How To Make Nigeria Work If Still Possible

 By Ugo Onuoha

It will be difficult, probably impossible, to make Nigeria work the way it is presently structured and governed. In theory we are running a federal system through the framework of a unitary structure. Operatives in  Abuja, the federal capital territory, determine who gets what, how, when, and where. Let’s illustrate right away with one trending absurdity. 

Until last week, Osun state was governed by the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) with Ademola Adeleke as governor. The ruling party in Abuja is the All Progressives Congress (APC). Last year the APC regime of Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had approached the Supreme Court to make a pronouncement on the constitutional prescription on fiscal autonomy for the country’s 774 local government areas. And the court found in his favour.

Violence And The ‘Emilokan’ Presidency

 By Obi Nwakanma

It is no longer news that the current APC administration – the ‘Emilokan’ presidency of Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu – has no answers to the problems facing Nigeria. Bola Tinubu is in fact, out of his depths. He has not the actual training, the intellectual capacity, the visionary or rhetorical ability to move Nigeria forward. He is negotiating with terrorists.

*Tinubu

He is not only clueless – yes that word again that has come to haunt the APC and its supporters who first used it against Dr. Goodluck Jonathan – Tinubu is confused. He has no ideas, beyond his “Agbado solutions.” He is surrounded by the most incompetent people ever to be assembled on Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council. A cabinet of lightweights, who like the man Tinubu himself, are also mostly out of their depths.

Police State Or State Police?

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

On 26 November 2025, Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, announced in a statement personally signed by him that he had “decided to declare a nationwide security emergency” to be accompanied by some measures, including the recruitment by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Armed Forces of 20,000 and 50,000 new personnel respectively.

In the fortnight preceding the announcement, a flurry of frightening terror incidents had created among populations and communities around the country a heightened state of fear. It also reinforced the perception of a normalization of insecurity and of the traumas associated with it.

Ten Reasons Peter Obi Must Shun ADC Now!

By Steve Osuji (EXPRESSO Umb-rage)

ONE: Engagement Through Subterfuge: The new party emanating from a coalition of opposition politicians has already been tainted. The African Democratic Congress (ADC), has been completely taken over by the Atiku group. 

*Obi

Analysts had mocked ADC as ATIKU DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS, and truly, the situation in the party today has proved them perspicacious. 

A few days ago, Atiku Abubakar, erstwhile vice president of Nigeria and one of the arrowhead of ADC announced that he had formalised his membership of the party. A few others followed suit. 

The Inside Story Of The Fake Coup In Guinea-Bissau

 By Owei Lakemfa

Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embalo on November 26, 2025 sat in his office as the President of Guinea-Bissau. As a retired General, the 53-year-old knew when he was beaten. Three days earlier, he had succumbed to unbearable pressures that he allowed general elections to be held despite his fears. His tenure had expired on February 27, 2025.

Rather than hold elections in accordance with the constitution, he had it postponed. The Constitutional Court had come to his aid by setting September 4, 2025 as the new date for his departure or mandate renewal. The seven-month extension had seemed a long way off.

Insecurity: Between Badaru’s Resignation And General Musa’s Return

 By Adekunle Adekoya

Curious. And curiouser. 

That’s how I can describe happenings on the Defence turf. Just weeks ago, immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa exited active service as a uniformed soldier. His exit, still unexplained, led to the elevation of his immediate subordinates into vacancies created by his exit. The burly Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Olufemi Oluyede, stepped in as Defence Chief, while the Navy and Air Force and Army also got new chiefs.

*Gen Musa 

Prior to these developments, there had been talk of insurrection, with more talk of some soldiers having been arrested for questioning. After Musa was formally pulled out of service, all that talk vaporised. It seemed as if the dog had been given the name they wanted to give it so they could do to it what they wanted to do.

Renewed Hope Or Renewed Hypocrisy: Tinubu’s Risky Politics Of Redemption

 By Emmanuel Aziken

At a time President Bola Tinubu has chosen to nominate some of Nigeria’s most controversial personalities as ambassadors to represent the country abroad, the emergence of his so-called Renewed Hope Ambassadors—appointed to canvass support for his second-term aspiration—has shaken the polity in a manner that many did not expect but which, perhaps, should no longer surprise anyone observing the curious evolution of our political culture.

*Tinubu and Omokri 

 The inclusion of figures like Mr. Reno Omokri, whose pre-election stance painted Tinubu with every negative virtue that should not be associated with a leader, did not completely shock Nigerians. After all, before Omokri, the president had already appointed Dr. Daniel Bwala as Special Adviser, a man who only a year earlier emphatically declared that “even if you give Tinubu 30 years, nothing will work.” With such examples, it has become increasingly clear that Tinubu’s political instincts lean heavily toward embracing, rehabilitating, and strategically deploying his most ferocious critics.

The Health Implications Of Commercial Grinding Machines

By Roberta Edu

We're slowly reducing our own population and blaming others. Imagine the extent of harm the locally fabricated grinding machines do to our population:

Here's the story of a concerned Nigerian:

When I started Moppet Foods  years ago, one of our Moppet cereal variants, Moppet Nutmeal, contained peanut. Now, when I was using a blender to blend, I could add the peanut together with everything and just roll.

But as we scaled, the blender was no longer enough. We acquired a grinder to handle larger volumes, but it couldn’t blend peanuts along with the grains, a major challenge.

Peter Obi: Is Nigeria Cursed, Or Are We The Curse?

 The past 10 days in Nigeria have witnessed unprecedented negative news, a level of chaos, insecurity, and institutional decay that should trouble the conscience of all the leaders. 

*Obi

Our country is now going through troubling times, not by fate, but by our collective leadership failures that allow insecurity, lawlessness, and institutional decay to thrive. Each day confronts us with a new tragedy and a new reminder that our beloved country is drifting amid a clear absence of competent, compassionate, responsive and responsible leadership. 

Peter Obi: A Pain One Carries Silently!

*Obi
 This afternoon, as I travelled from Abuja to Lagos, a group of young Nigerians approached me at the airport and said: “We have not heard or read anything from you today or yesterday, despite all the heartbreaking news dominating our front pages—from the appointment of some of the least qualified individuals as ambassadors, to our institutions being ridiculed, the First Lady hosting extravagant dinners for Senators while children are being abducted, and the countless killings across the country.” 

Peter Obi: Distribution of Campaign Vehicles: Profound Insensitivity And Abuse of Trust

 At a time when Nigerians are struggling with hunger, unemployment, and insecurity, the decision of any government to allocate limited public resources for distributing luxury vehicles like Hilux trucks and Hummer buses as part of the 2027 campaign mobilisation is not only insensitive but also represents a serious moral failure. 

*Obi

While ordinary Nigerians are grappling with poverty and hopelessness, those in leadership positions continue to flaunt their wealth by driving brand-new Land Cruisers, Hiluxes, and Hummers, treating the suffering of the people as mere background for political theatrics. This tragic misplacement of priorities is unacceptable. 

Bola Tinubu Has A Police Palaver

 By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

When Olusegun Obasanjo returned as the president of Nigeria in May 1999, according to Mohammed Dikko (MD) Yusuf, a former Inspector-General of Police, (IGP) he “inherited a Police Force that was poorly equipped, decimated in numerical strength, deprived of necessary logistics, and lacking, as it were, moral and public support necessary for effective performance and the enhancement of the security of the nation.”

*Tinubu with the IGP

Former IGP, MD Yusuf said these in the report he submitted in 2008 to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as the Chair of the second Presidential Commission on Police Reform to report in as many years. Headed by former Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG), Muhammadu Danmadami, he first submitted its report in May 2006 to President Yar’Adua’s predecessor and benefactor, President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Why Nigeria Is Not Working

 By Ugo Onuoha

The safe thing to do is to say that Nigeria is not working at its optimal best. But that will amount to playing the ostrich. Because the reality is that our country is not working, not at all, not even for the ruling political and economic elites who currently think that they are having a swell time. If only they knew how much more they would be better if the right things were to be done to make this country work for the majority of its citizens. Sadly, the understanding of our elites (and this is a wrong label for them) is limited, warped, myopic, and parochial.

It has to be acknowledged that the roles of elites, whether political, economic, or intellectual, in nation-building anywhere can be a mixed bag of the good, the bad, and the ugly. The sad reality in our case is that the impacts of Nigeria’s elites on the country over time have gravitated between the bad and the ugly. Any semblance of the elites doing good to the society started and ended in the first republic, 1960-1966. 

Hasn’t Tinubu Insulted Nigerians Enough?

 By Ikechukwu Amaechi

It is extremely difficult to understand why President Bola Tinubu takes delight in insulting Nigerians at every turn. Or how else can one explain most of his actions other than that of a leader who does not care a hoot about what the people think or feel?

*Tinubu 

A few weeks ago, it was the issue of presidential pardon. It beggared belief that a president would demean a constitutional instrument, designed not only to temper justice with mercy but also give the Nigerian state a human face with the axiomatic milk of kindness flowing underneath near infinite executive powers.

Creating A New Nigeria Through The ‘Veil Of Ignorance’

 By Olu Fasan

The theory of political justice is based on two conceptions. The first is the ‘might-is-right’ school, which describes the illegitimate or amoral exercise of power over individuals or communities. The second is the contractarian perspective, based on the notion that a political community should be founded on consensus among its people, and serve their best interests. Nigeria is a product of the former, the might-is-right school. This country was created, built and continues to exist on the whim and self-interest of the powerful, not on high ideals or virtues. 

And because of this birth-defect, Nigeria is not a just society. What’s more, it has failed to transform itself from a perversely unfair society into one that the philosopher John Rawls describes as “a cooperative venture for mutual advantage”.

‘Jeunalists’ Must Have A Uniform Like Policemen!

 By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

Jeunalists have replaced journalists in Nigeria. There used to be journalism in Nigeria but now what we do have is jeunalism, and the difference is clear, as the advert line goes.

The etymology of “jeunalists” goes way back to the Yoruba word “jeun” which means “to eat,” and fact is: the jeunalists are indeed eating today. 

What needs to be done now is to have a uniform for the jeunalists to differentiate them from the older form known as journalists.

For crying out loud, as the cliché goes,  jeunalists are in the urgent need for a uniform like policemen. 

Whatever a Nigerian policeman can do, a jeunalist can do better.

The brave new Nigerian jeunalists have shown the capacity to actually collect more bribes than policemen - whence the need for these eating  jeunalists to have the same make of uniform as their colleagues in bribe-taking, that is, the police. 

Guinea-Bissau’s Lawless President Embalo Has No Business In Office

 By Owei Lakemfa

The military coup on Wednesday, November 26, 2025 that swept away President Umaro Sissoco Embaló did not come as a surprise. Embalo, a retired general who camouflaged as an elected President, was a lawless leader who consistently trampled the country’s constitution under his feet. He had a sense of entitlement and a culture  of impunity.

*General Horta Inta-A Na Man

In my February 9, 2024 column titled, ‘The civilian coups in Senegal, Guinea Bissau and ECOWAS ambivalence’, I  pointed out that: “There are civilian or constitutional coups in Guinea Bissau and Senegal, yet the regional body, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, is pretending otherwise. It appears interested only in military coups, not those carried out by its bosses in the Heads of State Summit.”

Insecurity: Managing Our Clear And Present Danger

 By Adekunle Adekoya

There can be no further doubt in the minds of the average Nigerian that our dear country faces a clear and present danger on many fronts. The immediate one is the unrelenting wave of terror attacks, exemplified by repeated attacks on communities in Kwara State, which was preceded by abduction of Kebbi school girls, now said to have regained freedom.

Another problem the nation faces is with regard to the procurement, sale and use of narcotics and other psychotropic substances. The NDLEA, under General Mohammed Marwa has been doing a good job on that front, but he needs support. More on that another day.

Structure Matters: Nigeria Needs The Right Political System To Succeed

 By Olu Fasan

Too often, one hears that it is not Nigeria that needs restructuring, but the minds of Nigerians and their leaders. Those who hold that view try to shift the emphasis away from structure to culture. They are wrong! Of course, culture matters, and leadership matters too. But empirical studies around the world show that it is the right institutions, the right governance structure, the right political system that creates the incentives that shape behaviour and drive political and economic progress. 

*Tinubu and Akpabio

The best insight on the powers of incentives came from Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, authors of the fascinating book Freakonomics. They said: “Incentives are the cornerstones of modern life – and understanding them is the key to solving just about any riddle.” They added: “An incentive is a bullet, a lever, a key; an often-tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation.”

Questions For President Tinubu

 By Ochereome Nnanna

President Bola Tinubu’s spokesmen have been oddly quiet over two very grave accusations which portrayed their principal possibly as a part of our security problems. 

*Tinubu

When 25 students of Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga in Kebbi State were abducted about ten days ago, the state’s Governor, Mohammed Idris, made a shocking disclosure. He said his government received credible intelligence about a likely attack on the school.