!

 By Dele Sobowale

“Fish rots from the head.”

If you want to know how good or bad a country is, just take a look at the top politicians. It is now becoming an axiom of political science, that it is almost impossible to have a great country with absolutely atrocious leaders in charge. It all starts from the President or Prime Minister. 

*Buhari

Was there an African or black person anywhere who was not proud when Nelson Mandela was President of South Africa? Who else among the mob that was elected and ruled in Africa who has given us that sense of pride in being African and black? Mandela achieved everlasting fame, universal acclaim and respect in just five years. See what we have got in Nigeria after seven and a half years of Buhari. Surely nobody would be dishonest enough as to call him a great leader – given the legacies he and the First Lady, FL, are likely to leave behind.

As Nigeria’s Judges Get Set To Begin Voting

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

This week, the opening salvo will be fired to signal the onset of the final round of voting in Nigeria’s electoral marathon. This is not a reference to the state-level ballots that occurred around the country on Saturday, March 18. I refer instead to something far more consequential.

Democracy may be about choices and decisions by citizens in theory. As practised in Nigeria, however, citizens are mostly spectators. In every election, Nigeria’s judges have the final votes.

2023 Elections: Do We Still Need Political Parties?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

The online version of Encyclopaedia Brittanica describes a political party as “a group of persons organised to acquire and exercise political power”. Political parties originated in their modern form in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, along with the electoral and parliamentary systems, whose development reflects the evolution of parties. The term party has since come to be applied to all organised groups seeking political power, whether by democratic elections or by revolution. 

*Obi, Tinubu, Atiku, Kwankwaso

Another online resource portal, Wikipedia defines a political party “as an organisation that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country’s elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals. Political parties have become a major part of the politics of almost every country.”

Peter Obi Writes Nigerians, Says: A New Nigeria Is Again Possible On The 18th Of March!

 

On 25th of February 2023, millions of Nigerians from all walks of life, across generations and backgrounds, from Bornu to Lagos, Port Harcourt to Sokoto, Kano to Enugu, Taraba to Ondo voted strongly and resolutely to take back their country. They voted for Labour Party; they voted for a New Nigeria!  I most sincerely continue to thank all Nigerians for their genuine belief and commitment that a New Nigeria is possible through us. And indeed, it is possible and has started!   

Nigeria: Thoughts On Our National Trauma

 By Steve Azaiki

For Nigerians, these are not the easiest of times. Happy faces are rare, because the mood is indignant. Adults—male and female—have stripped naked inside banking halls, demanding their cash. Fights break out routinely on queues before ATMs that dispense only miserly amounts. Small businesses have quietly folded up, at least in the meantime, because of low patronage occasioned by the cash crunch. 

Fuel queues disappear for only a few days, and then the filling stations run dry for weeks amid official explanations that don’t quite make sense to anyone any more. Nor do citizens feel safe and secure in cities, on the farm, or on the highways. Add the epileptic public power supply and the excruciatingly high cost of living, and it is easy to read the nation’s mood.