Perspectives
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Why is Nigeria so unlucky? — by Ugo Egbujo
Tinubu was recently in Kenya. There, he blamed the world for the plight of the African child. He said if the African child could be sure of one sandwich or egg a day, they wouldn’t be fearful of education. Tinubu’s grammatical issues aside, he appears to be losing touch with reality. Tinubu doesn’t need to make his speeches memorable. The…
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Nigeria’s debt profile: Ignorance in agbada — by Olabode Opeseitan
A fact grounded examination of what Nigeria owes, what it has paid, and who is profiting from the confusion. In Nigeria, the agbada, that magnificent, wide flowing gown, can signal wisdom or conceal mischief depending on the wearer. It can be the costume of authority just as it can be the costume of performance. When some Nigerians recently stormed the…
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Deficits, debt and economic literacy: A response to Nigeria’s fiscal critics — by Tanimu Yakubu
Those who speak glibly about deficits, debt and fiscal expansion often reveal not economic sophistication, but economic illiteracy disguised as moral outrage. Much of today’s opposition rhetoric confuses accounting identities with ideological slogans and mistakes macroeconomic intervention for recklessness. A modern economy is not managed through market romanticism. It is managed through theory, evidence, history and context. The loudest critics…
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Roads can wait. Buildings can wait. Airports can wait. Education cannot — by Osita Chidoka
The road we fail to build today can still be built tomorrow. The airport that was delayed this year may still serve future generations. But the child pushed out of school by policy failure is often lost forever. Every year, one of Nigeria’s roughly 15 million out-of-school children loses a narrow window that may never reopen. When reforms eventually come,…
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Oyo APC: Elect Adelabu at your own peril, by Kola Amzat
There is no doubt that members of APC family have suffered enough since 2019 when the party’s rein in the state was brought to a halt by the PDP regime, consequent upon the internal wrangling and irreconcilable differences amongst the leadership hierarchy of the party. Since the party lost power and authority, thousands of the party faithful and the leadership…
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Femi Gbajabiamila: A specimen of loyalty and gentility — by Femi Fani-Kayode & Reno Omokri
Let us start by saying that we have both worked in the Presidency twice, and it is our informed opinion that hardly any Chief of Staff to the President has been as effective as Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila. From our experience and vantage points, what does effectiveness as a Chief of Staff to a President look like? The answer is that…
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Democracy and the tyranny of sentiment — by Bamidele Johnson
One of the more durable lies we tell ourselves about democracy is that it naturally rewards competence. It sounds lovely, but it ends up in smithereens the moment it comes into contact with reality.Whatever we think or say, elections are not IQ tests, but emotional brawls conducted with ballot papers, sometimes with broken bottles and machetes. That is the type…
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The politics of the pocket — by Folorunso Adisa
Politics, in theory, is meant to be the management of collective hope. In Nigeria, however, it increasingly resembles the management of personal survival. Offices are no longer treated as temporary platforms for service, but as strategic shelters from irrelevance, investigation, or economic uncertainty. Public power has become largely private. Perhaps nowhere is this more visible than in the endless migration…
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The SERAP Judgment: officers have the right to defend their name — by Gbenga Aladejebi
When SERAP accused operatives of the Department of State Services of unlawfully invading its Abuja office and harassing its staff, the allegation entered public debate with the force of fact. For many people, the story was already complete: a security agency had intimidated a civil society organisation. Yet behind the broad description of “DSS operatives” were identifiable officers whose careers,…
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Is France real or déjà vu with Africa? — by Kelechi Deca
The events that took place in Nairobi Kenya over the week reminded me of Jacques Foccart, the man who literally and singlehandedly drew up France’s policies in Africa. This is against the backdrop of the ‘defrenchifisation’ air across Africa. Jacques Foccart was head of the Africa Department at the Elysée Palace under President Charles de Gaulle with the official title…
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