Ns-Opinion

Opinion

Friday, 09 October 2020 04:52

Adeboye didn’t go far enough - Azu Ishiekwene

A major headliner last week was the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Enoch Adeboye, calling for restructuring. He didn’t just call for it: he also sprang a surprise. According to news reports, he warned that if nothing was done to restructure, the country might break up, even though he didn’t pray for it to happen.You had to read it twice and pinch yourself to believe that it was Adeboye. It was like the Pope giving a hint that the Church could lose its female members if it didn’t amend the Code of Canon or the Ordinatio…

Friday, 09 October 2020 04:51

Sex worker: From ‘dirty deal to real deal’ - Michael West

No sane mind would wish to be known for wrongdoing or to become an epitome of anti-social orientation. Vicissitudes of life have a way of messing up one's virtue, dream and purpose. It takes providence to get it right where there's no helper or counsellor. Society is not kind to the unlucky folks. They are derided as weak, lacking in wisdom, flippant and given to frivolity, whereas those seen as bad examples of social maladies may not have chosen the path for themselves willingly. Sex work (prostitution) is an immoral trade. It is a transaction in which women offer themselves…

Friday, 09 October 2020 04:47

Post-pandemic geopolitics - Joseph S. Nye, Jr

Estimating the long-term effect of the current pandemic is not an exact prediction of the future, but an exercise in weighing probabilities and adjusting current policies. When envisioning the international order in 2030, five scenarios stand out. There is no single future until it happens, and any effort to envision geopolitics in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic must include a range of possible futures. I suggest five plausible futures in 2030, but obviously others can be imagined. The end of the globalized liberal order. The world order established by the United States after World War II created a framework…

Wednesday, 07 October 2020 05:26

In case they didn’t tell the president - Dan Agbese

In the last one week or so, some very eminent Nigerians, either individually or in groups, have issued statements on the unacceptable state of the nation. These are men who have paid their dues to the country as public officers and in their various professional capacities in the military, the civil service and the academia. They are not men who can mistake a pussy cat for a wolf. Nor are they men who want to hug the limelight. They have hugged the limelight for most of their lives. They are patriotic and responsible men for whom it would be the…

Wednesday, 07 October 2020 05:25

Nigeria and Covid-19 lessons - Bola Bolawole

Here, Covid-19 has come and gone – or so it seems! – but the world will not forget it in a hurry. The scare it brought, the havoc it wreaked, and the destruction it left in its wake has left permanent scars, even on those who survived it. All over the world, the fear of Covid-19 became the beginning of wisdom as the virus proved a leveller – subduing the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak, bringing everyone alike to the same abject level. The powerlessness of the rich and powerful in the face of Covid-19 will…

Monday, 05 October 2020 05:41

Ondo election and Kunle Ologundudu’s ‘yellow journalism’ - Bola Bolawole

In Nigeria, election is war and in war, “truth is the first casualty”. Greek tragic dramatist, Aechylus (525 BC – 456 BC), posited that in war, truth is the first casualty. Sun Tzu, the 5th Century Chinese General, said all warfare is based on deception. Samuel Johnson (The Idler, 1758) reasoned that “Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.” Arthur Ponsonby (Falsehood in wartime,1928) said “When war is declared, truth is the first casualty.” In modern times, US Republican senator, Hiram Warren…

Sunday, 04 October 2020 05:35

At the end of the day, you’re just one person! - Tola Adeniyi

Has it ever occurred to you that you are after all just one person? As the great humorist and philanthropist extra-ordinary MKO Abiola used to say: “No one is a ‘four-man” [foreman]. “It is sheer flattery to call a man ‘four man’” he used to quip. And really and truly, no one is ever more than one. People who hold offices and find themselves surrounded by retinue of servants and hangers-on get so carried away that they hardly ever have time to reflect on their positions in life. When a man gets down from his car and about a dozen…

Sunday, 04 October 2020 05:34

Buhari’s 60th anniversary broadcast as Pimper’s Paradise - Festus Adedayo

The origin of Pimper’s Paradise may be hard to locate. While a school of thought feels it must have originated from the word “pimp,” a reference to someone who makes a living of procuring customers for whores, another sees it as off-shoot from 16th century French word "pimper." Pimper, in this regard, is an alluring person, one with seductive outward appearance. Reference to Pimper’s Paradise is however often a reminder of late Jamaican reggae star, Bob Marley’s evergreen classic with that title, in his Uprising album. In Marley’s, Pimper’s Paradise is an expression of frustration with a loose and sybaritic…

Sunday, 04 October 2020 05:32

Nullifying the cruelty and perils of fear! - Taiwo Akinola

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee ..... (Isaiah 41:10). Introduction Times come in life when we find ourselves in situations of great fear, times of serious challenges and potent threats that bring uncommon confusion even to brave men and intrepid explorers. However, we must never allow fear to define our lives as some people do, who are so afraid to die that they never truly live. In reality, most times, fear is a thoughtless response to…

Friday, 02 October 2020 05:25

Residents’ insurgency in Estates gets a new lease - Azu Ishiekwene

The ruling of a Lagos High Court last week that residents in estates cannot be forced to pay levies and dues set off a frenzy of conversation especially among middle class residents who for years think they have been unfairly exploited by association managers. Interestingly, it was a private company, Megawatts Nigeria Limited, that sued the registered trustees of Gbagada Phase II Residents’ Association, on grounds that it is not a member of the association even though it is based there. The company also argued that it is wrong for any demands to be made on it because it is…

More...

Friday, 02 October 2020 05:24

BBNaija: A veiled porn or attitudinal contest? - Michael West

Patronising exotic products like food, fashion and arts is part of benefits of the global community; but Africa’s incurable addiction to foreign stuff needs to be moderated so as to enhance self-worth, self realisation and true independence from colonial mentality. Sadly, our folks are not in the least thinking or seeing the need to appreciate and appropriate their negritude. There are several foreign programmes that have been replicated or adapted in Nigeria and some of them have really promoted innate potential of talented young and enterprising Nigerians. Notable among such reality shows and aptitude contests include “Who Wants to be…

Thursday, 01 October 2020 05:39

Sanwo-Olu: Make Lagos liveable, not duplicate of Dubai - Bola Bolawole

I have lived and worked in Lagos since 1986; so, Lagos is my second home although I am an “ara oke” from Ondo State. Besides, right from the time of ex-Governor Babatunde Fashola, I signed on to “Eko o ni baje!” and there has been no looking back ever since. Retired Federal director and Town Planner, Yacoob Abiodun, the writer of what follows, still has much contribution to make for the betterment of Lagos if his voice is hearkened unto. Read on: “No plan is right for every community. A development plan (development model) that is right for one community…

Sunday, 27 September 2020 20:10

Still on rapists, rapist-murderers, and paedophiles - Bola Bolawole

The pictures of heaven and hell painted by the scriptures contrast sharply: One is a place of happiness, joy, and enjoyment while the other is a place of deprivation, sadness, and punishment. God presides over one while the devil or Satan superintends the other. Both are places of reward: heaven is a place of reward for those with good deeds while hell is a place of punishment (which in itself is another form of reward) for those who perpetrated or lived a life of evil while in the world. Did you ever wonder why this has to be so? It…

Sunday, 27 September 2020 04:54

Nigeria: Sale of assets as dangerous policy myopia? - Chukwuma Soludo

I have just read the wide media coverage regarding the recommendations of the National Economic Council (NEC) as well as the Senate on the ways to reboot the economy out of the current recession. Times such as this require all brains at work and all hands on deck. Consequently, I commend both institutions for their patriotic duty in advising the President. Surely, the proposals are still mere advice or recommendations, and not approval as wrongly reported by some media. Only the President can approve any of those recommendations to become policy (both NEC and Senate are advisory bodies on matters…

Page 148 of 274

Opinion

More...

Search

Most Read

Editorial

News

Business

Politics

Opinion

Features

Strangely

Crime

Wars

SCIENCE & TECH

SPECIAL REPORTS

Sports

VIDEOS