Opinion

By Ali Elias The increasing lack of discipline among Nigerian youths, coupled with the failure of many parents to instill core values in their children, has become a significant societal challenge. A recent experience at a business plaza in Ijegun, Lagos State, underscores how common decency and respect for public spaces are rapidly eroding. Many young people today are displaying troubling levels of irresponsibility and disregard for basic social norms. One stark example is the unpleasant odor of urine permeating both inside and around offices in a plaza. Upon investigation, it was discovered that some individuals were urinating outside the building and even on the restroom floors, despite other more sanitary options being available. Shockingly, the culprits were young workers at the...

By Michael Chibuzo This man called President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is painstakingly doing an architectural redesign of Nigeria's economic foundations. He has chosen to be the scapegoat and anyone who understands Nigeria's structural problems should be grateful that a Bola Tinubu is President of Nigeria today. This is a President who appears not to be bothered about re-election politics and moves like one ready to sacrifice his immediate personal political interests for the long-term health and survival of his dear country. At the moment and in the foreseeable future, his attempt to solidify the foundation of this federalist state called Nigeria would bring about pains - a lot of it actually. It took us long to enter into the ditch, we must not expect to get of the ditch overnight or in f...

By Emmanuel Onwubiko THERE is this sycophantic bug that has beaten most people inside of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.  The main concern is that this dangerous bug has infested each of these political office holders in the APC led federal administration with the ‘virus’ called “GIVE TINUBU MORE TIME.”  The effect of this political ailment that has befallen politicians of the All Progressives Congress’s genre is so worrisome that these “political patients” have continuously inundated the public space with their “GIVE TINUBU MORE TIME SYNDROME.” The latest scenario was in the media in the last 24 hours in which a member of the House of Representatives representing Ibarapa East/Ido Federal Constituency, Mr. Aderemi Oseni, reportedly charged Nigerians...

Reuben Abati By Reuben Abati  “Bros, na wah for you oh. How person go dey call you, you no go pick call?” “A beg. My head no straight these days.”  “Are you okay? You sick?” “I sick. I sick well, well, well.” What is the matter? And your wife could not call family? These women! What is going on?” “I sick oh. Because my salary can no longer take me home. Nobody is increasing salaries. They don’t even pay as at when due anymore. When I buy fuel, the thing evaporates in 24 hours. My heart is perpetually pumping up and down. My body aches. And Madam is putting me under pressure that we have not yet paid the children’s school fees. I am sick. I can feel it in my bones. Have you not noticed that the fuel we buy these days simply evaporates? “My brother. Bros. Na...

By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu ON 7 June 1911, the High Court of Australia decided a very interesting case. It arose from a publication issued two months earlier by a newspaper called The Mercury, published from Hobart, in Tasmania. Under the title “A Modest Judge”, the newspaper took aim at Mr Justice Higgins, a senior judge of the High Court of Australia who was also the first President of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration. According to the records, in a case presided over by Justice Higgins in the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration, a lawyer, Mr Starke, accused a labour union of impunity, alleging that “they are encouraged…. by the Government of this country.” On hearing this, Justice Higgins prohibited the lawyer from uttering such words. When counsel protest...

Steve Osuji By Steve Osuji THE butterfly thinks himself a bird: It was a haunting scene in Beijing,  China the other week when President Bola Tinubu met his Chinese counterpart,  Xi Jinping. Such meetings are usually stuff for history: Africa’s great and Asia’s great meeting minds to impact the world on a monumental scale.  But sorry to note that Nigeria has diminished to the status of a toy country. Our host knows it too. They know Nigeria is at its lowest ebb today; roiling in the mud. They know the visitors consist of the poorest among  leaders.  They know  the teeming crowd of Nigerians don’t understand the magnitude of the moment. They know hardly any of them is possessed of any deep national strategic intent or insight.  In fact,  they...

Ehi Braimah By Ehi Braimah RECENTLY, Olufemi Soneye, the Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the NNPC Limited, utilised his “right-of-reply” privilege to debunk the assertions made by Dr. Muiz Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), when he described NNPCL as the “black hole of Nigeria” in his opinion piece.  To the best of my knowledge, Dr. Banire is not the only person who is concerned about the state of affairs in Nigeria’s oil industry. Several public affairs commentators and concerned Nigerians as well as stakeholders have used the radio, television, newspapers (print and online) and the social media to express their views, either for or against NNPCL – a fully-owned government oil company. When is NNPCL – the big elephant in the room – going public? I under...

Tunde Rahman By Tunde Rahman BY the time the Department of State Services released Nigeria Labour Congress President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, last Monday evening September 9, he had become contrite, remorseful and perhaps ashamed of his uninformed action. The labour leader was invited twice by the secret police and twice he failed to honour the invitation. As I learnt, during the second invitation, Ajaero even told the new DSS boss who telephoned him that he was traveling out of the country and could only honour the invitation on his return. What an insufferable arrogance! However, unbeknownst to him, at the behest of the police and Office of the National Security Adviser, which have been investigating him, the DSS had placed him on a ‘Watch list.’ For failing to honour the invitation...

Prof. Ahmed Bako By Prof. B. Chima Onuoha AS an academic that should have a better, broader and unbiased perspective on issues, and development activist, I deliberately avoid engaging in tribal and ethnic write ups. This implies that I hate ethnic profiling of any hue. While acknowledging that no ethnic group is perfect or infallible, the characteristics of all ethnic groups in Nigeria are in the public domain – particularly, those who struggle to earn their livelihood and those prone to entitlement mentality; those that embrace handwork, resilience and delayed gratification; and those idling away in their “whatever” belief or orientation, hoping that God will come down to solve their problems or give them wealth. For decades, some politicians, political jobbers, hatchet writers, ...

By  Ikechukwu Amaechi WHAT caught my attention when the flyer of the 50th inaugural lecture of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto surfaced in the social media late August was the theme: “The Igbo factor in the history of intergroup relations and commerce in Kano: Opportunities and challenges revisited.” The lecture, to be delivered by Ahmed Bako, a Kano-born professor of African and Nigerian history, triggered a sense of foreboding instantly because I guessed it would be a voyage in dog whistling, a pastime of ethnic irredentists across the country when dealing with their bête noire – Ndigbo. He proved me right. An inaugural lecture not only serves as an invaluable platform for professors to present their groundbreaking research, innovation, engagement...