Prof. Tony Afejuku: Teacher Of No Mean Repute

 By Henry Agbebire

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

*Afejuku

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

‘Democracy Day’: The Deception And Betrayal Of ‘June 12 Activists’

 By Olu Fasan

General Ibrahim Babangida erred tragically and did a great disservice to Nigeria by annulling the presidential election of June 12, 1993. But nothing has deepened the wounds more than the deception and betrayal of the so-called “June 12 activists”, who turned the annulment into a self-serving political lodestar and built their political careers around it, yet bastardised the spirit of the June 12 election by acquiring power through a deeply flawed presidential poll that violated universal rules of credible elections.

*MKO Abiola 

Earlier this week, General Babangida said the “gains” of the June 12, 1993 presidential election were squandered in succeeding elections. He told journalists: “It was adjudged the freest and fairest election in Nigeria, yet politicians have blatantly ignored that beauty: the beauty of credible elections.” How ironic that the man who flagrantly annulled an election now talks, 30 years later, about the “gains” and “beauty” of the same election!

Lagos: Mudashiru Obasa’s War Agenda

 By Ochereome Nnanna

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, is on a war footing. He has just been unanimously re-elected for the third time as Speaker. As an inner chamber member of the Bola Tinubu political family, his declared legislative agenda can rightly be read as Tinubu’s new agenda for Lagos after losing the presidential election in the state.

*Obasa

Tinubu’s Lagos is different from what we see in other states. For instance, the governor (whoever he is) does not have freedom of vision. He can only take initiatives within the script already written for him. And so, one would expect Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to seek Tinubu’s support before asking Muhammadu Buhari to send in the Army to quell the Lekki Toll Gate protests on October 20, 2020.

Why Nigeria’s Economy Retrogressed Under Buhari

 By David Adonri

The pursuit of socio-economic welfare of citizens is the cardinal goal of every government. The process of attaining this goal is centered around mobilisation and efficient allocation of resources for production of goods and services. Entrepreneurship has been identified as the catalyst which drives resources or factors of production into generating the desired economic outcomes.

*Buhari 

Nigeria is blessed with abundant resources but continues to lack capable entrepreneurial leadership competent enough to convert resources into modern products. Eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s rule demonstrates how an unenterprising and incapable leadership can damage the prospects of a resource-rich developing economy. All macroeconomic indicators deteriorated during the eight years of President Buhari’s disastrous administration.

Nigeria’s Forthcoming Presidential Drama

 By Tony Afejuku

Who are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s political strategists? Who are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s democratic strategists? Who are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s law and legal strategists? Who are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s capitalist development strategists?

*Tinubu
Who are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic strategists? Who are President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s media strategists? These questions consisting of verbal repetition which emphasizes what President Tinubu and the masses of our people are up against are ones that cannot be swept under the carpet and must not be swept under the carpet.

In Defence Of Nasir El-Rufai

 By Sola Ebiseni

I had no intention to join the discourse on what many considered the recent vituperation of Nasir el-Rufai, immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, on the ethnic and religious politics of his state which he brazenly extended to the Nigerian federation.

*El-Rufai

I changed my mind and decided to take a look at what he had to say that has generated needless furore when I watched this morning (Monday 12th of June) on Arise Television, the encounter between Rufai and my brother, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele on the politics of the leadership of the National Assembly.

Evil: Joe Biden Hijacks AIDS Programme to Back Abortion in Africa

  By Tony Ademiluyi

US President Joe Biden is criminally hijacking a programme meant to tackle AIDS to aggressively promote abortion in Africa.

*Biden 

The United States spends at least $40 billion annually on foreign aid including health programmes to support people around the world, especially in emerging economies and third-world nations. However, the unscrupulous Biden under the cloak of foreign assistance is promoting and exporting the culture of death called abortion in these countries which is causing a furore not only in the US Congress but even in the countries that are the prime targets of his state-sanctioned policy on the murder of the infants.

Success: Many Canadian Students Boycott Schools in Pride Month

 By Tony Ademiluyi

Thousands of Canadian Students boycotted their schools on June 1 in their opposition to the public schools’ participation in pride month – an organized carnival of public sin in my humble opinion.

Conservatives and Pro-Lifers campaigned vigorously for the boycott and I am glad that the students hearkened to the voice of reason in rejecting the destructive woke agenda for eternal common sense.

Safeguarding Integrity Of NYSC And Its Certificate

 By Ikem Okuhu

Those who are finding it convenient to keep quiet over the scandalous National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate scandal involving the now sworn-in Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, do not know how the localisation of the challenge and its perception as the concern of the people of Enugu State has the potential to create a carnivorous national malaise, capable of denuding what arguably is the surviving vestiges of the remaining symbol of Nigeria’s national unity.

At a time when the country should be celebrating the NYSC programme, which marked its 50th anniversary this year, it is most disconcerting that such a historic national landmark has had certificate forgery as its biggest talking point. More worrisome is the fact that some shade of opinion, driven by what looks like selfish political purposes, appears to be bent on allowing this avoidable sore to fester.

Nigeria: Mad And Dangerous Times

 By Sunny Awhefeada

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

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

Urgent Action Is Needed On Alcohol Harm In Nigeria

 By Isidore Obot

Alcoholic drinks are all around us. They come in various forms and prices – from expensive foreign wines and liquor to the more affordable palm wine and locally distilled beverages. Drinking at home or in a communal setting is a popular activity among old and young in Nigeria as it is in many parts of the world. 

More than half (53 per cent) of Nigerians aged 15 years and above are alcohol consumers; 47 per cent are abstainers, a category that includes people who have never had any alcoholic drink and those who used to drink but stopped for religious, health or cultural reasons. More females (62 per cent) than males (33 per cent) fall under the category of abstainers. This distribution is similar to what obtains in most low-income countries but different from the situation in western countries where higher proportions of adults are alcohol drinkers.

Corruption: EFCC Is Not Fit For Purpose; It’s Time To Scrap It!

 By Olu Fasan

When General Olusegun Obasanjo became president in 1999, he was under pressure from the international community to tackle corruption frontally. Obasanjo himself described corruption in Nigeria as cancerous, saying it required surgical operations. He established an anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in 2003.

But 20 years later, Nigeria remains a “fantastically corrupt country” as a former British prime minister memorably put it. The cancer of corruption has festered and spread malignantly, destroying every facet of Nigeria’s polity.

Hadi Sirika And The Fraud Called Nigeria Air

By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Some people believe that Nigeria, our dear country, is a criminal enterprise. Those who perceive the political ideology construct – patriotism – from the prism of the three wise monkeys, a Japanese pictorial maxim which embodies the proverbial principle of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” aver that such a portrayal is harsh.

But in reality, the ‘see no evil crowd’ are only parodying the mendacity of the three monkeys in the Japanese folklore – Mizaru, who pretends to see no evil by simply covering his eyes; Kikazaru, who hears no evil, covering his ears; and Iwazaru, who claims to speak no evil by covering his mouth.

Unmasking Poverty In Nigeria: The Pains, Deprivation And Remedies

 By Elvis Eromosele

Poverty is a real concern in Nigeria. It permeates the lives of individuals and communities, leaving many trapped in a cycle of deprivation. Poverty is a pervasive issue in Nigeria. It casts its dark shadow over countless lives, leaving individuals and communities starving millions of opportunities for a better future.

Nigeria serves as a poignant case study, a country grappling with the complexities of poverty despite its vast resources. To uncover the true face of poverty in Nigeria is to inspire collective action and foster a society where every Nigerian can thrive.

There Was A Man Called John Jerry Rawlings

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Nigeria is more divided than ever, and the politicians of Nigeria have gone completely mad. It is as though everybody is now totally beyond control. Nigerians have replaced the Constitution with just one word: Impunity.

*Rawlings 

Of course in this matter of impunity, there is no difference between the parties and the politicians because crossing party lines rampantly like harlots-on-heat is all the rage. There is no redemption in sight for the odious lot. These wanton Nigerian politicians need to be reminded of what happened in Ghana back in 1979.

No Tobacco Day: WHO And Smoking Epidemic In Africa

 By Adeze Ojukwu

World Health Organization (WHO) has again raised concerns over a looming tobacco epidemic in Africa. It called on African leaders to confront cigarette companies, who are bolstering tobacco farming in the continent. 

“The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health challenges the world has ever faced, killing more than eight million people around the world every year. While the number of people using tobacco products is decreasing in other parts of the world, it is rising in the Africa Region.” 

The Homosexuality Of Cultural Imperialism

 By Owei Lakemfa

I made acquaintance with a lady, Yeye Akilimali Funua Olade, about 1990. A few months later, my wife and I visited her in Ila Oragun where she was running a rural library, the African Heritage Research Library. She was an American who had studied at Fisk University from 1963 -1965, earned a Bachelor’s degree in African- American/Black Studies from the San Francisco State University, and a Master of Library Science from the University of California.

So what was she doing in such rustic circumstances? She said she had three children, including two girls and all around the American communities she lived, aggressive forces of lesbianism were on the rise. So, with the agreement of her African American husband, Ayantuga Olade, she fled the United States. Unfortunately, the forces she ran away from in North America, four decades ago, are on the move in her adopted continent, Africa in the guise of campaigning for workers and human rights.

Chidi Achebe Speaks At The Class Day Of Geisel School Of Medicine Graduation Celebrations

 

By Susan Green

On a beautiful Saturday morning, with family and friends gathered to celebrate the Class of 2023 at the Geisel School of Medicine’s MD program Class Day ceremony, guest speaker Chidi Chike Achebe MED ’96, MPH, MBA, described Dartmouth as a “magical place” and expressed gratitude for the medical school faculty whose guidance and support influenced his life. He told Geisel’s new class of physicians that medicine provides one of the best opportunities for servant leaders, whose humility, charity, gratitude, empathy, kindness, and direct engagement build trust and help create a conducive environment for innovation and excellence.

What Public Officers Can Learn From W.F. Kumuyi At 82

 By Banji Ojewale

The international journalist, Baffour Ankomah of Ghana, is reported to have recorded the lengthiest interview session with Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM. As editor of the London-based New African monthly magazine, Ankomah ran voluminous portions of his encounter with the revered Nigerian churchman in October 2006, revealing more than a treasure trove of the life and times of Kumuyi.

*Pastor Kumuyi

The Ghanaian newsman said what he served the public, old and new takes on Kumuyi, was bereft of the trappings you witness between the intrusive reporter and his evasive newsmaker, between a predator and his potential prey, or between a dispassionate journalist and an equally disinterested figure. The reporter was intentional in his bid to secure an uncommon interview with an uncommon man. He got it, but at a price: he travelled with Kumuyi across West Africa, following and studying the man of God as he preached to hundreds of thousands of the poor and enthusiastic folk who wanted to benefit from his prayers and messages of salvation, hope, restoration, healing and deliverance.

Creating A Noiseless, Productive Lagos By Reducing Traffic Noise

 By Adedolapo Fasawe

Noise pollution is the undesirable persistent sound resulting from various human activities, especially in cities. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), noise pollution can have a significant impact on our physical and mental health, as well as our overall quality of life.

With the increase in population and the need for transportation within cities, the increasing vehicular use has become a major source of unpleasant noise and often overwhelming aspects of modern urban life. The sound of cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles can be heard virtually everywhere, from the bustling city streets to the quietest suburbs.