Opinion

Thursday, 27 July 2023 04:19

This puny presidency - Steve Osuji

HOBBLED PRESIDENCY LAPSES INTO INERTIA: There seems to be something about those who crave a thing so bad before they land it. When they finally get that object of their desire ennui seems to quickly embrace them and squeeze the joy out of their victory. Let’s make a quick checklist: that beautiful lady you chased for years before she said yes. That dream car; that mansion or that job you wanted badly. After you finally get it, you find yourself asking: is this all?This must be the same feeling now with President Bola Tinubu. Storied to have craved the presidency…
A central premise of neoclassical economics is that the consequences of the decisions of market participants can be known in advance and quantified as risk-adjusted estimates. As John Kay and Mervyn King showed in their 2020 book, Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers, such probabilistic reasoning has a long history. As applied in economics, it has operationalized the concept of “expected utility” – the desideratum that rational economic agents are defined to be maximizing. As the author of a major analysis of the stock market sponsored by the British government (Kay) and a former governor of the Bank of England…
Jane is a junior doctor working several extra locum shifts to make ends meet. Burnt out after the pandemic, and struggling with her physical and mental health, she would really like to take unpaid leave, but she cannot afford to do so. Last month, her landlord hiked up her rent, then served her with an eviction notice when she said she couldn’t afford it. She now has to move for the fourth time in three years, and is back in a flat-hunting market where rents are higher everywhere. She feels trapped, she tells me. Trapped in her job, with her…
Monday, 24 July 2023 03:21

The Shylocks within - Hassan Gimba

Last week, the federal government, through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), banned two loan app banks, permanently removing them from Google Play Store and initiating the process of deleting their respective apps. The culprits, Sycamore Integrated Solutions Limited and Orange Loan and Purple Credit Limited, along with their apps, Getloan and Camelloan, were permanently delisted due to their illicit practices and for their harassment of Nigerians. They were also accused of duplicity and illegal activities when they were discovered to be using APKs to attract borrowers, which is both illegal and unregulated. The truth is that loan…
Initial applauses from Bretton Woods and some local economists that greeted the economic reforms of the Bola Tinubu presidency were deafening. The reforms were termed bold and courageous. The most surgically painful of them, which drilled deep down into the marrows of Nigerians, was the removal of fuel subsidy. In a country that is almost totally dependent on PMS, the unbearable pains of the people reached ear-shattering decibel. Cars disappeared from the roads. Costs of transportation are tearing the roof, with rife social dislocations. Rates of crime have since been on the increase, with rising matrimonial disorder figures. Local political…
Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great ~ Genesis 26:12-13. Introduction Life becomes exciting when it’s dotted with supernatural breakthroughs. Contrariwise, failure, poverty and stagnation can actually breed stubborn and complicated troubles for anyone here on earth. Success is sweet; failure can be bitter and very brutal! Poverty kills ingenuity, engenders inferiority complex, destroys influence, demeans testimonies and curtails progress. Most despicably, stagnation inherently frustrates even starry potentials. Largely today, the economy is…
God says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9). This means God always acts in ways, not only different from ours, but antithetical to ours. He contradicts our customs, values, and norms. Jesus presents this most emphatically: “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15). The practical implication of this is dumbfounding. It means gain in this world becomes loss in God’s…
The death on Wednesday, 20 July, of our friend, compatriot and fellow writer, Kole Omotoso, came to us with a great shock. But in our sadness we give thanks for his life and his work. “We” here refers to the moribund Positive Review-Ibadan Ife Collective. By a few years, Kole was the oldest among us. He also came to writing as a serious, committed and lifelong project before all of us. But among us, he was the freest spirit, the most maverick and unpredictable in his positions and actions! These facts are reflected powerfully and ineluctably in perhaps his two…
There’s a trending video from nine years ago. If you watched it casually, you might in fact think that it was done yesterday. It was a clip of Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, narrating what happened in 2014 when a delegation of African heads of state was asked by AU to mediate the Libyan crisis at the time. Museveni’s account of the outcome of the assignment, which has so far not been denied by NATO, was a scandal – an African shame – on steroids. It’s surprising how the incident remained largely unreported until this video resurfaced again recently. It wasn’t…
In at least 70 recorded cases of police brutality in the United States, the victim cried out three words: I. Can’t. Breathe. From Eric Garner in 2014 to George Floyd in 2020, people hogtied or put in a chokehold cried out those words but were ignored by officers who thought they were lying or exaggerating their distress. If they could still talk, they were still breathing. Such presumption of how far the police could stretch the thread of life caused many of them to be needlessly snapped. Those words would eventually become the rallying cry of the 2020 global #BlackLivesMatter…
November 23, 2024

NNPC not delivering quantity of crude oil agreed on, Dangote refinery says

The federal government's plan to sell crude priced in the local currency is faltering, with…
November 24, 2024

PDP governors urge Tinubu to review economic policies amid rising hardship

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have called on President…
November 24, 2024

Older adults opened up about things they ‘took for granted’ in their 20s and 30s

Last month, we wrote a post where older adults from the BuzzFeed Community shared things…
November 16, 2024

Influencer eats pig feed in extreme attempt to save money

Popular Douyin streamer Kong Yufeng recently sparked controversy in China by eating pig feed on…
November 22, 2024

FG excited as pro-Biafra agitator Simon Ekpa arrested in Finland on terrorism charges

Simon Ekpa, the controversial leader of the pro-Biafra faction Autopilot, was arrested by Finnish authorities…
November 24, 2024

What to know after Day 1004 of Russia-Ukraine war

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE Putin signs law forgiving debt arrears for new Russian recruits for Ukraine war…
November 21, 2024

Nigeria comes top in instant payment system inclusivity index in Africa

Nigeria’s instant payment system is projected to advance to the maturity inclusion spectrum ahead of…
October 27, 2024

Nigeria awarded 3-0 win over Libya after airport fiasco

Nigeria have been awarded a 3-0 victory over Libya, and three vital points, from their…

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