Category: OP-ED

Much has been written about the potential economic benefits of the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). However, few people have asked: how will the new trade deal help African states develop a resilient agriculture sector? Food is crucial for our existence and it should not be a luxury for anybody on earth. When food is not accessible to… Read More

Back in the days when Roman legions marched across the earth and imposed the will of the Emperor on one and all, a concept emerged, first mooted by the prolific consul, Cicero. The concept was simple, “Civis Romanus sum.” I am a Roman citizen. Permit me to tell five stories, four happy, and one depressing. Cicero’s idea was played upon… Read More

Ameer  Sarkee, a 26-year-old male member of Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, is contesting for a national office in his party. There is nothing unusual in a party member contesting an elective post. What, however, makes this unusual is that he is running for the position of APC National Women Leader. He is not joking; he is already on… Read More

I do not have the temperament to witness the ongoing misgovernance in Ayade’s Cross River State without staging a protest, without putting up some resistance against such maladministration which is being forced down our throats in a civilised society. The state continues to sink into the abyss without a trace of redemption, yet only a few Cross Riverians are interested… Read More

The cold blast of the air conditioner from the room hit me by surprise as I opened the door. I wasn’t expecting a draught from inside at eight on a damp morning. But there was my cousin under the duvet, hugging what seemed like a pillow as he snuggled diagonally across the bed, deeply asleep. I grabbed the electric iron… Read More

We hear ‘’strong man’’, and the visage of a rotund, bumbling African dictator in Khaki and jackboots comes to mind. But permit me to appropriate the word and re-contextualise it for the purpose of this column. In my context, a ‘’strong man’’ embodies discipline, audacity, courage, and character. Nigeria needs a ‘’strong man’’ as president in 2023 – one who… Read More

The gubernatorial election in Anambra State came to pass last weekend with little or no serious violent incident recorded anywhere. The former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo predictably won the poll by a landslide. Winning 19 out of the 21 local governments that make up the state is a great electoral feat indeed. Fears… Read More

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is planning to sue you. Yes, you. I know that you don’t know it yet. That is why I am bringing this wonderful news to you. It is not only Google, RootsTV, Punch, Vanguard and Saharareporters that he is threatening to sue. Those people deserve to be sued to extinction, if you ask me. They cannot… Read More

Before the British Colonialists introduced democracy to a hastily assembled colony which they psychedelically christened ‘Nigeria’, the various ethnic nationalities that constitute the current Nigerian polity governed themselves in different ways. While the colonialists abhorred some forms of these ‘native’ governance, they nonetheless admired and even adopted others through their indirect rule system. However, they bequeathed their system of governance… Read More

I was at the EndSARS memorial pAdeyeye Olorunfemianel last month where I made a submission that tore both the panel and the audience into sections. I said there are no citizens yet in Nigeria and I insinuated that the concept of citizenship is just to fill our lexicon with words that would make us look like a country that also… Read More