My initial plan was to write on sickness and how it continues to take a toll on Nigerians under the title “Who is not sick in Nigeria?” Virtually everyone is sick. Children are sick. Parents who will take them to the hospital are sick. The nurses are sick. The few available doctors only manage to come to work; they are also sick. If they are not sick in the body, they are sick of the job. No incentives. They are overworked and underpaid. I altered the title to what appears above by replacing “in” with “of” as it later dawned…
Author: Abdulkadir Salaudeen
Organizers of the protest vowed that no going back. It won’t be surprising if many Nigerians join the protest. Even some of those paid and unpaid clerics who think rulers are gods and their decisions and policies must be warmly accepted are making adjustments to that “article of faith.” They have come to realize that silence is not golden and, in our situation, it is foolishness and imbecility. If care is not taken, silence in the face of injustice will definitely lead to our extinction as our rulers seem to be determined to wipe us off the earth surface. Although…
Think you have seen it all? Just wait, this government will prove you wrong. It will tell you that you have seen nothing. Wait, there is more and even more after more to see. If you think you are in Hell, Tinubu government will tell you the Hell is not hellish enough. It needs to be fuelled and refuelled for more pains and woes. The pains must be totally debilitating to the body and devastating to the economy. It is like saying; “since I used my money to buy this Emi lo kàn presidential seat, you must also lose your…
Is this hardship not too much to bear? This is the question to ask. Even the most stone-hearted sadist would spare a space for sympathy in their hearts for Maiduguri flood victims. For the people of Maiduguri and Borno generally, it is as if there is no holiday from calamity. It is one after the other over a decade and half. I earnestly pray that this recent flood will be the last calamity in the long chain of calamities that has befallen the people of Borno. Boko Haram crisis almost renders Borno State desolate. That the state still survives, if…
Nigerians are the most resilient people I know. Despite these killings, our population is always on the increase. I expect the population to plummet. Killings everywhere. One is either killed by bandits or kidnappers. If one escapes being killed by ISWAP, they might be ambushed by Boko Haram. However, Killings by these agents of death are nothing compared to the lives that have been lost to hunger, malnutrition, sickness, and depression due to hopelessness. Everyday, countless number of Nigerians die of poverty and hunger. Many who are not clearly in the poverty cycle are depressed due to the fear of…
The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, has got tongues wagging over his declaration that 18 years is now the minimum qualifying age for writing WAEC, NECO, and JAMB as from next year (2025). Though some applauded the Minister, majority seems to be disappointed in what they consider an unfortunate and thoughtless declaration. In his apt reaction, a Nigerian former vice president and the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Atiku Abubakar, said “Tinubu government behaves like a lost sailor on a high sea.” I personally don’t have a problem with age pegging. The Minister could even set it…
The National Hajj Commission (NAHCON) has been in the news since last week; it is still in the news as I write. Sadly, it is not for a good reason. The pilgrimage regulatory agency was dragged into the eye of the storm for a very bad reason (a huge amount of money in the Commission goes down the drain). This NAHCON saga serves as a stark reminder of the harm that religion, exploited by some charlatans, has inflicted on Nigeria’s progress. Let me be clear, this article is not about NAHCON as an agency per se. It is about some…
Maybe you consider “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” as Tinubu’s Anthem or National Anthem, colonial or barbaric, you must learn and cram it by fire and by force. This, in other words, is the content of a clause of the Counter Subversion Bill sponsored by the Speaker of Federal House of Representatives, Honorable Tajudeen Abbas. Can our present rulers in Nigeria pretend to be serious at least once in the lifetime of their regime? I doubt. Sadly, seriousness is one of the missing words in their political lexicon. This explains why governance has turned to huge joke under this regime. One…
I arrived at the above topic after a deep thought about how Nigerians go about their lives under the regime whose greatest achievement is the hunger it spread to every nook and cranny in the land. President Tinubu is very proud of that and could not wait to be praised. If one’s living conditions on earth determine their afterlife, many Nigerians would find it difficult to make it to Heaven under Tinubu’s unjust and ungodly regime. Many are already in hell. The good news is that Tinubu’s hell is not God’s Hell. Yet, making it to Heaven might be difficult…
Out of respect for our dear clerics who say peaceful protest is haram in Islam, let’s just consider their pronouncement as a fatwa. A fatwa is a legal opinion that is arrived upon through juristic reasoning and scholarly interpretation of a text; it could be right or wrong. Thus, a fatwa can be advisory or even obligatory if it has the power of authority. With this understanding, protest in Islam is not haram (unlawful) in the sense in which killing, adultery, gambling, stealing, etc. are. If you think protest is haram, don’t protest. If you think it is permissible, participate…
After what looked like an unending debate on what should be the national minimum wage between the Federal Government (FG) and the Nigerian Labour Union (NLC), a token was ultimately fixed and agreed upon by both sides. After back and forth on NLC’s demand of the initial N1,000, 000 which most of us considered unrealistic and the initial N50,000 offered by the FG which is undoubtedly ridiculous, striking a “balance” between the two wage proposals culminated in N70,000. The pendulum swang apparent to the side of the FG. The wage agreed upon is very close to the ridiculous proposal initially…
Senator Ali Ndume was the Chief Whip of the Senate. His party (APC)—being the majority party—has recently received many whips from Ndume whose bluntness on the Nigeria’s state of affairs is well known. Though his bluntness is well received by the suffering masses, the government in which he is a key actor cannot bear Ndume’s whip anymore. Ndume has been saying the unsayable. He has been discomforting his colleagues at the National Assembly by speaking the hard truth. The Tinubu’s suffering-for-all government is not happy with an insider who behaves like a fifth columnist. He must be cut to size.…
President Tinubu’s regime is synonymous with poverty, unemployment, hyperinflation, criminality, banditry, kidnapping, untold hardship, unprecedented cost of living, and hopelessness. But with the Supreme Court judgement on local government (LG) autonomy, can we say there is hope in hopelessness? Before Tinubu, former president Buhari signed the Executive Order 10 which granted state legislature and judiciary their stolen autonomy. We all know how it ended. A Supreme Court decision of six Justices to one on February 12, 2022, nullified Buhari’s Executive Order 10. The apex court held that the Order was inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution and therefore unconstitutional, illegal, null…
Apparently, these bandits have no regard for the Nigerian government. They neither respect Tinubu nor are they afraid of him. It seems they do not believe he even exists. They behave as if the government does not exist in Nigeria. If government exists, in their thinking, it is in hibernation mode. It is functionless, if not useless. The pain Nigerians are going through on daily basis is harrowingly undescribable. Many have died, not because they were attacked by bandits but because they were victims of Tinubu’s iron fist policies that are completely bereft of human feelings. The primary purpose of…
I fear banditry will one day be seen as an integral part of northern culture by our kids who might grow up to see it as a norm. Bandits in the North started their large scale activities some years ago and the government negligently looked down upon them as common criminals. As I write, they have essentially formed a government within a government. It is sad that it has become a debatable topic nowadays if Nigerian Government could defeat bandits or not. Bandits have become this powerful. It is pathetic that Nigerians, especially in some agrarian communities, have to pay…
Nigerians got some comic relief on “Democracy Day” from the overwhelming hardship which has now deteriorated to soul snatching hunger. It was the misstep of our President Tinubu that landed him—yakata—on the ground. Though our President is an old man, his misstep is just a common mishap that can occur to anyone—irrespective of age. However, Nigerians have turned it into a meme on social media. Nigerians, I hail thee! One should not wonder why the President’s slip of the foot attracts so much attention. That is what democracy does to the entire life of leaders who pledge—honestly or dishonestly—to uphold…
The Muslim Ummah, not only in Nigeria, received the sad news—with submission to Allah’s decree—of Mufti Yaks who passed away on the first day of June, 2014 (few days ago) at the National Hospital in Abuja. He was a young, vibrant, and rare-to-find Islamic scholar. He was also a motivational speaker known for his imitation of a global renowned scholar, Mufti Menk. He also travelled widely beyond the shores of Nigeria. Mufti Yaks was only twenty when he departed this transient and worthless world. Nothing is worthy, the Prophet SAW taught us, in this world—abode of toil and trial—save the…
Since the time of former President Buhari, a close friend of mine insisted (and still insists) that Nigeria’s problem is spiritual. I always argued with him. Later, I stopped arguing. It is not because I am convinced that Nigeria’s problem is spiritual; but because I think it could be something more than spiritual. Again, I am not persuaded by what apologists of the “spiritual side of Aso Villa” want us to believe. That is nonsense. But honestly, some actions taken by Tinubu government defy explanation. They are not only irrational, they are fantastically incredible. Could anyone, in their wildest imagination,…
The recent controversy that beclouds the political mass wedding in Niger State leaves many in wonderment. Some wondered why orphaned ladies were “forced” into marriage. This, to them, is barbaric, retrogressive, and uncivil. Others complained why outsiders who are ignorant of their culture and religion should find their culture and religion problematic. Some are left in confusion—not knowing who is right or wrong. Yet, we have onlookers who entertain themselves with arguments from the two extremes of the spectrum. If religion is left out of the hullabaloo, someone like me would have preferred to be an onlooker. Apparently, advocates of…
I read in some Nigerian dailies that if anyone would be killed for corruption that has to do with stealing from the public purse, the stealing has to be in trillions.That is to say, a stealer of a million or a billion naira is not a thief or has not stolen enough. He or she is an apprentice whose stealing should be overlooked. Stealing in the region of a billion should be considered a tolerated thievery. This is, as reported, coming from a high ranking senator whom I admire for his candidness—especially in calling a spade a spade—during an interview.…
When universities were universities in Nigeria, those who dreamt of gaining admission into them were those who were prepared for the rigor that academic endeavor requires. Then, university is not for every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Now, it is for every rat, mouse, and kitten. All that one needs to do is to register for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). You do not need to know anything except, perhaps, how to spell your name and your surname.You should also dream big—expect to pass with flying grades. While a candidate is required to pass…
At times, the more we think we have advanced as modernized people, the more we lose our sanity. If you think paying N42 million to learn ABC gives you some pride, it means you need an emergency psychiatric service from a team of psychiatrists. Richness of the pocket is indeed different from sanity of the mind. I hope we can all take note. Do we call this a display of wealth by the wealthy—to spite the wealthless—or financial recklessness? I am struggling to come to terms with this. A primary school in Lagos has been in the eye of the…
This is the only way (I know) to express their condition. I wish I can express it better. It is pathetic and sad. And it is the consequence of our inaction in the face of injustice. We were all silent (and still silent) when some few individuals, which we chose to lead us, make looting of our resources a hobby. Looting in Nigeria by our rulers—and those in their inner cabinets—has become a hubby. It has made life unlivable. Not only that, it has denied common Nigerians that blissful sleep that would have enabled them to dream of a bright…
To President Tinubu and his regime, Nigerians seem to be too stubborn. We are too stubborn in enduring hardship. We are too dogged, overly obstinate, and desperately determined to live in the face of the daily revised hardship. Nigerian hardship is being revised daily by its rulers to make sure that it goes round so much that no one is left with any sense of relief. That many of us still survive Tinubu regime, we deserve being awarded the most resilient people on earth. We deserve award for that. I don’t think this government is comfortable with our resilience. It…
Religion in Nigeria has been serially abused, misused, and ridiculed for selfish interest. It becomes more horrible when it is manipulated for politics without human face. People speak in the name of God even when they have quarantined themselves from what is godly. This is why we are arguably one of the most religiously ungodly people on earth. If that sounds oxymoronic to you, it means you get the point. In my piece last week I described as anti-masses any attempts by any governments (federal or state) to subsidize hajj for intending pilgrims. This amounts to robbing the taxpayers to…
I don’t understand. Who is Senator Ali Ndume referring to? Few days ago, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) made an upward review of hajj fees. The rationale behind the increment, according NAHCON’s spokesperson—the right honourable gentlewoman Fatima Sanda Usara—was due to the fluctuating nature of exchange rates. She explains that “In the event of change in the dollar’s value at the time of final remittance into the Commission’s IBAN account, pilgrims will either receive a refund or the balance will be reconciled accordingly at the appropriate time.” This clarification is clearer than the word “clarity” itself. Accordingly, pilgrims…
Dieticians cannot be stopped from doing what they are trained to do. They keep educating us on the essence of a balanced diet in our wellbeing. They always urge us to maintain healthy habit when it comes to feeding. They want us to have a balanced diet. They will not stop to inform us that children who do not get enough healthy foods may face growth and developmental problem, frequent infections, and poor academic performance. It means lack of balanced diet can affect the growth and future of a nation. If this is what lack of balanced diet does to…
Yes! This government needs help. It is high time President Tinubu cried out for help, not for loans. A loan will not solve our problem. Already, the country is overwhelmingly indebted. We should shed that toga of giantism and face reality. The status of “Giant of Africa,” which Nigeria claimed, is now historical. Note that I said “claimed,” not “claims.” It will be wrong for Nigeria to claim to be the giant of Africa at the moment, except if the claim is about its size and population. But if it is about clout, influence, power, and prestige, I think it…
Many people are fed up with religion of recent. Some have even concluded that religion is our problem in Nigeria more than ethnicity. It is used as a cover for corruption and bad governance. These people hinge their arguments on the lifestyle of some of these so-called men of God who, in alliance with politicians, make life difficult for the masses. The masses could not breathe. They are being whipped regularly by those who should cater for their needs after working hard and paying tax. When the masses cry, these “men of God” would insist it is wrong to cry…
Award winning books are many. But no matter how rich and admiring some of these books are, we only read them, talk about them, and praise their authors for doing some great literary works. It is hard to find that people who admire these books commit them to memory out of admiration. Doing so would have been an earnest and honest show of admiration. Any author whose book is memorized by people (out of admiration) will naturally admire those who commit their book to memory. Could it be that I am not too conversant with history? Readers can help me…
