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Opinion

Monday, 06 May 2019 05:18

The return of violent identity politics - Chris Patten

There is nothing wrong with nationalism when it is simply a celebration of a country’s best values, traditions, and history. But politicians in Europe and the United States need to be careful that the populist nativism they are stoking does not morph into more violent forms of identity politics, as it has in Christchurch and Sri Lanka. I first visited Sri Lanka as Britain’s development minister in the 1980s, during the early stages of the vicious war between guerrilla fighters – the so-called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) – and Sri Lanka’s armed forces. This bloody ethnic conflict, pitting…

Sunday, 05 May 2019 05:07

Nigeria and violent revolt of the Almajiri - Festus Adedayo

Even chronic optimists know by now that Nigeria is in a state of complete war with herself. The only difference is that, unlike other wars with known and identifiable enemies, those who roll artillery tanks against the people of Nigeria are at best unidentifiable and at worst, being shawled in ethnic, religious and political shroud. While the two and half years Biafran War, Nigeria’s most grueling example of a needless intra-national war, cost her about 100,000 military casualties overall and between 500,000 and 2 million civilians recorded to have starved to death, not minding the 700 felled by the bullets…

Friday, 03 May 2019 05:37

El Rufai’s ‘abrogation’ of indigene-settler dichotomy in Kaduna - Jideofor Adibe

Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State, who rarely shies away from controversy or misses an opportunity to showcase his courage, recently, took a very bold step of abrogating the indigene-setter dichotomy in his state. Announcing the abrogation of the dichotomy in his official twitter handle on April 11, 2019, the Governor said: “In Kaduna State, the Indigene/Settler dichotomy has been abolished. Every person resident in Kaduna State would be accorded all rights as citizens and indigenes of the state. Kaduna State Resident Registration Agency will create a reliable database of all residents in the state, with a view to…

Friday, 03 May 2019 05:36

How the market is betraying advanced economies - Diane Coyle

Despite ever-improving conditions for millions of people around the world – documented by entities like the University of Oxford’s Our World in Dataand highlightedby scholars like Steven Pinker– popular discontent is on the rise in many places. The reason is simple: whereas the first trend is being driven by low- and middle-income countries, the second is concentrated in high-income countries. Throughout the developed world, conditions for many workers are deteriorating, with no recovery in sight. Income inequality is near historic highs, wealth inequality is even higher, and economic insecurity is widespread. As the United Kingdom tears itself apart politically and…

Thursday, 02 May 2019 05:14

Notes on Nigeria’s regional disparities - Edwin Madunagu

In discussing the disparities in the distribution of “development,” wealth, power and poverty in Nigeria, many people - most of them young, but educated – seem not to be conscious of two important factors, namely: the factor of history and the factor of capitalism. We therefore begin these notes with five simple facts whose combined significance – as important as it is - should, however, not be mystified or distorted. They do not explain everything; but to refuse or miss to be actively guided by them is to leave the road to comprehension. The first fact is that the emergence…

Wednesday, 01 May 2019 05:22

From begging to banditry: Revolt of the almajiris - Dele Sobowale

“No revolution is the fault of the people but the fault of the government.”—Johann Goethe, 1749-1832, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ. A revolution is underway in the northern states of Nigeria. The downtrodden constituting 99.9 per cent of the population, hitherto docile beggars, saying rankaindede to the privileged 0.1 per cent, are sick and tired of begging. They are now demanding for their own share of “the national cake” to be delivered to them – at gun or cutlass points. Nigeria will never be the same again. The North is now gradually sliding into the dictatorship of the beggars or…

Tuesday, 30 April 2019 04:44

Did Buhari miss Tinubu in Lagos? - Lasisi Olagunju

The president was in Lagos some days ago but Asiwaju of Lagos was not available to receive him. We've always known that lessons not learnt at home would be forced in from outside, someday. That day is here so soon for the Smart Alecs of the South West after the lovey-dovey romance of the last elections. The president did not attend the birthday colloquium of his best man, Bola Tinubu which was taken to his backyard in Abuja. But he was in coastal Lagos for Akinwumi Ambode's stellar projects. Buhari flew down to Lagos but did not meet Tinubu, the…

Tuesday, 30 April 2019 04:42

The good life after work - Robert Skidelsky

In order to manage the latest wave of automation, we must have ends that are more compelling than merely wanting more products and services. Without an intelligent definition of wellbeing, we will simply create more and more monsters that feed on our humanity. Almost all “robots are coming” stories follow a tried-and-true pattern. “Shop Direct puts 2,000 UK jobs at risk,” screams a typical headline. Then, quoting from authoritative reports from prestigious institutes and think tanks, the article in question usually alarms audiences with extravagant estimates of “jobs at risk” – that is, percentages of workers whose livelihoods are threatened…

Monday, 29 April 2019 04:38

Bye bye to Lugardian contraption - Tola Adeniyi

The myriad of problems confronting the geopolitical space called Nigeria today could be traced to one single cause. It was a marriage that was not canvassed, not negotiated, not consented to that was the root, the father and mother of all the diseases that had plagued Nigeria since 1914. The diseases include consistently rigged Population Census, the basic fraudulent allocation of seats in the old federation, the fraudulent foundation of the country’s Military and the Police, and the inbuilt ingredients of sectional domination. The listed diseases and their by-products gave birth to the military incursion in the country’s politics, coups…

Monday, 29 April 2019 04:37

Protesting in the digital age - Ngaire Woods

Social media have made it easier to organize mass protests. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, people with a common cause can instantly fuel each other’s outrage while sharing logistical details. But these modern-day demonstrations often lack the leadership and coalition-building skills that can translate collective grievance into real change. Elections and referenda are just two ways for people to have a say in how they are governed. Protesting is another, which is why rights of assembly and free speech are protected in most democracies. And in many democracies nowadays, those rights are being used to the fullest. Climate activists…

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Sunday, 28 April 2019 03:56

God is not good all the time - Femi Aribisala

Nobody spoils a man’s life like Jesus. Jesus is a killer of all worldly joy. God’s attitude to the world is often lost on many. God hates the world system. The world hated Jesus and killed Him. Therefore, anyone who is a lover of pleasure; anyone who likes this world becomes an enemy of God. Accordingly, James asks: “You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4). Paul is of…

Sunday, 28 April 2019 03:54

Ngige’s incestuous affair with Marie Antoinette - Festus Adedayo

Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France before the French Revolution, had taken the liberty to pass a mean comment on the people like Chris Ngige, Nigeria’s Minister of Labour and Employment too. She was married at age 14 in May, 1770 to then Prince Louis-Auguste who was heir apparent to the French throne and later became Queen, upon Louis XV1 ascension to the throne. Antoinette was however roundly disliked by the French populace on account of accusations that she was wasteful, profligate and promiscuous. To cap it all, allegations that she offered embrace to France's enemies, especially her native…

Sunday, 28 April 2019 03:53

Mixed metaphors: Back to the beginning - Sonala Olumhense

Few things can summarise the Muhammadu Buhari era as succinctly as his return to a London hospital bed a few days ago. In May 2015, as he prepared to take office, he had travelled to the same city, a visit Nigerians had imagined to be for consultations with officials of the British government. It turned out he was trying to take care of his health. Following his oath of office, he would go on to spend a total of 217 days in London taking care of an ailment he never disclosed to the Nigerian people who pay the bills. By…

Sunday, 28 April 2019 03:52

The Sri Lanka bombings are part of an ugly anti-Christian pattern across the globe

John L. Allen Jr. “It is shocking that people who gathered to celebrate Easter together were consciously targeted in this malicious attack,” read a statement from German Chancellor Angela Merkel in response to the bombing of three Christian churches and three high-end hotels Sri Lanka that killed at least 321 people and injured hundreds more. Yet the shocking thing about the carnage is that it is not shocking — and instead forms part of an ugly, predictable global pattern. On major Christian feast days, somewhere in the world, some number of Christians are likely to be killed for no reason…

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