Our Columnists
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Is AI Coming For The Journalist?
It would be good if anxiety about job losses led to greater introspection, retooling, and adoption of technologies and practices that improve journalism, especially the core business of storytelling.
One year ago, on November 15, 2023, the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) invited me to speak on “Nigerian Media, Sustainability and Existential Threats by Big Tech.” Being asked again this year is a privilege, but I won’t be surprised if this is my last invitation. Perhaps I won’t need to come as a presenter […] More
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Unusual Reasons Africa Wanted Trump To Win
What is at work is a reverse schadenfreude, which says that the fewer opportunities Nigerian immigrants have outside the country, the more seriously the government would be obliged to fix the country.
I understand wealthy US citizens and conservatives of the evangelical hue rooting for Donald Trump. The rich believe he would loosen regulations and protect them and their businesses from excessive taxation. Conservative evangelicals believe he is the bulwark against wokeism, especially the ultra-liberal variety. And white folks want their country back. But Africans at home […] More
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America At A Crossroads: If Donald Trump Wins Or Loses
The nation’s fundamental character as a multicultural democracy hangs in the balance, awaiting the verdict of an electorate that seems as divided as it is uncertain about the future.
As America hurtles toward what may be its most pivotal election in a century, an eerie sense of déjà vu hangs in the air, not just in the United States, but around the world, where the election will have consequential effects. Unlike 2016’s shock victory, however, the nation seems resigned to the possibility of Donald […] More
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Tight Race: Letter From Abroad To Michelle Obama
Tight races are not new in US elections, but this one feels peculiarly tight because even though facts and decency suggest that it should have been a mismatch, America is being seduced by its worst self.
Dear former First Lady, You asked the question that millions outside the US have been asking for weeks if not months: Why can’t America see former President Donald Trump for who he is – a congenital liar, a narcissist, a fascist, and a demagogue? At a campaign rally in Michigan on October 26, you criticised […] More
More Columns
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Nigeria: Three Stories, One Message
Long story short, 12 years after Mambilla was supposed to have been completed with all its transformative promises in power, rail, roads, infrastructure, and jobs (not to mention the missing N30 billion Obasanjo left in the project account), we’re still in a rut, stewing deeper and deeper in the misery of rolling blackouts and collapsing grids.
Three – maybe three and a half – stories go to the heart of why Nigeria appears stuck in a rut. And for some strange reason, all of them are rooted mainly in energy and power. The first is about a project, the Mambilla Hydroelectric Project. If you live in Nigeria – except you’re the […] More
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Euthanize the NNPCL Now!
Nigeria should eliminate the NNPC and allow the oil sector to be completely private as it is in many countries, focusing more on collecting huge taxes on the profits made by operators in the sector.
Nigeria’s once-proud national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), has become a liability to the nation it was meant to serve. This transformation from a gem of national pride to a burden on the economy serves as a stark reminder of the corrosive effects of mismanagement and corruption. There was a time […] More
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Does It Still Make Sense To Trust Tinubu?
He starts to lose me, not when I pay a higher petrol price but when his actions show, irretrievably, that despite his solid credentials as an advocate of restructuring, he is determined to put the cart before the horse.
This was tough to write. My heart resisted it, but I yielded to my head. The petrol in my car, a 2.0-litre 2012 Tokunbo Camry, was at half-tank the day before writing. When pump prices went from 195/litre to 617/litre between May and June 2023, I parked my Jeep and, despite being occasionally mistaken for […] More
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How Africa Is Paying For Pursuit Of The Last Hamas
It’s not certain how the Nigerian government would respond to Israel’s current two-pronged war in pursuit of Hamas and Hezbollah, with Iran in the mix.
When the Israeli-Hamas war started one year ago, it didn’t look like it would last long. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promise to avenge the deaths of over 364 Israelis killed and dozens taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 at a music concert left little doubt it was going to be a bloody phase. […] More
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LEADERSHIP: A Story Still Telling 20 Years After
Before the newspaper, he started a newsletter, LEADERSHIP Confidential, a highly-prized window on life, politics and powerplay among Abuja’s high and mighty, patronised by embassies and the political glitterati.
Several good things happen in the bedroom, often the place of rest and renewal. Sometime in 2004, Sam Nda-Isaiah and his wife Zainab conceived the idea of a newspaper there. She told the story before of how her husband got up in the wee hours, scribbled a few things in a jotter, and asked what […] More
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Nigeria’s 64th Search For True Independence
Instead of investing in sustainable development, as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates did – building robust institutions and diversifying the economy – successive governments in Nigeria took to reckless spending and monumental corruption.
A nation is not like humans. Its lifespan is unlimited, unknown and indeterminable. If Nigeria were human, at 64 years, it would be winding down, in or preparing for retirement. But even as a nation, crawling like a baby at 64 is unacceptable. At 64, a republic may still be regarded as young compared to […] More
