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Opinion

Tuesday, 09 March 2021 05:33

Nigeria: On the edge of the precipice - Bola Bolawole

In 1984 Sonny Okosun sang “Which way Nigeria?” The lyric goes thus: Which way is Nigeria heading to?/Many years after Independence we still find it hard to start/How long shall we be patient till we reach the Promise Land/Let’s save Nigeria/So Nigeria won’t die...I love my fatherland/I want to know/Which way Nigeria is heading to”. That was just after the overthrow of the Third Republic of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the coup that brought the then Major-General Muhammadu Buhari to power. Then came King Sunny Ade’s “E su biri biri e bo mi” (2001).The lyric says: E su biri biri…

Monday, 08 March 2021 03:53

Tomato truce and the festering grievances - The Economist

It started with a squashed tomato that led to a killing. It has since escalated into clashes that have taken at least 20 lives and a standoff between northerners and southerners that has paralysed Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation. Last month a porter carrying a basket of tomatoes in the crowded Shasha market in Ibadan, a city in south-western Nigeria, accidentally spilled his cargo, leaving a pulpy mess. An argument with a nearby shopkeeper over the clean-up soon took an ethnic turn. The porter, who spoke Hausa (a language that identifies him as coming from Nigeria’s north), took a blow…

Monday, 08 March 2021 03:51

The imperative of dialogue in resolving Nigeria’s urgent issues - Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar

Nation building has always been a slow and painstaking process. This is particularly so when nations are created by colonial fiat. The colonial authorities used the divide-and-rule techniques, where insinuations of suspicions among different peoples and tribes were the main tool of governance. By disrupting the slow but sure process of social integration, they generate social tension which needs to be managed over time to avoid conflicts. Our founding fathers have done a lot to ameliorate these challenges, heal a lot of these wounds and suspicions. Even when the bitterness planted led to civil war, the military leaders who brought…

Monday, 08 March 2021 03:47

What could cause a US-China war? - Joseph S. Nye Jr.

Thucydides attributed the war that ripped apart the ancient Greek world to two causes: the rise of Athenian power, and the fear that this created in the established power, Sparta. To prevent a new cold or hot war, the US and China must avoid exaggerated fears and misperceptions about changing power relations. When China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, recently called for a reset of bilateral relations with the United States, a White House spokesperson replied that the US saw the relationship as one of strong competition that required a position of strength. It is clear that President Joe Biden’s administration…

Sunday, 07 March 2021 05:47

Buhari and his Tinubu Frankenstein - Festus Adedayo

The news last week that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had begun a probe into the finances of former governor of Lagos State and All Progressives Congress (EFCC) strongman, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, literally shattered the Nigerian political airwaves. In the news, EFCC reportedly wrote a letter to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) asking it to furnish the commission with details of Tinubu’s assets declaration form. Dated November 6, 2020, marked CR/3000/EFCC/LS/Vol4/322 and signed by its then Zonal Head, Abdulrasheed Bawa who is now the EFCC chairman, media reports had it that the renewed probe was predicated on…

Sunday, 07 March 2021 05:45

Nigerian politicians and their gunmen - Simon Kolawole

Sadly, this story makes me laugh. A human rights activist shared with me an experience she had during a governorship election in one of the south-west states many years ago. She said she was in the state capital on election eve when she learnt that a renowned political thug (who is now being branded by sections of the media as a messiah) was in the government house preparing to unleash mayhem the next day. The activist panicked and requested to see the leader of the police team detailed from Abuja to oversee security for the election. She said she told…

Sunday, 07 March 2021 05:44

Enjoying your marriage in a glorious togetherness - Taiwo Akinola

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes ~ Songs of Solomon 1:15. Introduction: The Bible is a perfect manual for marital success. It casts a vision of God's out-of-this-world design for marital intimacy, and it challenges couples not to settle for an ordinary relationship but for a fulfilling and a kingdom-focused marriage. Marriage is ordained and instituted by God Himself in Paradise, and it is articulated in the Bible as a lifelong union between a man and a woman (Genesis 2:24). It is a solemn covenant union between husband and wife under the…

Sunday, 07 March 2021 05:42

Article of faith: The sure mercies of David (3) - Femi Aribisala

Earthquakes can be disastrous, and they are even more lethal when combined with tsunamis. Earthquakes bring down buildings. To escape, you must run out. But with tsunamis, the flood confronts those who manage to run out of collapsing buildings. Earthquakes take place in earthquake zones. There are some parts of the world that are sitting on what is called a fault. It is like sitting on a crack. The crack can expand or enlarge at any time, leading to earthquakes. Here in Nigeria, we are sitting on a fault. There is a fault between Nigeria and Cameroon. That is why…

Friday, 05 March 2021 03:53

If the rat cannot run fast enough - Dare Babarinsa

It is a great irony that when some so-called Northern leaders decided to take action against what they perceived as injustice meted against some Northerners in Southern Nigeria, they decided on the tomato war. It is an indication of how complex the situation is becoming in our great country and the perplexing reaction of the powers-that-be. The push has come to shove and it is clear that those who declared the tomato war last week are the least likely to afford it. Besides, we know the problems, what we don’t know yet are the solutions to the problems that we…

Friday, 05 March 2021 03:52

Ganduje’s genius is his hypocrisy - Azu Ishiekwene

There’s a model for managing rebels in government that the American political drama, “Designated Survivor”, teaches so well. In one of the episodes after the horrific death of President Richmond, his speech writer, Seth Wright, had a chance meeting with incoming President, Tom Kirkman, in the toilet. In a soliloquy which wafted over the toilet partition, Wright said the US would regret Kirkman’s candidacy because he was incompetent and unfit for office. How can a man on the verge of punitive redeployment suddenly become president? He didn’t know that Kirkman, who was in the next toilet recovering from the shock…

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Thursday, 04 March 2021 03:13

Dangote’s blood money - Abimbola Adelakun

On January 23, a truck belonging to Dangote Group rammed into a shopping complex in Akungba Akoko, around Adekunle Ajasin University. Media reports state that the truck’s brakes failed as it descended a hilly approach and used the complex as a stopgap. In one fell swoop, eight persons were dead. The scale of the disaster roiled further when information filtered out that three members of a family were amongst the dead. Then, the Student Union Government of the university announced on Saturday that the Dangote Group had compensated the victims’ families with N500,000 each. The SUG president who announced the…

Wednesday, 03 March 2021 16:22

Ondo state and the tango of Akeredolus (2) - Bola Bolawole

On February 15, 2021, one self-styled Olupelumi Fagboyegun posted a sensational video on social media that quickly went viral like wild fire in the harmattan. In it, Olupelumi not only described himself as a “son” of the late business mogul, Johnson Olajide Fagboyegun, he also railed against the Chief Judge of Ondo State, Olutoyin Olanrewaju Akeredolu (Nee Fagboyegun). He called on “The Chief Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (and) the Attorney-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ... to please come to my rescue and rescue me from the Ondo State judiciary which is being run as a…

Wednesday, 03 March 2021 03:31

Ngozi: By way of congratulations - Nuhu Ribadu

Yesterday, my friend and former colleague, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, took the reins at the Geneva offices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), becoming the first female and first black Director General of the multi-lateral organisation. It was a day of fulfilment for her and a day of pride for some of us close to her and indeed all those in the demographics she represents. Yesterday was the culmination of a spirited determination by an individual who believes in herself. It was also a mark of an increasingly liberal and accommodative world in which all persons are treated on the basis of…

Monday, 01 March 2021 03:27

Winners and losers in the digital transformation of work - Michael Spence

Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning have again raised fears of large-scale job losses. And while labor-market adaptation is likely to stave off permanent high unemployment, it cannot be counted on to prevent a sharp rise in inequality. Perhaps no single aspect of the digital revolution has received more attention than the effect of automaton on jobs, work, employment, and incomes. There is at least one very good reason for that – but it is probably not the one most people would cite. Using machines to augment productivity is nothing new. Insofar as any tool is a machine, humans…

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