The Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria (GPAAN ), the nation's foremost organization for public affairs analysts and political commentators has raised alarm over the recurring ugly decimal of both vote-selling – by some gullible electorate and buying by the corrupt politicians – which have become endemic in our political clime.
The disturbing dimension to the electoral process marred the conduct of the recent by-elections across 12 affected states in the country.
By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu
In 1981, Chief Gani Fawehinmi was already 16 years at the Nigerian Bar and one of its brightest stars. Already a breakout litigator, Gani had also become a pioneer in the enterprise of legal publishing. One decade earlier, he had served the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as its national publicity secretary. Among the lawyers of his or, in fact, any other generation active at the Bar, there were few who could claim to be more accomplished.
The hallmark of excellence in legal practice in Nigeria, the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was a mere six years old at the time. Then – as now – the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC) was the statutory body established to consider and determine eligible applicants for the rank. As always, it was chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). By any measure, Gani Fawehinmi was more than eligible to take the rank in 1981.
By Olasunkanmi Arowolo
Education policy often involves striking a delicate balance between cultural traditions, financial realities, and long-term learning outcomes. Two recent interventions in Nigeria highlight this challenge: the Imo State government’s ban on nursery and JSS3 graduation ceremonies, and the Federal Government’s new literacy drive with cash transfers to mothers. Both have generated strong reactions, but each offers lessons worth deeper reflection.
The
graduation ban: Beyond social fanfare
I recalled I was on a short weekend visit to a family where one of the persons
in the gathering showed me a viral video of glamorous graduation ceremonies by
nursery pupils; so, even featuring red carpets, grand arrivals like prom events
in the western part of the world, asking what my thoughts were about it. I
simply said: “this is an indicator of misplaced priorities.”
By Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko
Amongst the many socio-economic afflictions of Nigeria of the 21st century, is the menace of trafficking in children by persons who have since made child trafficking and trafficking of persons billions’ dollars business franchise.
The problem became hydra-headed so much so that Nigerian state, under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, set up the anti human trafficking agency known as NAPTIP to tackle the menace which, incidentally, is a global criminal network. But NAPTIP is a ghost of its old self and is almost dysfunctional. But the crimes of child trafficking is a crime that offends our national psyche and sensibilities.
By Timi Olubiyi
In Lagos, Nigeria, like other African cities, Johannesburg, Cairo, Nairobi among others the pressure to appear rich has reached disturbing heights. Amid a backdrop of rapid urbanisation and economic uncertainty, social media platforms have only intensified this pressure, making it feel as though success is synonymous with material wealth. From sleek cars on the streets of Lekki, Victoria Island, or Ikeja and flashy social media posts make it hard to ignore the overwhelming desire to flaunt wealth in Lagos Nigeria.
In recent time the extravagant parties and designer clothes, the pursuit of outwardly projecting affluence has become an obsession, leaving many trapped in a cycle of debt and despair. The unfortunate paradox here is that it’s difficult for a broke person to keep up the appearance of affluence for long, while a rich person, paradoxically, can play broke every day of the week without breaking a sweat.
By Obi Nwakanma
As at this morning, dear reader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) remains a political prisoner, and a prisoner of conscience in Nigeria. Kanu continues to be held, against his will, and against the laws of the federation of Nigeria, whose courts have declared that he has broken no laws, and has no case to answer over the matter on which he is being held.
Kanu’s continued detention is now no longer a personal matter between Nnamdi Kanu and the Federal Government of Nigeria, it is now an insult to the Igbo. I will come to this in a minute. But let me quickly outline the Nnamdi Kanu story, for those who do not know, or who may have forgotten, or who have been absorbed by too much flux of time, and who may now be extremely fatigued by the drag of this case.
By Ebuka Ukoh
Last week, the Federal Court of Canada, presided over by Justice Sébastien Grammond, gave a ruling that has shaken more than one man—it has shaken the image of an entire nation.
Douglas Egharevba, a Nigerian who once belonged to both the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), was denied permanent residency in Canada. The court concluded that his association with PDP disqualified him, citing the party’s longstanding record of undermining democratic principles. Ironically, his more recent membership in APC did not redeem him. (APC ex-chair, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, must hear this!)
By Sylvester Ojenagbon
I sat down recently in a popular community pharmacy, waiting to be attended to. Then came a fairly educated middle-aged man who seemed to be a familiar face to the pharmacist on duty. “Give me that drug I bought that day,” he requested, pointing to a particular medication on the shelf. The pharmacist hesitated for a moment, then asked, “What do you want to use it for?”
Without thinking about it, the man gave a response I thought was the most ridiculous I had ever heard: he wanted to use it for typhoid, which he did not have at that point. He said he just wanted to take it as a preventive measure since he worked hard and did not want to start having body pains. The pharmacist had to explain to him the dangers of taking antibiotics without a proper diagnosis and prescription. Although the man left without the drug, the pharmacist confided that he was certain he would come back when someone else was on duty or go somewhere else to buy it.
Such thinking in the face of faster-eroding living standards of the people not only portrays the insensitivity of leaders but also exposes their greed.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
I have always known Yakubu Mohammed by reputation. But we met physically in 2018 when the League of Nigerian Columnists berthed. Initiated by syndicated columnists, Akogun Tola Adeniyi and Professor Anthony Kila, the league paraded industry giants such as Dan Agbese, Ray Ekpu, Reuben Abati, the late Henry Boyo, Ben Lawrence, the late Jimanze Ego-Alowes, Dare Babarinsa, Martins Oloja, Akin Osuntokun and yours sincerely as inaugural members.
*Yakubu Mohammed's book
Attending meetings and sharing ideas with these great men, an assemblage of people whose encyclopedic knowledge of Nigeria is deep, was invaluable. Whether it is Ekpu, Mohammed or Adeniyi or the urbane economist, Boyo, you couldn’t but marvel at what they knew, not from hearsay but firsthand information.
By Amanze Obi
His Excellency, President Goodluck Jonathan. I address you today with utmost sense of respect. My choice of this open medium is deliberate. It is aimed at ensuring that others who feel as concerned as I do help in calling you to order. Our dear former President, information reaching us has it that you are considering standing for election in the 2027 presidential race.
We hear that you are being propelled into this project by those who feel that what the North needs in 2027 is a southerner who will serve only one term to complete the turn of the South at the Presidency. Since President Bola Tinubu is not an option for the North, or for any Nigerian for that matter, the North, which claims to have the numbers, is shopping seriously for a credible southerner that will spend only four years in office.
By Tahir Ahmad
“Hear this: recruitment is not conducted on social media. If you see a post on Instagram, TikTok, or WhatsApp claiming to offer Customs jobs, it’s fake."
That was one of the striking lines from an AI-generated video I stumbled upon last weekend. That was while browsing the internet. It came from the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, speaking directly and in plain language to Nigerians about its recruitment process.
But while the video itself was clear and timely, it points to something much bigger than Customs’ recruitment alone. It reflects a national problem that is being fuelled by unemployment, exploited by scammers, and made worse by communication gaps in government.
By Sunny Awhefeada
Homeland holds significance in many ways. It embodies the physical, psychological and spiritual essence of man. Homeland could be a birthplace or an adopted place of origin. Both ways, a homeland has an endearing and enduring impact on people. It has a pull that is difficult to ignore or avoid. Before modernity and globalization came with displacement and tendency to see everywhere as home, the idea of the homeland carried with it a romantic allure that it became a motif in poetry and music.
The enduring impact of the homeland magic and mystic finds eternal resonance in Evi Edna Ogholi’s “No Place like Home”. Her scribal brothers, Gabriel Okara, Tanure Ojaide, Ibiwari Ikoriko, Joe Ushie, Ogaga Ifowodo, Ebi Yeibo, Obari Gomba, Peter Omoko and Stephen Kekeghe, in their poetry romanticized an idyllic homeland that was lost to capitalist rapacity embodied in oil multinationals and insensitive successive governments under the firm grip of comprador bourgeoisie. People had gone to war to defend their homeland. No matter how far people sojourned in the distant past they always made attempt to return to their homeland.
By Dan Onwukwe
The emergence of Mr. Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential race and the profound impact he made in that election has been driving Nigerian politics in astonishing manner. He’s defining public agenda, and speaking up – articulately and emphatically – on the urgent need to fix a broken Nigeria, clean up the mess, cut the cost and size of governance.
Mr. Obi never fails to remind anyone who cares to listen that part of his vision for a better Nigeria is not for personal gains but to dismantle the present structure of criminality in the country, not by violent means, but through active participation of the citizenry in the democratic process.
By Michael Owhoko
Who will restore Warri back to its glorious days? A city that was once the pride of all Wafarians is now a shadow of itself, rusty and reeking with aroma of poverty occasioned by systemic decline with people cocooned in deprivation and squalor. Warri is allusively known as Wafi, making the people and residents of the city identified as Wafarians.
I was close to tears during my recent visit where I toured the length and breadth of Warri, covering Deco Road, Okumagba Avenue, Okere Road, McCiver, Odion Road, Market Road, Cemetery Road, Iyara, McDermott Road, Warri-Sapele Road, Upper and Lower Erejuwa, Ajamogha, Esisi, and Warri Port. I stayed for over two months, the longest since my relocation to Lagos in 1984.
By Femi Awoyinfa
In a village school just outside one of the capital cities in Nigeria, a primary three pupil stares blankly at the blackboard. She’s ten years old and still unable to read a simple sentence. She is not alone. Across sub-Saharan Africa, nearly nine out of ten children cannot read or understand a basic text by age ten. This isn’t just a crisis of education, it’s a crisis of development.
Africa is standing at a demographic crossroad. Over the next 25 years, the continent’s population will swell past 2.5 billion, with more than 40 per cent under the age of 15. This youth bulge is often cited as an opportunity for innovation, growth, and global relevance. But numbers don’t educate themselves. Unless urgent investments are made in foundational learning: basic literacy and numeracy in the early years, this demographic dividend will become a debt.
By Adekunle Adekoya
“As part of the efforts of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP, Kayode Egbetokun, NPM, PhD, to enhance the security of lives and property, the Nigeria Police Force is set to commence the enforcement of the digitalised central motor registry (e-CMR) within the next 14 days, specifically on the 29th of July, 2024, — to rejuvenate and digitalize the motor vehicle registration system, significantly bolstering our nation’s safety and security framework,” the statement read in part.
By Ikechukwu Amaechi
One of the absurdities of Nigeria’s pseudo-democracy is the fact that those clamouring for President Bola Tinubu’s second term are not flaunting his achievements. Instead, the battle cry is the need for him to complete his “constitutionally guaranteed” two terms of eight years, not minding that there is no such guarantee in the 1999 Constitution, amended or not.
The more sophisticated amongst them are blackmailing the country with the rotational presidency arrangement between the North and South. They insist that since the late Muhammadu Buhari, a Northerner, was president for eight years, then a Southerner must be accorded the same privilege. And guess what? That Southerner must be Tinubu. In the event that the North reneges, they preach Southern solidarity as an antidote to the alleged greed of Northern political elites.
By Obi Nwakanma
A friend of mine sent me the link of the clip of my old buddy, Dr Reuben Abati, declaring that the civil war in Nigeria has not ended. Therefore the North will not vote for the likely candidacy of Peter Obi, an Igbo from the East. It of course struck me on two levels. Dr. Abati seemed deliberately to be lubricating tired and self-serving ideas.
The second part, where this hit very pointedly was at a very sudden realization! Dr. Abati is afraid of a Peter Obi presidency. He is not even hiding it. But for what reason? Why is the revanchist arm of the Yoruba in the Southwest of Nigeria a little too startled by the prospects of the Obi presidency? It is a question worth exploring.
By Stephanie Shaakaa
When a country rewards each Super Falcons player with N150 million and a three-bedroom house for a 90-minute football match, yet sends police and military pensioners who served 35 years home with N2–5 million, no housing, no healthcare, and a pension too small to feed a family, what we have is not just imbalance it’s a moral crisis.
And just like that the copy-paste generosity extended to the women’s basketball team. More cash, more houses, same hypocrisy. Meanwhile, the heroes of this country from other sectors rot in silence.
