There must be something inherently wrong with us as a people. There must be a reason that has made it practically impossible for all governance models or theories that have worked elsewhere to work here. Of course, the answer to that is corruption. We cannot say it enough. The level of corruption in the country is such that until something drastic is done, the development of this nation would continue to remain stunted. For a while now, we have been waiting for the much-anticipated Dangote Refinery to be launched. Our expectations and optimism were not misplaced given the harrowing experience…
Author: Charles Okoh
I belong to the school of thought that believes that the problem of Nigeria is not with our statutes, constitutions, or laws, but with us as a people. There is no law, no matter how well intended it may be and no matter how broad and encompassing it may be, our crooked nature would always see us seek ways of compromising, circumventing or breaching them. Introduce any law to Nigeria it will be given different interpretations to suit the whims and caprices of the rich and powerful. It would be abused to suit the highest bidder or the man who…
Paul Kelly, an American born singer and songwriter is best known for his popular song which was a major hit in 1970, “Stealing in the Name of the Lord.” Kelly wrote the song to tackle the hypocrisy of church leaders of that time. He said that’s been his way of thinking all the time. “Thinking about what’s wrong with the church… And what they talk about and what they do are two different things. Today, Paul would owe the leaders of the church of his time an apology when he sees the atrocities that church leaders commit today in the…
To say Nigerians are going through harrowing experiences today is only stating the obvious. For many families, everyday presents challenges that are further pushing them to the brink. How people survive in the midst of these escalating cost of living is best imagined. Tracing the cause or reason for these hardships may be subject to debate but what cannot be contested is the fact that whoever aspires to that office of the president is expected to not only come to terms with that reality, but also must be prepared to walk the talk and deliver on promises made. Nigeria is…
The senseless crisis in Rivers State has continued unabated and from the looks of things, it might just continue until common sense prevails or until those who are fueling it run out of firepower. I call the crisis senseless because there can only be one captain in a ship and as it is in Rivers, the State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara, is the captain in the state and whatever may be happening out of the state is irrelevant, immaterial and inconsequential. The crisis last week following the expiration of the tenures of Local Government Council Chairmen in the state, took…
That our federalism is not working is not open to debate; it’s there for all to see. The fact that the growth of this otherwise great nation is stunted can only be contested by those who have chosen to live in self-denial. We all keep complaining of the over-centralisation of leadership in Abuja, yet lack the courage to address what has remained an albatross to the country. Our specifications of federalism is a poor specimen of that of the United States of America, from where we copied it. How can our so-called federating units still have their apron strings hopelessly…
The long drawn-out new minimum wage battle between the organised Labour and Federal Government has taken its toll on all parties in this case. First, and most importantly, is the Nigerian workers who have been at the receiving end of spiraling inflation which has seen most Nigerians groaning and gasping for breath. On the part of the government, the strike apart from its economic effect on an economy that is yet to find its footings after the COVID-19 global pandemic, wrong choices on the part of successive governments, the effect of petrol subsidy removal and floating of the naira have…
Four years after he was deposed as the 14th Emir of Kano, controversial Muhammadu Sanusi II has now returned as the 16th Emir of Kano, thanks to Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State who has reinstated him to the throne. The reinstatement of Sanusi did not come as a surprise. In fact, all indications to this was fueled by the running war between Gov Yusuf, and his predecessor in office, Abdullahi Ganduje, now chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC). Gov Yusuf, a protégé of former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, has since been at loggerheads with Ganduje, who was deputy to…
Recently, we had lamented the deplorable state of the Northern region, in spite of the many God given assets of that region. It is paradoxical that whereas the region is rich in arable land and other natural resources, yet it accounts for the greater percentage in all indexes of negative growth and development. Extreme poverty lives on the streets of the north; drug abuse, increasing figures of out-of-school children, insecurity, outbreaks in diseases, the problem of almajiri etc. Place this reality side by side with the fact that the region has produced more presidents and held that office more than…
There are several battles one fights in life: some you win, some you lose. It is only the unwise who thinks all battles must be won. Discretion, they say, is the better part of valour. Since after the election of 2023, while many states have moved on, for Rivers State, it has been a war without end. The war of attrition between incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his benefactor and predecessor Nyesom Wike, will only have one outcome: impact negatively on the fortunes of the state. For Wike as godfather all arsenals within his disposal would be deployed to wear…
Last week, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), finally let the cat out of the bag with the news of the appointment of Finidi George, after months of speculations on who would succeed disappointing erstwhile head coach, José Peseiro, after he quit the job. Peseiro’s reign was so uneventful and lacklustre that it is difficult to think of any former coach of the team that performed as poorly as the former Super Eagles Portuguese tactician. Sadly, the penchant of our football administrators to go abroad for second rate coaches has continued to backfire with little or nothing to show for the…
Easily one of the most recurring issues that has plagued the nation for a long time is the contentious issues of state police: to be or not to be? All arguments to this oft-hot debate are plausible and genuine. While the antagonists argue that it will be subject to abuse and manipulation by political office holders, protagonists insist that it will allow for effective policing of the 923,770 sq kilometers landmass called Nigeria. Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police, last Monday at a national dialogue on state police organised by the House of Representatives in Abuja with the…
The problems of the north can only be solved by northerners themselves. Unfortunately, salvation may still be very far from the region because of the hypocrisy of its elite. How can a region with fast potential be pleased to always play the victim? They are usually quick to scream about the backwardness of the region but are never intent on improving the status quo. For the elite from that region the victim card is their meal ticket. It’s the gateway to political benefits and appointments. Once the appointment or political patronage comes, they forget about the welfare of the multitude…
If there is one thing that the recent experience of Mr Allen Onyema’s Air Peace has succeeded in proving, it’s the fact that for we as a nation and Nigerians to attain our desired heights of development, we must look inward to develop our nation ourselves. We must realise that it will be foolhardy of us to sit back and expect the nation’s development to come from outside of Nigeria. We have heard repeatedly, cries of the conspiracies from the western world to leave the continent underdeveloped for their own benefit, yet our leaders still cannot see the reason to…
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, last week approved an increase in electricity tariff to N225 ($0.15) per kilowatt-hour from N68. This is a 300 percent hike and takes effect from April 1, 2024. This increment is supposedly for urban consumers, also known as Band A consumers in the country. Therefore, the DisCos, were allowed to raise electricity tariff to N225 ($0.15) per kilowatt-hour from April 1. According to NERC, the rate increase will only affect 15 percent of the electricity customers in the country. This 15 percent consume 40 percent of the nation’s electricity. Recall that NERC had on…
Perhaps, owing to their long intervention in governance, and the need to ensure that now that they have returned to the barracks they must remain there, so that our democracy can be allowed to grow to maturity, the military is obviously finding it difficult to conduct themselves according to international best practices. Some will argue that it is because they have been deployed too often given our protracted state of insecurity, they are having problems understanding their true role in a democracy. The military, whichever way, is subordinated to civilian rule which is subjected to the rule of law. By…
On May 29, this year, it would be exactly one year since you became the First Lady with the victory of your husband and President of the country, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the polls. Certainly, the last 10 months in office have not been a smooth run, and the reason is not far-fetched. No matter how we try to pretend or play down the disastrous outing of the President Muhammadu Buhari regime, the obvious fact is that that regime will go down in the history of this nation as the most reckless, divisive, as it insidiously pursued prebendalism and…
Those who say politics is a dirty game and a game where dogs-eat-dogs sure know what they are talking about. It is a game where there are no permanent enemies but permanent interests, Politics is a game where betrayal is taken as part of the game. Politics is a game for the fittest, strongest and meanest. In Edo State, what used to be a match made in heaven for Governor Godwin Obaseki and his deputy, Phillip Shaibu, has since not just turned sour, but as things appear now, only the total emasculation of Shaibu will be good enough and acceptable…
Jose Peseiro, the former manager of the Nigerian Super Eagles, will go down in history as one of the worst coaches of the senior national team. How he came to be best for the job and got the appointment still remains a mystery. Until his appointment, he had never handled a job of this magnitude. All through his reign, many suffered untimely death, whatever that means, for just watching the Super Eagles play. Many too suffered varying degrees of cardiac issues: Yours sincerely deliberately skipped watching some of Eagles’ matches under him. They were that bad. In all my years…
Last week, the men of the Nigeria Police did something for which they have never been known for. When the police tell us they are our friends, they know as much as we all do that not only are they not convincing enough, but their actions and conducts have never depicted anything to suggest that they can be trusted to be taken as friends. The police authorities cannot pretend not to know that the image of the force in the public domain is not one to be proud of. Yet, while the police want us to believe that they can…
Perhaps, one of the greatest misfortunes that have befallen this nation is the lip service that we pay to issues concerning the welfare of the people and the nation. Nigeria is cursed with bad leadership, selfish, greedy, and inept with no fear of God. For them, Christianity or Islam or whatever faith they profess does not have any link whatsoever with their conduct in public office. I do not have any problem with that because I have come to accept that as our fate and that that will be our lot until we fix the problem of leadership in the…
Last week, the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, making his first public appearance after returning from a two-week private visit to France, challenged Nigerians to speak positive things about the country. Tinubu said that optimism about the country will eventually lead to success. The President said this in his speech during the launch of the 3,112 housing units under the Renewed Hope Cites initiative in the Federal Capital Territory, last Thursday. He urged Nigerians not to look back but forward because they have a country that truly cares about them. He also pledged his willingness to commit to the country’s economic…
Given the strategic and central role of Lagos as a melting point for people of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, in the lives of a lot of Nigerians and foreigners alike, it will be unacceptable to think that Lagos would degenerate to a point where anything goes and where lawlessness would be the order of the day. With the increasing population of the state, which grows alarmingly, on a daily basis, it’s imperative that law and order must prevail for there to be meaningful and tangible development and growth. Anything to the contrary would be a recipe for disaster. For…
Recent events in the country, especially with the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency, is becoming very interesting and exposing the very lies that have made our nationhood a mirage. As it is, the glitches we face as a people on our journey to nationhood, will continue to make it impossible for us to build that nation which we seek, as long as one part of the country insists on dominating the rest of us. The unity of this country would remain a fluke so long as the structures of falsehood, deceit, injustice, inequality and hypocrisy upon which this country is built…
There is a dangerous trend with our uninformed men, especially with the soldiers that has to be checked if we must build a society where the rule of law and complete subservience to civil rule and authority should be the hallmark of the country. Perhaps, we are still suffering and bedeviled by the vestiges of militarism after so many years of military incursion into governance in the country. It also is a problem of the kind of training that our soldiers receive that you wonder if they ever enjoy any form of interaction or relationships with their colleagues from other…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the last week sent signals to Nigerians and those who felt that his government will only be a continuation of the lacklustre and uninspiring reign of the Muhammadu Buhari government, that he is not only the head of the government but is also in control. A quality that was completely lacking in the tenure of his predecessor. For those who think former President Buhari should be exonerated from the recklessness and abysmal performance of that government, they have to always remember that the president it was that the people elected and he takes full responsibility…
For far too long, we have been shedding blood in this country. We, sadly, are becoming so used to killings that it appears as though it is now a common occurrence. People are killed in hundreds and after the initial hue and cry, life returns to normal. This is a clear indication that we have come, as a nation, to internalise this sad reality as a way of life. We have resigned to a state of helplessness and despair. What is even sadder is the fact that the perpetrators of these dastardly acts simply disappear into thin air with no…
To say Nigerians are experiencing hardship like never before is to state the obvious. Things are excruciatingly difficult as Nigerians have never had it this tough. All indices of assessing the quality of human life are not looking good for Nigerians. What is not in doubt is that while this may be a culmination of the several years of neglect and irresponsible governance, it is also unacceptable that to this day, there has not been any sincere and deliberate attempt to arrest this decline. It has been a case of succeeding governments taking us into deeper decline than their predecessor…
The disquiet between former Governor of Rivers State and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and his anointed and appointed successor in the state, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, in the last weeks, assumed a proportion that left the political landscape divided in halves among those who have sympathy for the former and a growing population of sympathisers for the latter who are now happy that he has finally stood up to his overbearing benefactor. This face-off between Wike and Fubara would go down as unprecedented because not only did it become public so early, but also there were…
Erstwhile governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, is easily the most controversial minister in the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu. Some of the controversies he is currently involved in followed him from his eight-eight-year reign as governor of the oil rich state. For many Wike has simply metamorphosed from that governor who was playing the role of the much lacking opposition to then President Muhammadu Buhari to a state today, where it is difficult to say which party between the PDP and APC he belongs to. For the PDP, sacking Wike would not be out of place given his undisguised romance…
