News Updates's Blog (273)

There has recently been a lot of misinformation and misconception in our public debate on debt. My goal in this article is to shed some light on the public debt, to clarify the real state of Nigeria’s debt position, and hopefully, provide a knowledge platform for constructive debate.

Let me say at the outset that no one in government is supportive of a Nigeria that returns to a high state of indebtedness. On a personal note, having gone through tremendous stress during the…

Prof. Chinua Achebe| credits: File copy

It’s been almost a decade and half since I first came to know about the man, Chinua Achebe. If there are other names with which he was christened or known, with them I sincerely am not conversant. That was when I read ‘Chike and the River’. I was quite young then and it was not until I read his other novels in my undergraduate days that the name Chinua Achebe began to register in my heart. I’m not…

The leadership of organised labour are at it again. After successfully pulling the wool over the faces of Nigerians, who sacrificed their convenience early last year to join the march to resist the federal government’s removal of fuel subsidy, only for them to go behind us and betray the collective trust of the Nigerian people by hobnobbing government officials and then unceremoniously calling off the nationwide strike, leaving us wondering what was going on, they are again calling for…

OVER the past couple of years there has been an upsurge in the number of private aircraft acquired by Nigeria’s “high and mighty”.

Gone are the days wealthy Nigerian expressed their “arrival” in the exclusive club by flying first class or business class in commercial airlines. Many of them have upgraded to owning private aircraft.

Most of these new aircraft owners bear the additional fantasy of chartering commercial airlines to ferry their friends and other guests to private…

By Olusola Daniel

A critical look at the composition of the present cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan may make one question the criteria used in selecting the persons for the different portfolios. Whilst majority of the officials have been dubbed as old guards whose reign in the federal ministries have been more like the same old story, few stand out in the midst of the pack. And, Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinating Minister for…

HE does not strike you as desperate. At least that is the general impression of the man. He is also has control over his emotions as he rarely betrays anxiety.

But more than that he has patience—one quality that is in short supply among young men of his age.

A discussion once came up somewhere in Lagos and the topic was Anambra State. Immediately the issue of performance was brought up almost everybody agreed that Governor Obi has done well for the State. Those who disagreed,…

Nigerian troops are finally departing for Mali, ahead of the September 2013 date originally planned by the United Nations to put an intervention force in Mali. This column had twice counselled Nigeria not to go into Mali until there was indication the complex and fundamental problems that precipitated the secessionist crisis were understood and concrete efforts made to tackle them. Any intervention, the column warned, was bound to focus mainly on achieving quick, morale-boosting military…

Posted by: Greg Mbadiwe Posted date: October 05, 2012

Former Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu has carved a niche for himself in the world of business, media, sports and of course politics which thrust him to national limelight at a relatively young age. For him to have completed two terms as governor before the age of 50 and capped it with the election of a preferred successor from prison on an opposition political platform speak volume of the man’s strength of…

The full scale of the Mubi, Adamawa State, killings will not sink in until inconsolable parents who lost loved ones begin to grieve openly. Some 40 youths, most of them students of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, were reportedly murdered by unknown gunmen who stole in on them while they slept in their off-campus hostels, and in spite of curfew. Preliminary reports indicate the students were shot only after their identities were ascertained. The motives are unclear. But it is feared…

The United States’ embassy in Nigeria seems to have perfected the art of denying well-meaning and legitimate non-immigrant Nigerian mothers visa for reasons best known to it. At the end of visa interview sessions, what one hears is, ‘’You are not qualified at this time’’! Women of child-bearing age are asked…

Sunday, 16 September 2012 00:00 Editor Opinion - Editorial

THE seeming national debate of late on the rising population of Nigeria, and concern over its implications for development and security is healthy. It is equally in tandem with global interest over the issue, which has necessarily become important in terms of size and composition. Ultimately, government should fathom out an appropriate policy from the debates, such that the country’s resources can be harnessed to meet the…

Fake iPhones on display. Because most gadgets like these have Made in China on them, very many people conclude that everything produced in China is fake, which is not the case. Internet Photo.

By Mustafa Ziraba (email the author)

Posted Tuesday, September 11 2012 at 00:00

In Summary…

It must be a reflection of their unease about the direction Nigeria is heading that former heads of state, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo and Gen Ibrahim Babangida, have publicly and jointly warned of the consequences of allowing the country to slip into anarchy. Obasanjo was head of state from 1976 to 1979, and then president from 1999 to 2007, while Babangida ruled between1985 and 1993. They were probably referring to the Boko Haram insurgency that has rendered large sections of the North…

Ever since trials in the fuel subsidy scandal started, some affected parties have been battling furiously to contain the fallout. The affair has been particularly embarrassing for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The sons of the its former chairman, Ahmadu Ali, and the incumbent, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, are among 20 individuals who have been arraigned.

In the face of public anger over the identity of those on trial, Tukur and others have sought to distance themselves from the…

Written by Ozodi Osuji

Take a look at the medals count at the 2012 London Olympics. What do you see? You see China with the largest number of medals. Now take a look at the Olympics of yesteryears, say, in the 1990s. What do you see? You see the USA with the largest medals. Now go back further and what do you see? You see the USSR and USA battling it out for the largest medals. Today the USA is second to China. Russia is nowhere to be seen.…

Written by Anza Phillips & Haruna Salami Friday, 25 May 2012

Abdulrasheed Maina, acting director of the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pension Office and leader, Pension Reform Task Team, PRTT, speaks to Anza Phillips, assistant editor, and Haruna Salami, senior staff writer, on the face-off between his team and the Senate Committee on Pension. Excerpts:

Newswatch: The Reform Task Team, PRTT, is on a collision course with the Senate. What is the cause of the face-…

Written by Demola Abimboye Friday, 25 May 2012

Abdurasheed Maina, head, Pension Reform Task Team, directors and other officers saddled with the responsibilities of managing pension funds in Nigeria are a personification of a nation that has lost its conscience going by the various revelations of how they mindlessly looted the funds in their charge

This week, Nigerians will be treated to another round of report of humongous fraud in the administration of pension schemes in this…

Written by Augustine Adah Sunday, 13 May 2012

Augustine Bola Adegunloye, seer, wants President Goodluck Jonathan to be careful about opening his doors to all kinds of pastors

Augustine Bola Adegunloye, Egbeji of Nigeria, has in the past 13 years been peeping into the crystal ball and informing the country about what was to happen. Recently, he did the same and revealed what he saw. Beginning from the insurgency of Boko Haram which has left many people dead in some parts of the…