Powerless: Nigeria’s unending struggle with electricity, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

Available records show that the first public electricity generation took place at Pearl Street Station in New York in 1882 and that electricity generation in Nigeria began in Lagos in 1886. Therefore, one can safely say that this year marks the 142nd anniversary of commercial electricity globally. It also means that all this talk about […]

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Democracy, governance and credible elections (2), By abiodun KOMOLAFE

Let’s come to the issues of recruitment and selection. All over the world, leadership is what changes history. Think of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka, Vladimir Lenin, and come to terms with the fact that followership are just extras in a movie! Or, was it ‘the people’ […]

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Democracy, governance and credible elections (1), By abiodun KOMOLAFE

There is a problem about the institutional framework in which the Nigerian state as presently constituted is based. To have democracy, good governance and credible elections, there must be institutional reforms and great accountability in government. The three are interwoven, only that we tend to think that democracy is all about elections. In any case, […]

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Education: Southwest Nigeria has lost its edge!, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

The purported ranking of states by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), based on their performance in the 2023 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), is the focus of this piece. In the said publication, ‘Lagos State, which hosts many private schools and home to virtually all Nigerians, is in the 6th position. The next […]

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Afenifere and the progressive camp (2), By abiodun KOMOLAFE

In the course of the week, I had cause to be at the Akure, Ondo State-home of the Afenifere Leader, Reuben Fasoranti, and I saw modesty in its raw form. From Fasoranti’s symbolic bungalow which has played host to presidents, governors and other crème-de-la-crème of the society in their monstrous agbada or Babarigas, to the […]

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The nature of democracy in Nigeria By abiodun KOMOLAFE

Talking seriously, Democracy as a concept was alien to Africa, and by implication, Nigeria. Largely, right from inception, democratic norms and values were never assimilated and internalised by Africans. At best, its definition and perception were conveniently based on assumptions. So, it meant different things to different people who thought differently! Needless to repeat that […]

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Provincialism, parochialism and underdevelopment, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

By nature, development ‘belongs to those who know it, not those who have it or can buy it.’ It is like a picture, which one keeps working on. Parochialism, on the other hand, is a cultural entrapment. It is evil! With it at work, extant philosophies are laced with the cultural sentiment that a people […]

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Owolabi: Murdered in Nigeria, Buried in America, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

One of the greatest shortcomings of Nigeria’s existence is that she has never evolved into a nation. The amalgamation of territories, imposition of the colonial masters, the unfortunate intervention of the military and its attendant maladministration of the civil-society, and the corruption-infested politicians have not actually given the country that opportunity to realize her potentials. […]

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Bishop Kukah and the fractured microcosm, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

Let me start this rather short Tribute by stating that the story of my contact with Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and my eventual employment at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) are already well-documented in the manuscripts of my future book. Let me also confess that this event-filled connection was the culmination of the timely […]

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The masses as instruments, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

Politics, ultimately, is about the people. Policymakers always allude to the interest of the masses as the raison dètre of their policy contents. It therefore goes without saying that all policies appear to be people-friendly until their implementation, when the real and intended beneficiaries are exposed. At the outset, every administrator tells the people that […]

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Again, Obasanjo’s sermon on Nigeria, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

Nigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, will not stop amazing Nigerians! In yet another in the series of what could be described as ‘speaking truth to power’, Obasanjo recently berated the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for mismanaging the country’s diversity. According to him, “old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses […]

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Appreciating a responsible father, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller Next Friday, September 11, 2020, the mortal remains of my late father, Pa Sunday Alaba Komolafe, will be committed to Mother Earth. The event, which will take place at Ijebu-Jesa, his Osun State-ancestral hometown, will no doubt […]

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2023 and leadership crisis in Nigeria, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

The race to the Year 2023 general elections in Nigeria has already begun and all eyes can see it. Ancient prejudices, myths and biases are gradually gathering momentum with ferocious swiftness; and it is as if those with the notion that Nigeria’s next major political battle is still centuries away have missed it. Again, while the cumulative effects of the forthcoming Edo and Ondo States’ governorship elections will be sufficient enough to foretell the […]

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2023 in the eye of COVID-19, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

Experts have predicted that COVID-19 may remain a crisis much longer than 2022, with “up to 70% of world’s population” becoming infected. Amid this mess, elections are billed to hold in Nigeria in 2023, in line with constitutional provisions. If, in the worst-case scenario, COVID-19 subsists beyond 2022, what then does the future hold for dear country? The more reason Nigeria’s politicians, as at today, should worry about how to ensure that we have a country […]

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Nigeria: One Country, Wasted Visions, By abiodun KOMOLAFE

“We must make sure about two things, namely: that our principles are just and that are methods are practical; for nothing destroys her own ends as unjust principles and impractical methods and approach.” – Obafemi Awolowo. Twenty three years ago, yours sincerely authored an article on one of Nigeria’s never-endingDevelopment Plans. The intervention, entitled, ‘Vision 2010 Hath No Fury’ (Nigerian […]

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