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What I would call a routine conversation with a former Nigerian leader inspired this write-up. After expressing his concern about certain developments in the polity, the retired general said he was worried about how Nigerians keep promoting ethnic and religious sentiments at a time the country needed all the unity it can afford to make […]
Continue ReadingIt’s been very difficult for me to comment on the VAT component of the tax reform bills because of lack of data. President Bola Tinubu has proposed to increase VAT derivation from 20 percent to 60 percent. This has led to political pushbacks and media war. Proponents argue that the bill is so good it […]
Continue ReadingCall her naïve but she spoke the minds of millions. I am talking about the woman interviewed by TVC during the Ondo state governorship election last weekend. Asked how the voting went, the woman, speaking in Yoruba, said: “Everything went peacefully. We have voted and we have collected money. Everything went well.” A lady (probably […]
Continue ReadingThe late Archbishop Benson Idahosa was once asked to comment on the “proliferation of churches” in the country. His rhetorical response was as cynical as it was clinical: “Why are people not complaining about the proliferation of beer parlours?” This came to mind recently when the old debate about whether or not we should pray […]
Continue ReadingJust when you are tempted to give up on Nigeria, something happens and your hope survives another brutal assault yet again. The incident involving Hon. Alex Mascot Ikwechegh has once more assured me that Nigeria is not a lost case. We know what is right, even if we fail to do it. We know what […]
Continue ReadingPraise the Lord! President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed ministers and heads of departments and agencies to reduce the number of vehicles in their convoys to three and their security personnel to a maximum of five. This is to “reduce the cost of governance” (I prefer to call it “government’s running cost” because “governance” is […]
Continue ReadingBreaking News: The World Bank has endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policy, suggesting that Nigeria must maintain its current reforms for the next 10 to 15 years in order to be able to transform its economy. Dr. Indermit Gill, the chief economist and senior vice-president of the World Bank Group, said and I quote: […]
Continue ReadingWell, well, well… what an eventful week! So eventful I was unsure of what topic to write about. I started out wanting to do a follow-up to my last article, ‘On States, Regions and Federalism’. I also wanted to make an important clarification on the Unification Decree of 1966, having forgotten to add that it […]
Continue ReadingDays ago, I stumbled on a fierce social media debate. It was centred on when Nigeria moved from “federal” to “unitary” system. I was very uncomfortable with the distortion of elementary political concepts but, as a basic rule, I do not participate in Nigerian social media debates. It is usually not a good use of […]
Continue ReadingThe Dangote Petroleum Refinery was supposed to be the final solution to Nigeria’s energy needs. What went wrong? Why the brouhaha? Why the anti-climax? I have been observing developments from my balcony — beyond what I have been seeing in the papers, watching on TV, hearing on radio and reading on social media. I could […]
Continue ReadingIt took me less than one hour into President Bola Tinubu’s administration to spot a giant red flag. His famous words at the inauguration, “subsidy is gone”, instantly set off an alarm in my head. In my article on it, ‘Why (Most) Nigerians Oppose Subsidy Removal’ (June 4, 2023), I wrote: “With all of Tinubu’s […]
Continue ReadingGovernor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state set the ball rolling weeks ago. Addressing a group of supporters asking him to join the 2027 presidential race, the PDP governor said he would prefer ex-President Goodluck Jonathan to go for it. “I know there are good leaders within the PDP, especially my boss Goodluck Jonathan,” he told […]
Continue ReadingAn American immigration officer caught me unawares with a probing question. I was doing a research on five oil-producing countries on a comparative scale with Nigeria to draw out lessons for our leaders on policy environment, windfall management, upstream-downstream linkages, local content, and operations of national oil companies. I had travelled to Washington, DC to […]
Continue ReadingThere you have it. The “hunger protest” that took off in most parts of the country on Wednesday has predictably led to burning, looting and killing. In one instance, demonstrators tried to overrun a government house. A man was seen vandalising traffic lights to — wait for this — “end bad governance”. Unfortunately, at least […]
Continue ReadingNigerians have been invited to troop to the streets in their millions from Thursday, August 1, to protest the harsh economic situation following the dramatic rise in the cost of living in the last one year. The protest is slated to last for two weeks. The demands are not very clear yet but the theme […]
Continue ReadingMany Nigerians just love the parliamentary system of government without knowing it. That was my first take-away from the UK general election, which saw the Labour Party chase the Tories out of No 10 in one of the most comprehensive defeats in the country’s history. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, assumed […]
Continue ReadingI grew up being made to understand that everything about the United States of America was a model to the rest of the world. “In America” was a constant recourse in public discourse — whether we were talking about democracy, constitutionalism, federalism or public accountability. Anything American was the best for the world. It was […]
Continue ReadingGood God, we are madly in love with yesterday, aren’t we? We are always looking forward to yesterday. You know, the good old days. The days when we had three regions and “true” federalism. The days when the regions “competed” with one another, when the Western Region would set up a TV station and the […]
Continue ReadingAfter nearly 70 years of agitation, Nigeria finally looks set to establish state police. That is, every state will have its own police force. On Thursday, House of Assembly speakers in the 36 states of the federation announced their support for the proposal. That means we should expect state legislators to endorse an amendment when […]
Continue ReadingI was filled with regrets after watching a documentary by the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) titled ‘Fuel Subsidy: Lifting a Nation’s Burden’. I started ruminating over what might have been. In the opening, Dame Winifred Akpani, founder and CEO of NorthWest Petroleum and Gas Company, reminds us of how fuel […]
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