It’s disheartening to see a dubiously contrived consensus emerging among unsuspecting and otherwise critically-minded Nigerians on fuel subsidy. The rhetorical offensive of successive governments on the issue is sadly proving successful. The debate has now shifted from whether petrol, the single most consequential product in our economy that directly or indirectly drives all economic activities, should be subsidised, to when and how subsidy should be removed, and how the government should invest the resulting revenue boost. That’s exactly how the political elites want it. These are their preferred terms for discussing subsidy. This framing exculpates them, blames the nebulous and…

In 2008, University of Chicago economist (and future Nobel laureate) Richard Thaler and Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein published their book Nudge, which popularized the idea that subtle design changes in the architecture of choice (“nudges”) can influence our behavior. The book became a global phenomenon and marked an intellectual watershed. But 15 years after its publication, the question remains: Has behavioral economics lived up to the hype? Thaler and Sunstein based their thesis on the research and insights of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, which they had previously applied to the field of law and economics in a…

“So many people are hanging on by the thinnest of threads. Treat people with kindness, you could be that thread.” – John Pavlovitz The above proverbial expression, which alludes to an occasion between Damocles and King Dionysius, may define the situation between Nigerians and their president. Without a doubt, President Bola Tinubu took the oath of office amidst significant concerns expressed by many Nigerians. Apart from that, the courts are still hearing challenges to his emergence as president. He is also, so far, the only president with a minority of votes in an election in Nigeria. Every president since 1999…

America was a pitiable sight last Thursday. That great country was crouched on the bare floor. It fell like a huge hippopotamus. President Joe Biden’s legs were wrapped over each other like a malevolent viper that had just had its backbone yanked apart by an irreverent bullet. America looked helpless. The edges of Biden’s blue suit raised their hands up in surrender, leaving the world gaping through his now visible white singlet. The only thing on him that seemed unfazed by the fall was his blue fez cap. For the first time ever, cameras pierced through the underneath of Biden’s…