Tax Reform Bills: Tinubu Lacks The Will For National Consensus Building

 By Olu Fasan

Hardly anyone will disagree that Nigeria needs a fundamental tax reform. This, after all, is a country with one of the most cumbersome tax regimes in the world, where tax laws and regulations are overlapping and burdensome, where the administration and collection of taxes, and their spending, are ridden with inefficiency and corruption, and where tax avoidance and evasion are prevalent. Nigeria’s tax system is in deep crisis.

*Tinubu

However, while crises are a trigger for fundamental reforms, making the status quo unsustainable, they are not sufficient for reform success. In a democracy, there’s a critical need for an explicit electoral mandate for reform and for a carefully crafted policy design, shaped by a broad consensus for change.

Northern Elite Should Take Responsibility For Region’s Underdevelopment

By Aliyu Maigari Aliyu 

In the ongoing discourse surrounding the socio-economic challenges plaguing Northern Nigeria, the time has come for the long-standing elite in the region to take a step back and engage in meaningful self-reflection. 

Over the last 64 years of Nigeria’s independence, Northern elites have ruled the country for approximately 41 years. Despite this significant tenure, the region remains mired in underdevelopment, and the accusations being levied against President Bola Tinubu, who has spent less than two years in power, are not just disingenuous but also a stark exhibition of irresponsibility, to say the least. 

Are These Professional Soldiers?

By Sunny Awhefeada

A shocking and horrifying post appeared on facebook two days ago. The post in question is a video in which a helpless civil­ian was being pummeled by soldiers in uniform under the watchful supervision of a major-general!

The victim is neither a terrorist nor a bandit! He is just another ci­vilian accused by power drunk soldiers of denting the jeep of the major-general. As the brutes in uniform rained blows on the fellow, his traumatized wife wailed draw­ing attention to his ill-health and how his uniformed assailants were about to blind him. That heartrending cry of the wife did not deter the soldiers.

140 Years After The Berlin West Africa Conference

By Chidi Odinkalu & Chepkorir Sambu

Described by one scholar on its centenary as “perhaps the greatest historical movement of modern times”, the Berlin West Africa Conference began shortly after noon on 15 November 1884. Interrupted only by a short break at the end of the year and the beginning of the next, historian, Adu Boahen, records that the conference ended on 31 January 1884. 

On 26 February 1885, the powers gathered at the conference ratified the General Act of the Berlin Conference, which embodied their agreements. The week before the ratification of the General Act, according to historian, Godfrey Uzoigwe, the Lagos Observer newspaper lamented that “the world had, perhaps, never witnessed a robbery on so large a scale.”

AGF, IGP, Please Call DISCOs To Order; Avert Violence

 By Dele Sobowale

“FCCPC warns Ikeja, Eko Discos to halt metre replacement amid compliance concerns — Report, November 14, 2024.

The story went on to say that “The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued a stern warning to Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) against plans to replace metres”. The FCCPC under Mr Tunji Bello has become more proactive than at any time since its inception by the Babangida administration (who else?) by Act No 66 of 1992.

The Dying Republic And ‘Go To Court’!

 By Ugoji Egbujo

Soon after independence, election rigging set the western region on fire and brought down the first republic. ‘Operation Wetie’ wasn’t just frustration and impatience; it was a rejection of the courts. In the second republic, malpractices returned to ruin elections’ credibility, and Baba Ajasin saw it better than others. Omoboriowo, who snatched victory from Baba, had to flee.

When that republic fell, the soldiers blamed their coming on economic hardship and rigged elections. The third republic didn’t last. Principal politicians, excluded, others were railroaded into an artificial dichotomy of two sterilised parties. Shorn of natural birth and passion and with a more transparent electoral procedure, the June 12 presidential election lacked edginess, fire and controversy. It didn’t precipitate confusion.

Stopping Vote-Buying Is Nigeria’s Lost Battle

 By Tonnie Iredia

About a month ago, when the Ondo State governorship election was some two weeks away, this column examined the possibility of the state enjoying a seamless election and came to the conclusion that even if the election surprisingly comes out well, one irreversible negative aspect would be vote buying which happens in every Nigerian election.

Well, the said Ondo election has come and gone and reports from election observers have confirmed our prediction. According to the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room made up of civil society organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible elections and governance in Nigeria, there was “widespread vote trading across the state, with voters and party agents openly engaged in the exchange of votes for cash, ranging from N10,000 to N20,000 in all 18 local government areas.”

IMF’s Doublespeak’ll Make Tinubu’s Hardship Worse

 By Adekunle Adekoya

During the work week ending today, that infamous Bretton Woods institution, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, was in doublespeak regarding the economy of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly mentioned countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, and my dear country ( I have no other!), Nigeria. 

*Tinubu

Urging Nigeria and the other countries to rethink implementation strategies of the reforms embarked on, the IMF, in its latest Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa report, noted that the countries involved in deep reforms, including Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya, may now be experiencing what it called ‘adjustment fatigue’, while some are facing civil resistance.

Mastering 2025 Day By Day!

Book Review

Reviewer: Banji Ojewale

Book: Daily Manna (A Devotional Guide, January-December 2025)

Author: W. F. Kumuyi

Publishers: Life Press, Lagos, Nigeria

Pagination: 379

William Blake was the Romantic English poet who believed that if you had it right from sun-up, you’d be positioned for success all through the day till sun-down. What he simply meant was that you needed to dedicate quality time to plot your vision of the trajectory of the day as you leave the bed. You impose your wishes on the day before you move into it, he insists; otherwise you’d run into elemental and untamable circumstances. The writer who lived between two centuries (1757-1827) put it this way: ‘’Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.’’

What Does It Take To Speak for President Tinubu?

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

Ordinarily, the innocuous question – who speaks for President Bola Tinubu – should be a non-issue because it ought to be a given. But these are no ordinary times. In Tinubu’s bumbling emi l’okan dynasty, where the end justifies every means and jejune politics trumps governance, absurdity is the norm.

*Onanuga and Tinubu

Such intrigues, in the warped estimation of his rabid supporters, elevate him to the pantheon of political gods, making him the Jagaban of Nigerian politics. But Nigeria is worse for it.

Yorubanisation Of Tinubu’s Government: Nigeria’s Fate Is Now In Yoruba Hands!

 By Olu Fasan

Shortly before the 2023 presidential election, I wrote a piece titled “Yoruba ronu: A Tinubu presidency would tarnish your race” (Vanguard, February 16, 2023). The premise of that thoughtful and, in my view, patriotic intervention was threefold. 

*Tinubu

First, Bola Tinubu’s miasmic past was the antithesis of the honour-signalling ‘omoluabi’ ethos that Yorubas claim define them. His self-serving and feudalistic politics was entirely at odds with the ‘omoluabi’ core values. Second, Tinubu staked his presidential bid on “Emi lokan” (It’s my turn), but also on “Yoruba lokan” (It’s Yoruba’s turn).

Why Bola Tinubu Is Insensitive To End Hardship

 By Dan Onwukwe

Do you know why Bola Tinubu is always pushing the envelope on presidential powers and ignoring calls to end pervasive hardship in the country?

Tinubu
First, let’s get a textbook explanation for this question. Students of Management are familiar with this case study: It’s a common complaint in which managers of a knowledge-based company grumbled that the Chief Executive Officer couldn’t get his engineers to think like a leader. As it’s in corporate organisations so it is in politics.

The Metamorphosis Of Nuhu Mallam Ribadu

 By Dr Ugoji Egbujo

Born in 1960, Nuhu Ribadu, perhaps, had independence in his genes. Son of a first republic parliamentarian from Yola, Nuhu came with a good  spoon in his mouth.

*Ribadu 
After he studied law, he  joined the police,  climbing  the career ladder of a corrupt and disoriented institution. Young  Ribadu, it appeared, resisted the mind bending culture and stored a grudge for filth. But cynics saw a temperamental, conceited, attention-seeking, power-hungry, and callow fellow.  In 2003, after glimpses of promise at the department of prosecution, Nuhu arrived on the national stage. 

Is Kemi Badenoch’s Elevation To Our Credit As A Nation Or To Our Shame?

 By Muyiwa Adetiba

A couple of weeks ago, the Sunday Vanguard lamented the mass exodus of the country’s medical doctors in its front page story. The article talked of a medical workforce so depleted that retired doctors had to be coerced back to save our hospitals and offer a semblance of professional service to the people. These days, almost every young intern dreams of going abroad to continue their career.

*Kemi Badenoch

I can testify to this in a small, miniscule way. Three young doctors, in as many years, have stayed in our home to facilitate their internship on the island. Each one of them saw staying and practicing in Nigeria as a dead end and merely used the year of internship to put finishing touches to their traveling arrangements.

Bad, Bad Badenoch….

 By Obi Nwakanma

Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the British Conservative Party was born to Nigerian parents with Yoruba ancestry. Her father, the now late Dr. Femi Adegoke was a Medical doctor and Yoruba Nationalist activist in Lagos, and her mother, Feyi Adegoke was a Professor of Physiology at the University of Lagos. 

*Badenoch

Kemi was born in January 1980, according those who know her family well, in a London hospital. This, only because her mother had complications with her pregnancy, and had to be delivered of her baby under specialist care in a small Wembley Hospital. I doubt this very much. In 1980, Nigeria had very distinguished, world class neonatal specialists at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). Medical Services were still relatively decent.

1966 Coups, Biafra, Asaba Massacre, Gowon: Adebayo Williams On Chuks Iloegbunam

 By Tony Eluemunor

“I prefer to be accused of nastiness than to join in the national pastime of consigning events of a few years ago into prehistory”.

Chinua Achebe wrote that in the preface of his book of essays, Morning  Yet On Creation Day, to explain why he had to include essays on the Biafran war in that book instead of pretending that the war never took place. Here and now, I second that “motion”.

Tatalo Alamu, in his offering titled Ninety Bouquets For Jack Gowon published in the Nation newspaper of November 3, 2024, poured encomiums on Gen. Yakubu Gowon, “as an exemplary Nigerian patriot, a soldier-statesman and shining moral exemplar for many of his compatriots”.

JUDICIARY CLEAN-UP: NJC Needs More Sincerity!

By Tonnie Iredia

No one disputes the fact that many problems currently confronting Nigeria’s judiciary are caused by a few bad eggs in the system as it is in many other organizations. If those few bad eggs are not quickly expelled or aggressively beaten into line, the cancer they have attracted into that arm of government in the last couple of years will soon quickly spread all through the system.

What this suggests is that the greatest problem facing the Nigerian judiciary today is not the continuing recklessness of the so-called bad eggs but the apparent lack of courage and sincerity of those at the top to hold the bull by its horn and call everyone to order. The implication of this is that the posture of the National Judicial Council NJC which is empowered to regulate the judiciary is inadvertently increasing the bad eggs.

November 11, 1995 And The Tragedy Of Democracy

 By Kola Johnson

Precisely 29 years on Monday, that historic moment, November 11, 1995, when Nigerian politicians converged at Eko Hotel for the colorful summit of all Nigerian politicians – a historic first mammoth gathering of all Nigerian politicians cutting across diverse party shades and affiliations – after the June 12 annulment of the 1993 election, of which the Billionaire business mogul, MKO Abiola was the popularly acclaimed winner – optimism ballooned to euphoric heights.

*Abiola 

It was an occasion that commanded all the trappings of a big event, parading notable and immensely influential movers and shakers in the Nigerian political hemisphere, in the likes of Alex Ekwueme, Bola Ige, Olu Falae, Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, Abubakar Rimi, among others, just as it also furnished for me, a congenial milieu for a direct interactive interface with the likes of Iyorchia Ayu, Isiaka Adeleke, Lema Jibril, Ojo Madueke, Senator Ayo Fasanmi, Yemi Farounbi, and ex-Governor Michael Otedola, whom I had been privileged to meet before, at Airport Hotel, in December 1988, during the Gala Nite celebration of Epe Lions Club.

On Right Track As Hunger Envelops The Land?

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Earlier in the week, at the 70th birthday celebrations of Pastor Tunde Bakare, President Bola Tinubu and the governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, spoke for the umpteenth time on the excruciating economic and social pains Nigerians are going through.

President Tinubu was represented by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume. Akume said at the occasion: “The President acknowledges that times are hard, but at the end of it all, there is always light. And solutions to complex problems can never be as instant as coffee, but we are on the right track.”

Donald Trump’s Return: Americans Put Economic Self-Interest Above Moral Values

 By Olu Fasan

There are two views of human behaviour. One is that people are primarily motivated by self-interest – what’s in it for me? The other is that people are primarily influenced by deeply ingrained moral values – what’s right and wrong? The first view comes from the rational choice or game-theoretic school, the second belongs to what scholars call constructivism.

*Trump

Now, Europeans are generally believed to privilege high principles over narrow self-interest. By contrast, Americans have long been seen as mostly self-interested, individualistic people, to whom moral values are secondary considerations. That caricature of the Americans played out powerfully last week when they overwhelmingly returned to power Donald Trump, president from January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021, notwithstanding his deeply flawed character and untoward past behaviour!