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Opinion

Friday, 16 June 2017 17:33

Nigeria at the Buhari crossroads - Opeyemi Agbaje

It is mid-way through the expected four year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari and rather than celebration, there is uncertainty and tension in the air. Buhari himself is unwell, hospitalized in England with nearly zero information available to Nigerian citizens and voters about his current state of health, ailment and whether he is improving or not! Since the President left Nigeria on May 7, 2017, not one single word has been heard from him. The assumption most people are forced to make is that our president’s health remains less than ideal. Political developments at home are now being shaped by…

Thursday, 15 June 2017 04:37

A footnote to Saraki's victory - Pius Adesanmi

Hearty and warm congratulations to Senate President Bukola Saraki, who has, once again, earned a commendable victory over the people of Nigeria. He has been defeating the Nigerian people since the days of his robbery at Societe-Generale Bank, through eight years of massive robbery as Governor of Kwara State, onward to aloota continua in the Senate. Every attempt to make him pay for his crimes has failed. Because of our system. Because of who we are. I want to move on quickly to an inconsequential footnote to Saraki's victory at the tribunal yesterday. A few days ago, a life was…

Thursday, 15 June 2017 04:29

Dangerous brinksmanship - Jideofor Adibe

The hot news these days is the current notice given by some Northern ‘youths’ under the aegis of Coalition of Northern Youth Groups for the Igbo to leave the 12 Northern states by October 1 2017. The group claimed their action was a response to the persistent demand for Biafra by the Igbo. The quit notice has raised the tension level in the country by several decibels, overshadowing the tons of challenges facing the country. There are several observations about the current imbroglio: One, questions are often asked on whether both the agitations for Biafra and the response by the…

Tuesday, 13 June 2017 03:31

Igbo-haters, the Arewa ultimatum and our nation - Reuben Abati

Fifty years after the civil war ended, Igbos do not yet feel a sense of belonging, acceptance or safety in the Federation called Nigeria. The sad part is that this belief is shared not just by the generation that witnessed the war and its deadly consequences, but Igbos across all generations, including the millennials who have been socialized into believing that there is a gap between their people and other Nigerians. Let us not deceive ourselves about certain plain truths. The civil war is perhaps the most remarkable incident in Igbo history in the last century. The pain, the loss,…

Monday, 12 June 2017 03:49

Labor markets in the age of automation - Laura Tyson

Advances in artificial intelligence and robotics are powering a new wave of automation, with machines matching or outperforming humans in a fast-growing range of tasks, including some that require complex cognitive capabilities and advanced degrees. This process has outpaced the expectations of experts; not surprisingly, its possible adverse effects on both the quantity and quality of employment have raised serious concerns. To listen to President Donald Trump’s administration, one might think that trade remains the primary reason for the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States. Trump’s treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, has declared that the possible technological displacement of…

Monday, 12 June 2017 03:46

June 12: Beyond a 'harmless' remembrance - Israel A. Ebije

Events after the infamous June 12 election may not be forgotten on account of sentiments that culminated in a bloodbath. The late Moshood Kashimawo Abiola was adjudged to have won election in 1993 and believed to have been denied his mandate. Twenty-four years after the botch June 12 election, the pain continues to bite harder, building a critical mass, which makes it a potentially deadly part of our history. Successive governments may want to pretend the June 12 anger against the annulment of Abiola’s election has dissipated, or issues surrounding it have been buried and forgotten, they have however failed…

Sunday, 11 June 2017 17:26

Theresa May’s failed gamble - Jacek Rostowski

Six months ago, I predicted that British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government wouldn’t last far beyond May of this year. I expected the British people to have realized by then that the “soft Brexit” they had been promised was impossible. This would so undermine May’s authority, I anticipated, that she would have to resign. Lo and behold, the snap election that May called two months ago has now denied her Conservative Party a majority, resulting in a hung parliament. To be sure, by last month, I had come around to the conventional wisdom that May’s Conservatives would win. After all,…

Sunday, 11 June 2017 03:57

Awo: Remembering that day, 30 years after - Folu Olamiti

Saturday, May 9, 1987. The day broke, like any other day. There was no premonition of anything earth-shaking. No foreboding. All seemed at peace. As Editor of Sunday Tribune, I had kept vigil, the previous night, in the office putting finishing touches to a bumper package for that week’s edition. In the wee hours, nature came calling and I went home to catch some sleep. Just for a few hours. At about 10 am, I remember vividly now, I sauntered out of bed and started preparing for work. I had to get to the office before noon. Normal routine. Still,…

Saturday, 10 June 2017 03:28

Women can wear blue, men can wear pink, Igbo can reside peacefully in northern Nigeria – Olatorera Oniru

The news of youths in northern Nigeria providing an ultimatum and establishing a deadline for all Igbos in Northern Nigeria to vacate the region, came to me as a big shock and prompted this article. The past 2 years living and working in Nigeria, yet travelling the world, opened up my ability to brainstorm on some of the challenges that have plagued and continue to plague the growth of this great nation. From leadership, to education, to lost time that we will never get back, to segregation. The prior mentioned issues are massively of more importance but right now, we…

Friday, 09 June 2017 04:11

Reno Omokri: What we can learn from one another - Jideofor Adibe

Reno Omokri’s article, ‘Hegemony: What the Igbo can learn from Yoruba and Fulani about power’ – published in the Vanguard of June 3, 2017, was very insightful and could mainstream conversations about inter-ethnic perceptions and misinformation in the country. Such conversations have largely remained an affair for ‘internet warriors’. In his article, Omokri, a former Special Assistant to former President Jonathan on Social Media, argues that there are certain behavioural and cultural traits that impede the Igbo in their quest to produce a President of Igbo extraction and that there is a lot they can learn from the Yoruba and…

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Thursday, 08 June 2017 03:23

Donkeys and Nigerian unity - Gambo Dori

I could not help but take notice of M T Usman’s letter to the Editor in the Daily Trust of May 23th 2017 bemoaning the absence of the familiar sight of donkeys from the streets of his hometown which I suspect would be in those semi-arid areas of the North-west. He wrote: ‘Driving through the countryside near my hometown I couldn’t but notice the copiousness of Chinese-made Jincheng motorcycle in contrast to the near absence of donkeys those beasts of burden since antiquity’. He further lamented that: ‘cursory estimate shows a ratio of 40:50 Jincheng sighting to a single donkey.…

Wednesday, 07 June 2017 16:21

All is quiet on the western front - Dare Babarinsa

Let me start with a confession. I have not read the manifesto of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. However, I had expected that one of the new grounds the party would cultivate is the abandon forest of constitutional reforms. So far, it has shied away from this. Indeed, some of the pronouncements of its red-cap chiefs suggest that it is militantly opposed to any form of constitutional amendment. We may recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, before he was halted by illness, had said on national television that he would have nothing to do with the reports of the Constitutional…

Tuesday, 06 June 2017 04:58

Two years of change - Reuben Abati

“How is it going my brother?" “We just dey look. Two years and we thank God.” “How was your May 29?” “There was no celebration. We just siddon dey look.” “But the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo addressed the nation.” “I know. I know. But there was no programme in place for celebrating two years of the Buhari government. In the past, we used to have a week-long programme, with military parades, prayers here and there and then a national broadcast to remind the people of how democratic rule has been so fruitful and kind.” “There was a national broadcast." “I…

Tuesday, 06 June 2017 04:54

Politics is a joke, and that might be what’s keeping us sane - Anne Applebaum

I admit: I laughed more than once. By the time I saw President Trump’s half-written, abruptly abandoned tweet — “Despite the negative press covfefe” — on Wednesday morning, Central European Time, it had been up for several hours. The #covfefe hashtag was already trending; Twitter was heaving with jokes. My personal favorites were the mock serious “Media elites make fun of #covfefe instead of trying to understand it” and the simple “it’s a cry for helfe.” The thing somehow stopped being funny by the afternoon, though there was a moment of ironic drama when the president’s spokesman, Sean Spicer, tried…

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