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Opinion

Friday, 29 December 2017 03:23

The long road to Jerusalem - Dare Babarinsa

There would be no winner in the battle for Jerusalem unless the two sides decide to fight for peace and attain victory as a jointly cherished prize. In the New Year Jerusalem would still be in the news as it has been since President Donald Trump decided that the American embassy in Israel would move from Tel Avis to Jerusalem. Trump said he recognizes Jerusalem as a single city and that America would now recognize it as the capital of Israel. Easier said than done! The action has stirred up interest across the world, not just among politicians and statesmen,…

Thursday, 28 December 2017 03:25

Time for border walls - Tribune Editorial

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at a recent event, stressed that smuggling remained a “serious threat” to the Nigerian economy. “We are making the point to our neighbours that smuggling is an existential threat, we can’t permit the level of smuggling going on,” he declared. He further informed the gathering that he had been asked by President Muhammadu Buhari to lead a team to work out what needed to be done. Indeed, smuggling of imported materials into the country through the seaports in neighbouring countries has been a long-standing challenge to the Nigerian economy. From textiles to rice and poultry products,…

Thursday, 28 December 2017 03:23

Politics of the warlords - Kayode Samuel

According to the politics of the warlord model, alliances are always shifting and loyalties are never abiding. As the ruling party, APC, enters the full bloom of its warlord dispensation, it is clear that battles are about to be joined. Kano, being the place where the victory was sealed, also emerges as the first test ground. After the dust of the impending battle clears, only the alpha male will still be standing. It's just the way things roll in the animal kingdom. May God grant us all long life and good health to enjoy the coming spectacle...

Tuesday, 26 December 2017 03:04

Your fuel is on the way! - Kayode Samuel

Based on the current trend, "Your fuel is on the way!" could well replace "Your miracle is on the way!" as the most trending prophecy from this year's crossover service. Now, let somebody say, "I receive it"!...

Tuesday, 26 December 2017 03:01

The assassins who are still with us - Dare Babarinsa

The ember months were the special period for Chief Bola Ige, the first elected governor of old Oyo State, poet, historian, orator of a special class, polyglot and hero of our struggle for democracy. Uncle Bola loved to celebrate his birthdays on September 13 in low key, but not the yuletide which must meet him in Esa-Oke, the hilly town which holds the bones of his ancestors. At Christmas time, Esa Oke would be covered with the dry, dusty and cold harmattan haze. This was the time Ige plays out his role as the Asiwaju of Esa Oke, Osun State,…

Monday, 25 December 2017 03:30

Buhari and the ‘human side’ of anguish - Kayode Samuel

You can withdraw $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) to fight a contrived war that you claimed had ended in one corner of the country. But you will not make a similar gesture to cushion the effects of fluctuations in the world oil market and keep the entire country from the agony of spending the Christmas break on fuel queues. And someone still has the temerity to speak of a human side. My friend, you're human only to those you wish to be human to. That Nigerians now need a film show to tell them about the human…

Monday, 25 December 2017 03:21

China’s creditor imperialism - Brahma Chellaney

This month, Sri Lanka, unable to pay the onerous debt to China it has accumulated, formally handed over its strategically located Hambantota port to the Asian giant. It was a major acquisition for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – which President Xi Jinping calls the “project of the century” – and proof of just how effective China’s debt-trap diplomacy can be. Unlike International Monetary Fund and World Bank lending, Chinese loans are collateralized by strategically important natural assets with high long-term value (even if they lack short-term commercial viability). Hambantota, for example, straddles Indian Ocean trade routes linking Europe,…

Friday, 22 December 2017 04:37

Buhari’s birthday and the 400 prophets - Olusegun Adeniyi

When my authority inspires sycophancy, I have no followers, only resentful manipulators of my power for their own selfish gain. — George Kunz When in June 2015, I started gathering materials for my book, ‘Against The Run of Play’, I also decided I would go through the newspaper reports from the first day President Goodluck Jonathan assumed power on 6th May 2010 to his last day in office on 28th May 2015. Even though I knew it would be a big task, and I wasn’t even sure I could pull it off at the time, I believe it would make…

Wednesday, 20 December 2017 04:34

Rage against the Machine? - Laura Tyson

Intelligent machines are transforming the way we produce, work, learn, and live throughout the world. Almost every aspect of our economies will be radically altered. Major logistics companies and individual drivers are using new technologies to optimize their route planning. Companies like BMW and Tesla have already released self-driving features in their automobiles, which are produced with the help of sophisticated robots. The Associated Press is using artificial intelligence to help write news stories. 3D printers are being used to produce replacement parts – for both machines and humans. AT&T, in collaboration with Udacity, is offering online “nanodegrees” in data…

Tuesday, 19 December 2017 04:21

Olusegun Obasanjo, Ph.D - Reuben Abati

Perhaps in the long run, the most remarkable legacy of the Nigerian leader known as Olusegun Obasanjo would be his personal example, in terms of the manner in which he continues to creatively reinvent himself and the Renaissance quality and force of his achievements. In addition to all that we already know about him, Obasanjo last week bagged a Ph.D degree in Christian Theology from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). I am impressed. It is therefore with great admiration that I welcome Dr. Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo to the distinguished class of Nigeria’s Ph.D elite.As his senior colleague in…

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Tuesday, 19 December 2017 04:20

Inequality in the twenty-first century - Kaushik Basu

At the end of a low and dishonest year, reminiscent of the “low, dishonest decade” about which W.H. Auden wrote in his poem “September 1, 1939,” the world’s “clever hopes” are giving way to recognition that many severe problems must be tackled. And, among the severest, with the gravest long-term and even existential implications, is economic inequality. The alarming level of economic inequality globally has been well documented by prominent economists, including Thomas Piketty, François Bourguignon, Branko Milanović, and Joseph E. Stiglitz, and well-known institutions, including OXFAM and the World Bank. And it is obvious even from a casual stroll…

Sunday, 17 December 2017 04:11

Perish the Toll Gate idea - Tola Adeniyi

No one can really understand why successive governments in Nigeria chose to impoverish their people and make life and living extremely difficult for all. It is always one wrong headed policy to another leading to confusion, inconsistency, lack of foresight and general embarrassment to investors and the populace. Toll gates were introduced decades back when the glamour of the then newly constructed Lagos-Ibadan Expressway impressed the citizenry and we all appreciated the need to keep such beautiful edifice going through regular maintenance. The Sagamu-Ore- Benin Expressway was also considered worthy of similar maintenance. But years along the line it was…

Saturday, 16 December 2017 03:31

The unexamined brutality of the male libido - Stephen Marche

After weeks of continuously unfolding abuse scandals, men have become, quite literally, unbelievable. What any given man might say about gender politics and how he treats women are separate and unrelated phenomena. Liberal or conservative, feminist or chauvinist, woke or benighted, young or old, found on Fox News or in The New Republic, a man’s stated opinions have next to no relationship to behavior. Through sheer bulk, the string of revelations about men from Bill Cosby to Roger Ailes to Harvey Weinstein to Louis C.K. to Al Franken and, this week, to Charlie Rose and John Lasseter, have forced men…

Friday, 15 December 2017 03:04

If Atiku is the only alternative to Buhari, then we’re done! - Farooq Kperogi

If Atiku Abubakar (or anybody PDP presents as a presidential candidate) is the only alternative to President Muhammadu Buhari, then Buhari’s victory in 2019 will be a definite shoo-in, and that’s terrible for the future of Nigeria. As a political party, PDP is a hopelessly damaged brand. It’s too soon to forget the agonizing blight that the party inflicted on Nigeria. However one tries, it’s hard to get past the insufferable arrogance, insensitivity, and impunity of the henchmen of PDP. To be sure, APC (which is actually old PDP in a new bottle) is continuing where PDP stopped. In fact,…

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