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Opinion

Monday, 30 March 2020 05:19

Coronavirus: Like a thief in the night... - Bolanle Bolawole

Who ever imagined that we can all be treated as equal and ‘same-same’, as they say? Philosophers of all ages propounded the theory; wars and revolutions were made to actualize it; and the law, in fact, espouses it but, in real terms it is the views of Jean Jacqueline Rousseau in “The Social Contract” that have always prevailed. Says Rousseau: “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains” George Orwell in “Animal Farm” pushed the argument further when he said “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others” But they reckoned without any knowledge of…

Monday, 30 March 2020 05:18

The state and Covid-19: Everything’s under control - Leader, The Economist

In just a few weeks a virus a ten-thousandth of a millimetre in diameter has transformed Western democracies. States have shut down businesses and sealed people indoors. They have promised trillions of dollars to keep the economy on life support. If South Korea and Singapore are a guide, medical and electronic privacy are about to be cast aside. It is the most dramatic extension of state power since the second world war. One taboo after another has been broken. Not just in the threat of fines or prison for ordinary people doing ordinary things, but also in the size and…

Monday, 30 March 2020 05:13

Five principles for the pandemic - Martín Guzmán

As a global crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic demands a coordinated global response, both to contain the spread of the disease and to safeguard the economy. The challenge may be unprecedented, but governments can and should embrace certain guidelines. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the world into a health and economic crisis of a magnitude that few could have anticipated but that everyone must now confront – together. Unless all countries deepen global coordination and cooperation as much as possible, the social stability of the entire planet could be at stake. On the economic front, many economists and policymakers seem to…

Sunday, 29 March 2020 05:44

Mama Igosun and the Corona cast - Tatalo Alamu

As the Coronavirus pandemic finally clamps on the entire country, there has been an outbreak of gallows humour everywhere. There are crooks selling “anti-coronary” health formula which wards off the deadly virus. Ladies’ undies originally stolen by ritualists suddenly surfaced in the market as magic face masks that kill the virus in situ. There are new born babies named with the dreaded Koro prefix. When pronounced with a devious inflection, the name Obanikoro suddenly acquired the status of a satanic royal contretemps. On Thursday morning, seventy two hours after the national clampdown, boredom and ennui finally began to take their…

Sunday, 29 March 2020 05:43

Abba Kyari, the church and Coronavirus pandemic - Festus Adedayo

There is a natural mystic blowing through the air If you listen carefully now, you’ll hear This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the last Many more will have to suffer; many more will have to die Don’t ask me why Things are not the way they used to be… One and all, we have to face reality now… - Bob Marley Mystic, mystery and even a mystique the Coronavirus, otherwise called COVID – 19 is, no doubt and it is blowing through the air like the pestilence that it is. If it…

Sunday, 29 March 2020 05:41

Where is God in a pandemic? - James Martin

The honest answer is: We don’t know. But even non-Christians may find understanding in the life of Jesus. Last summer I underwent radiation treatment. And every time I passed through the doorway marked “Radiation Oncology,” my heart seemed to skip a beat. While I was in little danger (my tumor was benign, and, yes, one sometimes needs radiation for that), I daily met people who were close to death. Every weekday for six weeks I would hail a cab and say, “68th and York, please.” Once there, I would stop into a nearby church to pray. Afterward, walking to my…

Saturday, 28 March 2020 04:43

Weep not for Abba Kyari and Co - Abimbola Adelakun

On Tuesday, the news broke that Chief of Staff to the Nigerian president, Mr Abba Kyari, tested positive for COVID-19. Three of his aides reportedly also tested positive. Same Tuesday, it was announced that Bauchi State governor, Mr Bala Mohammed, also tested positive. Then, there is the son of former Vice President, Mr Atiku Abubakar, whose test result was announced on Saturday. Given how many people close to them they might have huddled before diagnoses, we will never know how far and wide they have spread the virus. About a year ago, The Avengers’ Endgame was all the rage. Looking…

Saturday, 28 March 2020 04:41

The next calamity: Covid-19 threatens to devastate poor countries - Leader, The Economist

The new coronavirus is causing havoc in rich countries. Often overlooked is the damage it will cause in poor ones, which could be even worse. Official data do not begin to tell the story. As of March 25th Africa had reported only 2,800 infections so far; India, only 650. But the virus is in nearly every country and will surely spread. There is no vaccine. There is no cure. A very rough guess is that, without a campaign of social distancing, between 25% and 80% of a typical population will be infected. Of these, perhaps 4.4% will be seriously sick…

Friday, 27 March 2020 05:38

The super bugs are here! - Dare Babarinsa

We are all learning science now. The Coronavirus pandemic, also known as Covid-19, is teaching humanity the lesson of a lifetime. Almost all the countries of the world are affected. On Sunday, Cuba, a small country in the Caribbean, was dispatching the first set of medical doctors to Italy to help that afflicted country fight the Covid-19. For the first time, a non-European country was sending a medical team to help a European country. The coronavirus is telling humanity how helpless we really are before the awesome power of nature. As at now, there are almost 500,000 confirmed cases all…

Thursday, 26 March 2020 05:32

JAMB 2020: Matters arising - Bola Bolawole

It is common knowledge that the JOINT ADMISSIONS AND MATRICULATION BOARD (JAMB) operations have improved drastically and dramatically since Ishaq Oloyede assumed the mantle of leadership. Improvements in administration - transparency, accountability and openness - has translated into zero-level tolerance for corruption, reduced examination charges, as well as handsome money into the Federation Account that was never before heard of. There has also been great improvement in the integrity of its examinations. JAMB as an organisation is nowadays viewed more positively by the generality of Nigerians. Thus, I dare to say that JAMB is better trusted by the public than…

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Wednesday, 25 March 2020 04:39

How the world will look after the Coronavirus pandemic: Experts speak

The pandemic will change the world forever. We asked 12 leading global thinkers for their predictions. Like the fall of Berlin Wall or the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the coronavirus pandemic is a world-shattering event whose far-ranging consequences we can only begin to imagine today. This much is certain: Just as this disease has shattered lives, disrupted markets and exposed the competence (or lack thereof) of governments, it will lead to permanent shifts in political and economic power in ways that will become apparent only later. To help us make sense of the ground shifting beneath our feet as this…

Wednesday, 25 March 2020 04:38

The front line of COVID-19 war - Kayode Komolafe

Shuffling through posts on the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) one often finds some useful pieces of information buried in an avalanche of fake news, hate speech and other genres of mischief. A recent instructive material is a video of health professionals of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust of Northern Island in United Kingdom. In the highly emotive video, respiratory consultants, nurses and other professionals took turn to make a stay-at -home appeal to the public. One of the doctors pungently warns that COVID-19 “is not a rehearsal.” As the capacity of the otherwise developed healthcare system of the UK…

Wednesday, 25 March 2020 04:37

Revisiting a national political debate - Edwin Madunagu

One of the first definitive steps taken by General Ibrahim Babangida on displacing General Muhammadu Buhari in a “palace coup” and coming to power in Nigeria in August 1985 was to set up, four months later, a 17-member committee (two women and 15 men) to organize, conduct, collate and then report on a general national political debate. He called the committee the Political Bureau. The political debate was to be on the character, content and form of a future political dispensation expected to be the legal successor to both the Second Republic (1979-1983) and the military dictatorship that overthrew it…

Monday, 23 March 2020 05:22

Sanusi: A white-washed sepulchre? - Bolanle Bolawole

The title above reminded me of a piece I wrote sometime in August 2005 on that year’s students’ unrest at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye and the “White Paper” by Governor Gbenga Daniel on the findings of the commission of inquiry his government had set up into the crisis: Students against the Ago-Iwoye traditional institution. Placing the findings side-by-side the White Paper, I had described the latter as “white-washed sepulchre” Published hereunder is “An open letter to Graca Machel” on her solidarity message to ex-Emir Sanusi by Mr Babafemi Badejo, academician and diplomat. Graca Machel: Remember her? Widow of assassinated Mozambican…

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