J.A. Atanda Prize For The Best Essay On The Yoruba

Joseph Adebowale Atanda was a passionate historian who dedicated his scholarship to the historiography of Africa, especially that of the Yoruba. Popular among his publications are The New Oyo Empire: Indirect Rule and Change in Western Nigeria, 1894-1934, An Introduction to Yoruba History and Baptist Churches in Nigeria: Accounts of Their Foundation and Growth. The robust contributions of Atanda to Yoruba Studies have enhanced the existing knowledge of the Yoruba history, culture and spirituality, as well as the colonial and postcolonial relation. More than two decades after his demise, his scholarship remains relevant, and more increasingly so. 

Natasha Akpoti: Heroine Of The Kogi Election

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

As I write now, I am not too sure that I will be able to readily remember the full name of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate – the major opposition contestant in the November 16, 2019 gubernatorial election in Kogi State. So, it should not be surprising that I probably wouldn’t have heard about Natasha Hadiza Akpoti, the intelligent and courageous young lady who flew the governorship flag of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in that election if some fellows in the state’s murky political scene did not choose to attract undue attention to the state by stretching their desperation and crude politics to unimaginable extremes in their determination to run Natasha out of the governorship contest. 

*Natasha Akpoti

Indeed, my interest in what happens in Kogi had been so badly depleted by the unedifying record of Gov Yahaya Bello whose most significant achievement in office appears to be his successful de-marketing of the very outstanding campaign undertaken by some young Nigerians to push for the greater participation of the younger generation in the leadership of this country. It is so demoralising that when anyone tries these days to applaud and strengthen the case of this laudable advocacy (whose delicious fruit was the signing into law of the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari on May 31, 2018), the predictable retort usually fired back at one is: what of Yahaya Bello, is he not a young man? What is the guarantee that other young people would not only replicate his dismal record if they assumed leadership positions? It is as bad as that. 

Refusing To Go To Afghanistan In Nigeria

By Banji Ojewale

In Nigeria, falling for Afghanistan’s sirens simply is when our newspaper columnists and writers focus their attention on far-flung foreign features while ignoring domestic hot-button issues beckoning them. When home matters of momentous concerns come up asking to be sorted out, or to be interrogated for a solution, the fatal feminine fellows in the form of foreign news upstage the burning national discourse and take our writers away.

The age of military rule in Nigeria gave birth to the concept of going to Afghanistan. The soldiers, upon seizing power which didn’t belong to them, would abrogate the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people, brutishly expressed in the suspension of the Constitution, with all the operational institutions the sacred document created: the elected executive, lawmaking assembly, political parties, popular organizations like labour and student unions etc. The martial lords were notorious for throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Nigeria: Endless Borrowing Will Lead To Endless Sorrowing

By Atiku Abubakar

John Quincy Adams once said “there are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” He may have very well been referring to Nigeria of the last three years.

*Atiku and Buhari 

Barely two weeks ago, I warned during my Founder’s Day lecture at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, that Nigeria had taken almost as much foreign debt in the last three years, as she had taken in the thirty years before 2015 combined. Now that is frightening. And very true.

Frightening, not just because of the amount, but because after such unprecedented borrowing, we have emerged as the world headquarters for extreme poverty and the global capital for out of school children. It begs the question: what were the funds used for?

Third Term Agenda And The Buhari We Don’t Know

By Banji Ojewale

Some compatriots say we wouldn’t know the real man we have as our president until the chickens come home to roost in 2023. In that year, would President Muhammadu Buhari have removed the veil to succumb to the current sacrilegious clamour to go for a fatal tenure extension? Would he have given in to calls to trash the Constitution so he can walk on the slippery ground euphemistically termed third term? Would he be the Buhari of the wailers? Or of the hailers?

*Buhari 

In 2023, is Buhari going to remain the man we’ve always known as our beloved president? Or a stranger foisted on us? Would he be the bride we didn’t pay our dowry for? Would the husband discover he’d been shortchanged at the point where only God would be the Unseen and Silent Onlooker? Would there be a supplanter at work?

Social Media Bill: Short Walk To Total Totalitarianism?

By Matthew Hassan Kukah

I have consistently tried to create levels of differentiation between democracy and dictatorship, especially dictatorships of the military variant as we have had in Nigeria. I have argued that Nigeria is still very far away from the goal posts of what could be called a democratic society. In my view, the environment does not as yet look anything democratic because the actors are largely strangers to the ethos of democratic governance, and what is more, too many of them are tied to the old order, not to talk of the fact that the presence of General-presidents suggest that we are still in the thrall of militarism.

*Kukah

Democracy thrives on debate, consensus building, negotiation, persuasion, argumentation, rule of law, process and inclusion. The military thrives in a coup culture, secrecy, betrayal, violence, command structure, exclusion and lack of transparency. That explains why I have always warned against describing the current charade of violent elections as democracy.

No Student Impregnated Lecturer At Fed University Lafia – Spokesperson

The Federal University Lafia has dismissed as fake the viral story on the social media about a Computer Science student who was allegedly expelled by the university for impregnating his lecturer.

In a statement issued by Mr. Abubakar Ibrahim, the Head, Information and Public Relations Department of the University, the institution described the story as “nothing but a fabrication by the writer …aimed at destroying the good image and reputation of Federal University Lafia...”

Read the statement below:

Allen Onyema And Air Peace V. US Department of Justice: Points To Ponder

By Emmanuel N. Emenyonu, Ph.D (Glasgow), LLB (London), CPA (Massachusetts), FCA (Nigeria)

------------------------------------------

"The Nigerian media space went agog when the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia Atlanta Division on November 19, 2019, filed Case 1:19-cr-00464, A “True Bill”, otherwise known as Grand Jury Criminal Indictment against the persons of Allen Ifechukwu Athan Onyema, a Nigerian Citizen, the Chairman and CEO of Air Peace; and Ejiroghene Eghagha, a Nigerian citizen and the Chief of Administration and Finance of Air Peace. Commentators have speculated on the guilt or innocence of the accused.

*Allen Onyeama

Others have offered some theories relating to the motivations and hidden hands behind the Indictment. Some ‘experts’ have pontificated on the seriousness of the charges especially money laundering. Some commentators have even likened the Indictment to some recent high profile indictments involving some Nigerians alleged to have engaged in sundry cybercrimes and advanced fee fraud schemes.

‘Hate Speech’ And The Coming Hangman!

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

When governments betray enduring inability to solve some of the very basic needs of their people in order to end (or at least reduce) their pains and suffering, and if also the democratic character of the heads of such regimes have begun to badly wither, their impatience and irritation for dissenting views will start growing with incredible speed as they see that in the eyes and hearts of the citizenry, their esteem and appreciation are badly plummeting.

At such times, their desperation to gag the people will become so palpable. It might even degenerate to a stage when merely speaking about your pain and suffering could be viewed as “Hate Speech” – depending on who is interpreting your complaint. After all, by talking about the hardship in the land due to failed, misconceived policies, the collapse of infrastructure and lack of basic amenities, you are portraying the government as a failure; that could qualify as “Hate Speech,” and you could go in for it. So, to stay out of trouble, you just have to act a “good citizen” by keeping quiet and suffering in silence. You may never know, the hangman might be a yelling distance away! History is replete with examples!

Ending Impunity On Crime Against Journalists

By Isah Ismaila Gagarawa

Every second of November is proclaimed as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists as members of states are urged by the United Nations General Assembly to implement definite measures in countering the present culture of impunity.  However, according to the Global impunity Index report published by the Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ, there have been several cases of impunity on murders of journalists in countries where ‘democracy’ is practiced.

It is indeed painful when people capacitated by the power of the constitution in carrying out their duties, are being killed on a regular basis around the world; and their perpetrators are not prosecuted.

November 16 As National Day For Zik

By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

November 16, the birthday of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, ought to be a national holiday in Nigeria. It is deserving honour for the pivotal leader who led the charge for Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960.

*Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe

As a result of his unparalleled efforts, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe would in the course of time become the only black Governor-General of Nigeria, the first President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the only Nigerian whose name appeared in a Constitution of Nigeria, the first Senate President, among many other sterling firsts.

Regulate Unemployment And Poverty Not Social Media

By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku

Sometime in 2014, and prior to the 2015 General elections, most Nigerians were shell-shocked at the sort of language which certain highly-placed politicians flung here and there at Goodluck Jonathan. The arrowhead cum leader of those who used these irresponsible words to describe their president then was Nasir El Rufai, now governor of Kaduna State, followed by the present minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed.

*Jonathan and Buhari 

From the way these highly-placed Nigerians used these words, nobody would have thought those words constituted what we now know as ‘hate speech’, ‘fake news’ and ‘irresponsible journalism’. What again made such words as ‘clueless’, incompetent’ and ‘making Nigeria ungovernable’, seemingly harmless then was that the individual who those hateful and highly embarrassing words were directed at appeared to take them with a smile and did so apparently because he understood that insults and aspersions are corollaries to public office, and your ability to accept them, deflect or dodge them makes you a leader or a charlatan. 

eLearning Africa: Advancing From Abidjan

eLearning Africa shows the world “what an exciting, innovative continent Africa is” say the organisers of Africa’s leading conference on technology assisted learning and training, eLearning Africa. This year’s eLearning Africa, which took place in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from 23 -27 October and focussed on “the keys to the future: learnability and employability” was a “great success,” they say.

Henry Boyo, Renowned Economist, Dies

Dr. Henry Boyo, renowned economist and public intellectual, is dead. He died in London on Monday, November 18. He was 72.

Dr. Boyo was the Managing Director of Cocosheen Nigeria Limited, Lagos. 

He has written extensively on the Nigerian economy in his syndicated columns which appear in several national newspapers, like Daily Independent, Punch, Vanguard, etc.  

Dele Giwa: Lingering Echoes Of A Murder

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

 “Death is…the absence of presence…the endless time of never coming back…a gap you can’t see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound”.    – Tom Stopard, German playwright. 

*Giwa 

 

In the morning of Monday, October 20, 1986, I was preparing to go to work when a major item on the Anambra Broadcasting Service (ABS) 6.30 news bulletin hit me like a hard object. Mr. Dele Giwa, the founding editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine, had the previous day been killed and shattered by a letter bomb in his Lagos home. My scream was so loud that my neighbour barged into my room to inquire what it was that could have made me to let out such an ear-splitting bellow. 

We were three young men who had a couple of months earlier been posted from Enugu to Abakaliki to work in the old Anambra State public service, and we had hired a flat in a newly erected two-storey building at the end of Water Works Road, which we shared. My flat-mate, clearly, was not familiar with Giwa’s name and work, and so had wondered why his death could elicit such a reaction from me. But later that day, as he interacted with people, he realised that Giwa’s death was such big news, and by the next couple of days, he had become an expert on Giwa and his truncated life and career. Across the country, Giwa’s brutal death dominated the news not just because of the pride of place he occupied in Nigerian journalism practice and but more because of the totally novel way his killers had chosen to end his life.

Kogi 2019: Will Yahaya Bello Carry The Day?

By Tony Ademiluyi

Before Nigerian independence, the youths played a vital role in wrestling political power from our erstwhile colonial masters. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe established the Zik Group of Newspapers with the West African Pilot as it’s foremost in the group in 1937 at the age of thirty-three after a three year stint in editing the African Morning Post in Accra, Ghana. It revolutionized the newspapering industry and was the most nationalistic while still maintaining a modest modicum of financial success in its three decades of existence.

*Gov Bello and aides took to the streets to celebrate
 Buhari's return from UK medical  trip

Chief Anthony Enahoro edited the Southern Nigerian Defender one of the newspapers in the Zik Group in 1944 at the age of twenty-one straight from the famous Kings College Lagos without any university education. He went on to move the motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1953 at the age of thirty. Chief Bola Ige became the organizing secretary of the defunct Action Group at the age of twenty-three. Ambassador Matthew Tawo Mbu became the minister for Labour at the age of twenty-three in 1954 before he went to the United Kingdom to study law. Mazi Mbonu Ojike spearheaded the cultural nationalism with his famous ‘boycott the boycottables’ in his early thirties after his educational sojourn in the United States and became the Deputy Mayor of Lagos long before he turned forty. The list is endless of youths who achieved a lot in pre-independence Nigeria.

President Buhari, Bring Leah Sharibu Home!

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

As President Muhammadu Buhari, the commander-in-chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, spends his two weeks “private visit” in the United Kingdom surrounded by all the luxury, comfort and care our oil money can afford, with his own family members safe and well-provided for anywhere they chose to be in the world despite the unspeakable hardship tormenting the Nigerian masses at home due to his failed leadership, a 16-year old, tender, innocent girl called Leah Sharibu is at the moment a hapless, pathetic and traumatised captive of Boko Haram terrorists, obviously, under the most dehumanising conditions.

*Leah Sharibu 

Given what has, reportedly, been the horrible experiences of young, beautiful girls like Leah who have been very unfortunate to be captured by these terrorists, one is really scared to imagine what she might have been subjected to for over a year now. Most painful is that she hardly gets mentioned again these days by those whose job it is to rescue and bring her home!

Five Challenges Buhari Should Tackle Now

By Martins Oloja

President Muhammadu Buhari, leader of the most populous black nation on earth, may not be well aware of what most of the citizens are saying at this time about his administration and how far they think he can take Nigeria. It is indubitable that most president’s men tell any president-in-council what they think he would like to hear. Presidential aides and even most cabinet members are not known to be ready to tell the president any inconvenient truth that can strain the relationship. What is more, our leaders at all levels like sycophants and mediocrities to be around them. 

*President Buhari 

But despite overt hostility to even groundswell of opinion and wise counsel, I think we should continue to wish our leaders well by advising them on what we think they should do for our public good. We should not be weary in doing good, despite their poor attitude to reading and listening. That is why I would like to join good people who have been suggesting some priorities to our leaders, especially since the build-up to the 59th anniversary of our independence early this month. 

Nigeria: Reducing The Cost Of Governance

By Anthony Akinola

Agitation or call for a reduction in the cost of governance has been rather perennial. I wrote on this very topic sometime in the 1980s for the London-based West Africa magazine. I had then called for a reduction in the number of senatorial seats per state, which then was five. I had also called for a reduction in the number of ministers and advisers-all these in the Nigerian Second Republic.

*President Buhari and Senate President Lawan

I would later follow up this discussion with a memorandum to the Ibrahim Babangida-led Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC), sometime in 1986, in which I suggested that senatorial constituencies could be limited to what is now 3 Senators per state. 

Assessment Of Nigeria’s 59th Independence Anniversary

By Guy Ike Ikokwu

The situation in Nigeria today, is egregious and monumental that it gives a great majority of our peoples a feeling of total hopelessness in such a way that the general belief is that there must be a catalyst within the system.

It is now clear to the Nigerian masses that they have been deprived of their sovereignty for more than 50 years by the high ranking military personnel since January 1966 which torpedoed the civilian democratic norms inherited in various discussions with our British colonialists who had acted equivocally in their own self and economic interest. 

We have had 9 constitutions in 25 years to usher in real democracy which our young heroic musician and artist Fela Anikulapo Kuti called “Demon – Crazy” that was a philosophical thoughtful expose but the perspectives of our past decades show that our system of governance has really been demonic till this day! The last 1999 constitution which Nigeria had was initiated by Gen. Abudulsalami Abubarkar. Today we know that the 1999 constitution was a fraud as it was not delivered by the people of Nigeria.