Economists have long argued that productivity is the foundation of prosperity. The only way a country can increase its standard of living sustainably is to produce more goods and services with fewer resources. Since the Industrial Revolution, this has been achieved through innovation, which is why productivity has become synonymous, in the public imagination, with technological progress and research and development. Our intuition about how innovation promotes productivity is shaped by everyday experience in business. Firms that adopt new technologies tend to become more productive, allowing them to outcompete technological laggards. But a productive society is not the same as…

This was first published on October 29, 2018. Considering the resuscitation of the issue by the new Kano State Government, I see the need to republish it. While we knew and respected each other from a distance, I first met Ja’afar Ja’afar in 2015 when I was serving my second stint as the editor of Friday Leadership. Journalists have a way of knowing themselves through various networks even if they had never met. Journalism is a profession like any other that builds one’s reputation in the eyes of the world. Knowing the hassles one goes through to put a paper…

“We are now beginning our descent into Charles de Gaulle Airport,” the captain’s jarring voice came over the intercom. I was fast asleep. I did not sleep the day before I embarked on this long journey, which took me from Abuja through a hectic layover in Addis. Somehow, the call informing passengers about descent always pulls me back to earth. It wasn’t different on this occasion. I couldn’t wait to touch down in Paris, the picturesque capital of France and a global centre for art, fashion, cuisine, and culture. It was my first time in Paris, the City of Love.…

If you diligently analyze social media’s initial reactions to allegation that Mmesoma Ejikeme forged her Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination result, it would be difficult not to conclude that her race was her wrong. That she was wrong to have been born Igbo at a critical time like this. Or that the politics of her race was her albatross. Ejikeme has attracted so odious comments to herself, similar to one who willfully pelted on self a mound of excrement. Only on Friday, an Anambra State committee of enquiry revealed that she indeed faked the result. Kaduna State-born Senator,…