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Opinion

Thursday, 02 November 2023 04:48

If everyone gets an A, no one gets an A - Tim Donahue

What is an A, anyway? Does it mean that a 16-year-old recognizes 96 percent of the allusions in “The Bluest Eye”? Or that she could tell you 95 percent of the reasons the Teapot Dome Scandal was so important? Or just that she made it to most classes? Does it come from a physics teacher in the Great Smoky Mountains who bludgeons students with weekly, memory-taxing tests or from a trigonometry teacher in Topeka who works in Taylor Swift references and allows infinite retests? One answer is that A is now the most popular high school grade in America. Indeed,…

Wednesday, 01 November 2023 04:34

Conditional cash transfer as motor park economics - Jideofor Adibe

A recent report that the Federal government has approached the World Bank for a fresh loan of $400m for a conditional cash transfer for supposedly 15 million households is raising serious concerns among many Nigerians. The new $400m loan will bring to $1.2bn the amount that the Federal Government is borrowing from the World Bank for its cash transfer programme aimed at cushioning the harsh impact of removing fuel subsidies and floating the Naira, having earlier secured a loan of $800m for the same purpose. The government claims that the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme, part of its National Social Investment…

Tuesday, 31 October 2023 05:30

The five main drivers of global economic uncertainty - Mohamed A. El-Erian

Businesses, governments, and investors were already navigating a foggy global landscape before the tragic events unfolding in the Middle East. But the horrible conflict between Hamas and Israel, which has already led to enormous suffering and claimed the lives of thousands of civilians, including so many children, has introduced a new layer of uncertainty for the global economy, the subject of this commentary. Even in the highly unlikely event that the geopolitical situation improves rapidly in the region and beyond, a deep sense of uncertainty will remain, driven by five economic and financial factors. First, the global economy’s major growth…

Monday, 30 October 2023 04:57

A matter of principle - Muhammadu Buhari

Rarely in modern times can so few have tried to take so much from so many. If Nigeria had lost its arbitration dispute with Process & Industrial Development in a London court on 23 October, it would have cost our people close to $1 billion. We won, and all decent people can sleep easier as a result. Justice Robin Knowles said Nigeria had been the victim of a monstrous fraud. But it was a close-run thing. As the judge said: “I end the case acutely conscious of how readily the outcome could have been different, and of the enormous resources…

Monday, 30 October 2023 04:49

The Judiciary of something else - Gambo Dori

It is a well-worn tradition for our colleagues in the Judiciary to use the occasion of their retirement to make fine speeches full of platitudes that hardly anyone notices thereafter. At his valedictory speech on retirement at 70, Musa Dattijo Mohammed of the Supreme Court decided to take matters beyond the next level. He spoke from the heart, on Thursday last week, giving us a peep into the rot pervading in the Judiciary. The speech became an immediate sensation. Daily Trust called it a bombshell that set the internet on fire. Indeed, it did, as what he said furiously dominated…

Sunday, 29 October 2023 04:35

Dattijo, public opinion and the rumble in Supreme Court’s jungle - Festus Adedayo

Is there any connect between law and public opinion or judgments and public opinion? Before Musa Dattijo Muhammad’s valedictory speech at the Supreme Court last Friday, the connect or disconnect between those two had begun to assume a life of its own. The presidential election judgment delivered by the Supreme Court the day before heightened concerted quests for the nexus or disjuncture between them. In the Dattijo valedictory, it would appear that the Learned Justice had deliberately set out to take the sail off the wind of views which divorced law from judgments and public opinion. In the valedictory, Dattijo…

Sunday, 29 October 2023 04:34

Receiving the blessing for lasting greatness - Taiwo Akinola

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it ~ Proverbs 10:22. Introduction: Undoubtedly, divine blessing is one of the deepest mysteries of godliness. Certainty, Jacob knew this when he insisted on being divinely blessed, refusing to let God go until he got the blessing (Genesis 32:26-29). Even though, he obtained it at a cost of great personal pain, his story changed forever after that experience. We all must practically understand the principles of divine blessing and seek to enjoy it in full. Greatness is more than success. Whereas success is limited to a…

Sunday, 29 October 2023 04:32

Article of faith: Rejoice in the Lord always (1) - Femi Aribisala

Are you happy? What is the basis of your happiness? Is it based on something you have? Is it based on a situation or circumstance? Beware, because that is building a house on the sand. When the storm comes, and the wind blows, great will be the fall of your house. The Bible says the basis of our joy should be Christ. Jesus makes all the difference between an abundant life and a life of intermittent misery, depression, and dejection. Eternal Life The natural man defines life by material possessions. When people are making money, they are said to be…

Saturday, 28 October 2023 04:47

The triumph of evil - Osmund Agbo

In an era in which the scales often tip in favour of evil rather than good, a disconcerting debate rages on. While some argue that the world inherently harbours more good than evil, it is an argument ensnared in ambiguity. What remains indisputable, however, is the unwavering passion with which those who perpetuate evil pursue their craft; a stark contrast to the lukewarm commitment of those advocating for good. The disheartening question arises: Why does the fervour for goodness seem to pale in comparison to the zealous dedication of the malevolent? One possible explanation is that the rewards for doing…

Friday, 27 October 2023 04:56

Gumi’s extremism shames decency - Azu Ishiekwene

Ahmad Gumi, 60, is a medical doctor and retired army captain. But he has not had a job after retirement 37 years ago. His day job since has been bandits’ advocacy. He has become so used to getting away with saying what he likes when he likes and how he likes it, he hardly knows when he needs help to extract his foot from his mouth. He could use such help. Not only for his own good, but perhaps for the good of those taking him seriously as well. In a rambling no-holds-barred sermon last week, Gumi lashed out at…

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Thursday, 26 October 2023 04:27

A completely new take on ‘1984’ - Laura Beers

George Orwell and his classic novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” are having a moment. The book ranks in the top ten on Amazon’s classic literature best seller list, and last year Russian media reported that it was the most downloaded e-book in that country. Earlier this month, Elon Musk posted a picture on X (formerly Twitter) showing off his new T-shirt emblazoned with “What Would Orwell Think” — an ironic homage from a man many see as enabling a resurgence of Orwellian disinformation on the social media platform. “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” a searing denunciation of totalitarianism, censorship and disinformation, brought us the terms…

Wednesday, 25 October 2023 04:44

The world needs Donald Trump now more than ever - Monica Crowley

Shortly after Israel was savagely attacked by Hamas terrorists, a popular meme appeared showing former President Donald Trump in silhouette in a Batman-esque bat signal with the line: "The entire world right now." Under Trump, "peace through strength" wasn't just a suggestive mantra; it was a governing imperative. Trump understood that when the United States is weak or is perceived as weak, the good guys retreat, the bad guys advance, and the wheels come off the world. Trump also knew that by putting America First, our allies and our adversaries would understand that he meant business: If the American people…

Monday, 23 October 2023 04:47

Freedom without justice - Slavoj Zizek

Lea Ypi’s Free: Coming of Age at the End of History has met with a hostile reception in her home country of Albania, and it is easy to see why. Her self-description as a “Marxist Albanian professor of political theory at the London School of Economics” says it all. Reading Ypi’s book, I was struck by the parallel between her life and that of Viktor Kravchenko, the Soviet official who defected while visiting New York in 1944. His famous bestselling memoir, I Chose Freedom, became the first substantial eyewitness account of the horrors of Stalinism, beginning with its detailed description…

Sunday, 22 October 2023 04:48

Freudian fraud, Akpabio and EFCC chair - Festus Adedayo

Father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, must have had the conversation last week between Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the recently cleared Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede in mind. While propounding the theory of what is now known as Freudian slips in his 1901 book he entitled The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud discussed what in German is called Fehlleistungen. It is another name for faulty actions which mirror bits of unconscious mind leakages into conscious behaviour. This leakage, otherwise known as misspeak, according to him, prompts a speaker to say what is unintended…

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