Our Columnists
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Governor Yahaya Bello’s Trial Is Prime Time For Corruption
The EFCC accused Bello of laundering roughly $180 million and serving Bello with the charges has become a drama because he hasn’t appeared in court for his arraignment.
Corruption charges are nothing new in Nigeria and the most informed citizens have learned not to take any highly-publicised investigation seriously. As charges and trials grew, so has malfeasance intensified, to the extent that instead of corruption being reduced, it has become fantastically elegant. Everyone wants to be corrupt, including the youths. It is in […] More
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Thrills, Joys And Surprises Of Selling
My experience in the past three weeks since Premium Times Books released my book has been funny, thrilling, with not a few surprises – and yet these are early days.
There are probably more books on how to sell everything than there is sand by the seashore. I have read a few myself and might say that when it comes to selling, even though what you have read might help, nothing teaches like what you learn by doing it. For some, selling feels natural. I […] More
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What’s In A Book? You’ll Never Know, Until…
I thought perhaps it might be useful to combine my speaking experiences with decades of writing a weekly column now enriched in both audio and visual formats to serve the needs of a younger generation of content providers, especially students and those in the earlier stages of their writing career, trying to find their way.
Earlier this week, I teased on my social handle about my encounter with a deity. Of course, not in the sense that one might meet a deity in the groove of a village forest. Yet, those who have met this man – who know him – might agree that Sam Amuka, fondly called Uncle Sam, […] More
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Don’t Mind The IGP, Nigeria Is Mature For State Police
Undoubtedly, there are challenges in establishing state police forces, but suggesting that Nigeria is not mature enough to manage security at the states – not even at the local government level – is not only erroneous but is also a false portrayal of what is possible and practicable in Nigeria.
The Inspector General of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Kayode Egbetokun, reacted from his most selfish impulses in his recent statement that Nigeria was not “mature” enough for state police. There has never been a time when Nigeria was ready for a decentralised law enforcement system than now. To read the IGP quoted as saying […] More
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Musings On Parties In Turmoil
Whether the political parties are winning or losing – of course, it is worse when they’re losing – politicians never forget that the party is simply a convenient tool, serviceable only when it can help them get to power, but certainly dispensable immediately afterwards.
Nigeria’s three main political parties – the All Progressives Congress (APC), the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP) – are in turmoil. They have been infested by little foxes that threaten to damage and, potentially, destroy them. I know that discipline is not a virtue of political parties in a presidential system. […] More
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Faye and France: The Tyre Meets The Road
A strategic reset of Senegal’s relationship with Paris can begin with Dakar creating an environment that works for investment – wherever it is coming from – while the new government also leverages regional cooperation, especially with moderate Francophone countries in the region.
The words of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye were honey to taste. Following the bitter ending of the 12-year rule of Macky Sall, highlighted by the widespread belief that France is at the heart of Senegal’s misery, a forlorn country enthusiastically lapped up Faye’s promise of a future untainted by French shenanigans. At a stage, it […] More
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Jonathan And Sam: Two Books, One Message
The failure of leadership is responsible for the booby traps and chaos thrown on Tinubu’s path in the runup to the 2023 election on Buhari’s watch.
Before The Human Flow was published, Jonathan, one of Europe’s most accomplished foreign affairs columnists and journalists, had talked with excitement about the book. It was his first novel. Like a woman who became pregnant when she thought she was past child-bearing, Jonathan, 82, couldn’t wait to make Mary Wesley look like a child prodigy. […] More
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The Okuama Dead: Story Behind The Grief
With a population of about 31 million and over 40 ethnic groups, the Niger Delta is a cauldron, radicalised by decades of poverty, agitation, militancy and violent politics.
When Lt. Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Ali, 49, assumed duties as Commanding Officer of the 181 Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian Army, all his mother, Hassana, could do was pray. Three years ago, Ali’s younger brother, Jamilu, a captain, had been killed in action by bandits in Katsina State. As an officer in the North-east, Ali […] More
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Our Dirty, Rotten Banking Industry Must Be Cleansed
It is not acceptable for tone-deaf bankers to ask Nigerians for investments in London when we can use all the dollars and pounds at home.
Nigerian banks may not have solely created today’s inclement economic weather, but they have been a catalyst and an albatross on the country. Corrupt, greedy and notorious, top bankers are the suffocating mass around the neck of Nigerians that will not allow them to breath. Since the sudden demise of former CEO of Access Bank, […] More
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Reminiscing About Inter-house Sports Day – By Efe Remawa
The value of sports for health, wellbeing, team spirit, scholarship opportunities, fostering unity, sense of purpose should not be overlooked.
Inter-house sports day (“sports day”) is when primary and secondary schools host their annual sports competition in Nigeria. In many schools, students are grouped into houses for planning, organisation and the actual competition. Usually, sports day is held in the second term of the school session. I attended one recently. It brought back memories of […] More
