News Updates's Blog (277)

Chinua Achebe

Ademola Adeyemo

Ndigbo Lagos, the umbrella body of all Igbo groups in Lagos State, has appealed for ceasefire in the raging controversy surrounding the recent launch of Professor Chinua Achebe’s civil war memoirs,…

By VINCENT UJUMADU

PRESIDENTIAL adviser on inter party relations, Senator Ben Obi, want the Igbo to wait for President Goodluck Jonathan’s decision on whether to run or not before taking their own decision on the 2015 presidential race.

The senator, who spoke in Awka yesterday, observed that although the leadership of the apex Igbo socio –cultural organization, the Ohaneze Ndigbo, had insisted…

The recent death of Cynthia Osokogu via the activities of criminals through the social media has brought to fore the good, the bad and the ugly sides of social networking sites. The social media commonly used in Nigeria include Facebook, 2go, Yahoo messenger, BBM, Netlog, Badoo, Eskimo, Twitter, Nimbuzz, amongst others. They all offer their users unrestricted access to chat with friends, relations and other acquaintances. Starting from Orkut, followed by Twitter and Facebook, social…

I came back from a three-day visit to Kenya last Monday with a copy of the in-flight magazine of Kenyan Airways- Msafiri (The Traveler) which I gave my children to read.

They asked some questions about Kenya before I travelled which I didn’t have enough time to answer them. I was happy to get them the magazine which had more than enough information they needed to know about the East African country.

What I didn’t bargain for was that the magazine will trigger a very pertinent…

They” in this piece refers to all the cynics, the pestle-wielding critics, the unrelenting, self-appointed activists, the idle and idling, twittering, collective children of anger, the distracted crowd of Facebook addicts, the BBM-pinging soap opera gossips of Nigeria, who seem to be in competition among themselves to pull down President Goodluck Jonathan. This army of sponsored and self-appointed anarchists is so diverse; many of them don’t even know why or how they should attack…

Dr. Babatunde Adejare

House of  Representatives member Dr. Babatunde Adejare (Agege Constituency) spoke with reporters in Lagos on national issues. Deputy Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU was there.

Could you…

Nigerian Prophet T.B. Joshua has vehemently denied an article currently circulating around the internet claiming to have interviewed him about the sudden demise of Ghana’s former President John Evans Atta Mills.

The story, which originated from Nigeria’s Abuja based Leadership Newspapers and was subsequently re-posted throughout media houses and internet news sites in Ghana and across Africa, claimed Joshua had said he did not foresee the death of Mills and…

By MUTUMA MATHIU mmathiu@ke.nationmedia.com  Posted Thursday, June 21 2012 at 20:10

East Africa is caught in a deadly resource paradox, the resolution of which will either result in great development or the reduction of our homeland into a wasteland of war, death and oil.

There was a lot of (unhealthy?) excitement recently in energy circles over gas finds in the general East African region, mainly in Mozambique and Tanzania.

AFP, the French wire service, claimed…

Written by Endurance Akoro Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Those who patronise street food vendors say good things about the taste of what they eat but medical experts also insist that there is a lot of risk in eating in such places

Daniel Eneh, 26, and a staff of an insurance company is an early riser. He has to be at work early everyday and this means waking and leaving for work before dawn in order to beat the usual heavy traffic on the Third Mainland bridge.

Because of this,…

Written by Dike Onwuamaeze Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Securities and Exchange Commission’s board sends Arunma Oteh, director-general, on compulsory leave to enable it investigate allegations on the management of funds meant for the celebration of 50 years, anniversary of capital market in Nigeria

Arunma Oteh is on a forced leave she is not likely to come back to resume her responsibilities as the director-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC. She was sent on…

Written by Tobs Agbaegbu

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

The probe into the oil subsidy scandal by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee gives birth to another scandal allegedly involving Farouk Lawan, its chairman

T he last may not have been heard about the raging $3 million bribery scandal allegedly involving Farouk Lawan, chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee which probed the 2009-2010 fuel subsidy regime in Nigeria and Boniface Emenalo, secretary…

Written by Anthony Akaeze Wednesday, 20 June 2012

The present bribe allegation against Farouk Lawan puts a question mark on his erstwhile ranking as a man of integrity

It is his fourth time in the House of Representatives. He first came in 1999 and since then had remained not just a regular face in the house but an influential member also. In fact, Farouk Lawan, the lawmaker representing Bagwai/Shanono Federal Constituency was, to many people, the symbol of the crusade for…

When Spartan Arinze landed at the Guangzhou airport in southern China more than a decade ago he had $300 in his pocket and he didn’t speak a word of Chinese but he felt destined to do something big. “I came to China with the hope of kind of looking for the American dream. You must have read that on my profile,” says Arinze.

The online profile he’s talking about is on gbooza.com — the website that Arinze launched two years ago. As for his dream, Gbooza is it. “Some people…

In August 2004, I penned a little noticeable essay entitled, “The Nigerian presidency and the Igbo nation,” for an online medium. The question I attempted to answer was this: “How did a people this intelligent, this savvy, and this contributive and participatory got shut out of the presidency?” In other words, why have we not had a Nigerian president of Igbo ancestry?

The Igbo of my growing up years (in Nigeria), had “attributes most other Nigerian ethnic groups could only…

Written by Anayo Ezugwu Friday, 06 April 2012

Michael Onoja, an educationist, leads the crusade against the falling standards in education by establishing an education summit which rewards hard working teachers and students

Like many of his colleagues, Michael Onoja, an educationist, is angry with the dismal performance of students in knowledge seeking. But rather than remain an armchair critic of the system, Onoja has chosen to be a part of the solution. Recently, he organised…

Written by Dike Onwuamaeze Friday, 06 April 2012

Although Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Nigeria’s finance minister and co-ordinating minister for the economy, is eminently qualified for the Word Bank presidency, there is the fear that politics rather than merit will be a deciding factor in the selection process

When President Goodluck Jonathan appointed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala minister of finance in 2011, the reaction of many Nigerians was that she would not serve for four years without…

Written by Annette Oghenerhaboke Friday, 06 April 2012

The organised labour holds a rally in Benin to garner support for Adams Oshiomhole’s second-term bid despite a court injunction against the event and protest by opposition parties in the state

It is not often that one gets to see members of the organised labour stage a political rally. They occasionally take to the streets in protest for their rights and privileges and that is the image many have of them. But it was a…

Written by Chimezie Enyiocha Friday, 06 April 2012

Kano State government sponsors the re-marriage of 1000 divorced women in the state as part of efforts to encourage family values and social harmony

When Atine Abdullahi, a princess from a royal family in Kano municipal council of Kano State got married to her husband in 1989, she had hoped to enjoy blissful and lasting marriage like other married couples. The union was blessed with her four children. But her hope of raising the…

Written by Tobs Agbaegbu, Haruna Salami Friday, 06 April 2012

Garba Shehu, spokesman of Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president, speaks to Tobs Agbaegbu, senior associate editor, and Haruna Salami, senior staff writer, on the implication of the emergence of Bamanga Tukur as the national chairman of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, for the 2015 presidential ambition of his boss, and the political intrigues that played out at the party’s recent national convention.…

Written by Tobs Agbaegbu, Haruna Salami Friday, 06 April 2012

Olisa Metu, new national publicity secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, speaks to Tobs Agbaegbu, senior associate editor, and Haruna Salami, senior staff writer, on the allegations of imposition of candidates against his party and the insinuation that President Goodluck Jonathan’s choice of Bamanga Tukur as national chairman was his own way of preparing the ground for the politics of succession in 2015.…