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Opinion

Thursday, 21 May 2020 05:12

The pandemic has only exposed the suicidal tendencies of capitalism: Noam Chomsky

'Another, probably more severe pandemic has been predicted. Scientists know how to prepare, but someone must act. If we choose not to learn the lessons that are right before our eyes, the consequences will be dire.' Jipson John and Jitheesh P.M. Why has the world’s richest, most powerful country, the US, failed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus? Is it a failure of political leadership or a systemic failure? And despite the Covid-19 crisis, Donald Trump’s popularity actually rose in March. Do you think this will impact the US election? It is worth taking a step back to…

Wednesday, 20 May 2020 05:17

For Comrade James Crentsil - Edwin Madunagu

When my mobile telephone rang around 4.00 am on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, I knew, before checking it, what news I would receive: the death, at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), of James Kolawole Kwame Crentsil, popularly known as Comrade James Crentsil in and outside Calabar and in and outside the Nigerian Socialist Movement. He died at the age of 63, a unique member of the set of classical “cadres” or “foot-soldiers” of the post-Civil War Calabar socialist formation. The general and particular meanings of these key defining terms –“cadre”, “foot-soldier”, “classical” and “unique” – will become implicitly…

Wednesday, 20 May 2020 05:15

The race to replace a dying neoliberalism is on. As of now, the Right-Wing is ahead

Walden Bello Progressives have alternative economic ideas and paradigms that can help us move towards a truly systemic transformation but these have not yet been translated into a critical mass on the ground. In response to the cataclysm occasioned by the coronavirus, three lines of thinking are emerging. One is that the emergency necessitates extraordinary measures, but the basic structure of production and consumption is sound, and the problem lies only in determining the moment when things can return to “normal.” One might say that this is the dominant opinion among political and business elites. Representative of this outlook is…

Tuesday, 19 May 2020 05:33

Deglobalization and Its discontents - Richard N. Haass

If great power rivalries, and how well or poorly they were managed, shaped much of the history of the past few centuries, the current era is more likely to be defined by global challenges and how well or poorly the world addresses them. Above all, that requires avoiding false cures. Increasing global interconnection – growing cross-border flows of people, goods, energy, emails, television and radio signals, data, drugs, terrorists, weapons, carbon dioxide, food, dollars, and, of course, viruses (both biological or software) – has been a defining feature of the modern world. The question, though, is whether globalization has peaked…

Monday, 18 May 2020 05:18

As Ondo governorship hots up ...(2) - Bola Bolawole

“Home is where/When you go there/They take you in” – Felix Houphouet-Boigny, late Cote d’Ivoire president. We begin today with Achilles’ heel, where one’s great strength and invincibility can also become an uncommon weakness and destructibility. Google defines Achilles heel as a weakness in spite of overall strength; while the mythological origin refers to physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common. In Greek mythology, it was predicted that Achilles would die young. That this might not happen, mother Thetis took her son to the magical River Styx, which was believed to…

Monday, 18 May 2020 05:16

Navigating Deglobalization - Mohamed A. El-Erian

Appeals to recommit to globalization are highly unlikely to gain traction in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Those keen to preserve globalization would instead be better advised to focus on minimizing the disruption caused by the coming period of deglobalization and laying the groundwork for a more sustainable process thereafter. Having already been buffeted by two big shocks in the last ten years, the global economy’s highly interconnected wiring is suffering a third because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Globalization thus faces a three-strikes-and-out situation that could well result in a gradual but rather prolonged delinking of trade and investment,…

Sunday, 17 May 2020 05:11

The conversations on Agboola Gambari - Festus Adedayo

If credentials and academic certificates/laurels approximated excellence, by now, applauses to President Muhammadu Buhari for his choice of Ibrahim Agboola Gambari as successor to the late Abba Kyari as his Chief of Staff should be reaching their crescendo. Rather, the high-caliber diplomat and academic, who studied in respected universities of the world, has literally been suffocating under torrents of heavy lacerations he receives from invectives heaped on him since the appointment. Kudos must be given to Buhari however for, for the first time since he got the reins of governance five years ago, deploying the stratagems of a military officer.…

Sunday, 17 May 2020 05:10

Real reasons the Buhari cabal picked Gambari as Chief of Staff - Farooq Kperogi

Few appointments have generated as much excitement— and entranced the imagination of Nigerians— as the appointment of Ibrahim Agboola Gambari as President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff. Emir of Ilorin thanked Buhari for it even though there is no record of him publicly thanking Olusegun Obasanjo when Abdullahi Mohammed, another Ilorin son, was appointed Obasanjo’s Chief of Staff in 1999—and reappointed by Umar Musa Yar’adua in 2007. Northern Governors’ Forum also congratulated Gambari on his appointment even though they had never congratulated two previous northerners who had occupied the position. And then you have mostly Yoruba irredentists who are intensely…

Sunday, 17 May 2020 05:08

Unraveling the puzzles of earthly life (5) - Kola Oyefeso

Proceeding from the last edition, we will this week be combining “Science” and “Philosophy” for the fact that followers of this discourse are anxious about what one has to offer on “Religion” and “Spirituality”. I can only plead for understanding because if we don't consider what we have been discussing as necessary, we wouldn't be wasting time on them. Notwithstanding, I’m unwavering with the conviction that we must know a bit of everything to free ourselves from ignorance. Furthermore, it is trite that knowledge is neither wasted nor lost. I am accordingly starting off with Science which could be defined…

Friday, 15 May 2020 05:04

The Almajiri auestion - Kayode Komolafe

This dangerous season of Covid-19 is truly one in which the inherent contradictions in the society blow up. On a positive note, the socio-economic trauma consequent on the (mis)management of the public health emergency is daily bringing out the best examples and expressions of our collective humanity. Acts of compassion and genuine love for the poor are vividly on display in many quarters. The mood of the moment is indubitably that of massive solidarity. Food, water, medical facilities and equipment are donated on daily basis to support government’s efforts to care for the sick and the socially vulnerable. Spaces and…

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Friday, 15 May 2020 05:02

Fear of re-opening is the bigger threat

Cal Thomas The choice before us seems to be no choice at all: stay inside and have no human contact with another soul, keep businesses closed, denying a livelihood to millions, or step outside and risk death. Though I believe the risk is small when comparing the number of people who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and have recovered with the number who have died, fear may be the greater threat. Some of a certain age may recall the fears promoted during the Cold War. There were newspaper stories and TV documentaries about how long survivors of a nuclear war…

Thursday, 14 May 2020 05:39

Ibrahim Agboola Gambari: A presidential babysitter who won’t be as powerful as Abba Kyari - Farooq Kperogi

On paper, Ibrahim Agboola Gambari’s choice as Buhari’s Chief of Staff is so far the regime’s most luminous appointment. Gambari is undoubtedly one of Nigeria’s most credentialed and globally visible citizens for whom the position of Chief of Staff to the President is actually a positional, even symbolic, downgrade. Ordinarily, the office of the Chief of Staff to the President is informal, discretionary, and of no consequence. Its inconsequence is underscored by the fact that the constitution does no recognize it and does not require the president to appoint anyone to perform its duties. That was why Umar Musa Yar’adua…

Thursday, 14 May 2020 05:38

2023 elections: Will tomorrow ever come for Nigerian youths? - Gabriel Oguntoyinbo

"Parents listen to your Children We are the LEADERS of tomorrow Try to pay our school fees And give us, sound education" For some folks who had their primary education in Nigeria, I guess they'll be familiar with the above primary school lyrics which was basically to ginger students to remain focused at their early stage in life and become Nigeria’s future Leaders in whatever capacity they find themselves. Who then is a Leader? There are different ways to define this, but the key qualities of a Leader must be to have a clear vision and focus of making a…

Wednesday, 13 May 2020 05:06

Supply chains, the pandemic and the food miracle

Leader, The Economist If you live in the rich world and want an example of trade and global co-operation, look no further than your dinner plate. As the lockdowns began in the West two months ago, many feared that bread, butter and beans would run short, causing a wave of stocking-up. Today, thanks to fleets of delivery lorries filling supermarket shelves, you can binge-eat as you binge-watch. This capitalist miracle reflects not a monolithic plan, but an $8trn global supply chain adapting to a new reality, with millions of firms making spontaneous decisions, from switching rice suppliers in Asia to…

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