Several times in the last ten years, I have compelled myself to discontinue public exploration, and application to Nigeria, of the concepts of “power bloc” and “popular-democratic restructuring”. These are concepts in which a another concept – “the national question” or “ethnic nationality question” – plays an important, though neither dominant nor decisive role. I was, in fact, at a point, considering classifying these concepts and closely related ones as “unpopular” in a spirit that reminds me of Bertrand Russell’s “Unpopular Essays”. However, whereas Bertrand Russell, in labeling his 1950 collection of essays “unpopular”, was condescending, abusive and cynical, I…

The United States has, since its founding, been a beacon for free and fair trade throughout the entire world. From rejecting taxes and restrictions on trade during our colonial period under the rule of the British Crown to the power of the U.S. Navy upholding international trading routes post-World War II, our trade practices have established the long and robust groundwork so that Americans have access to goods and markets in all corners of the earth. Yet this pioneering spirit of economic liberalization has not extended fully to our engagement with Africa, a continent with which our nation has a…