Last week, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mohammed Babagana Monguno, stripped the government bare in public only to try hiding the ugly sight with fig leaves shortly after. The pathetic damage control didn’t work. Monguno, a retired major general, told the BBC Hausa service in an interview that billions of naira voted by Buhari’s government to fight insurgency could not be accounted for. Stopping short of naming names, Monguno pointed a finger at the last service chiefs who after overstaying their tenure as insecurity worsened, still earned promotion as ambassadors. They now join the ranks of ambassadors still waiting to be…

The waiting period of single adults for marriage, especially women, is not funny at all. It is a season of anxiety and desperation for many of them. The irony of life is that while those who are yet to marry pray, fast and do ‘packaging' to attract suitors, some of those in turbulent or unfulfilled marriages are willing to quit. Today, BECKY OLORUNPOMI, a certified marriage counsellor, an author, speaker and convener of the annual Singles' Summit in Lagos, writes on the anxious period of waiting which makes waiting women vulnerable. She enriches this contribution with experiences as a means…

Understanding the advantages and limitations of economists’ methods clarifies the value they can add to analysis of non-economic questions. Equally important, it underscores how economists’ approach can complement but never replace alternative, often qualitative methods used in other scholarly disciplines. Economists have never been shy about taking on the big questions that disciplines such as history, sociology, or political science consider their own province. What have been slavery’s long-run implications for contemporary American society? Why do some communities exhibit higher levels of social trust than others? What explains the rise of right-wing populism in recent years? In addressing these and…

Eric Weinstein America is falling behind when it comes to leadership, and it's pretty much directly correlated to how we value people with technical brains. They aren't given enough power, so much of the American way of the last 50 to 60 years or so has been marginalized by middle management types. The reason, Eric Weinstein argues, is that these types don't trust the smarter and more technical minded men and women. One example Weinstein gives is that university presidents 60 years ago might come from a physics or math background—now they're much more likely to be middle management types…