The news from Ghana was not how John Dramani Mahama’s opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), defeated Nana Akufo-Addo’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). The news was how Akufo-Addo managed to survive a full second term. Towards the end of his first and for much of his second term in office, he governed with his head on the block, just waiting for the axe to fall. His party’s loss in the December 7 presidential election was a defeat foretold. It was barely two years after Akufo-Addo assumed office in 2017 when doubts about his party’s viability began to surface.…

Contrary to assertions by some so-called experts who have been prattling all week that Dele Farotimi wrote what he could not logically substantiate in his book Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System, this was a pre-meditated confrontation. Having depleted the legal means to get justice, he wrote to re-litigate the case in the court of public opinion. He seems calculatedly driven by the Yoruba proverb that says no one dies at the same spot they uttered blasphemy. In the time between your speaking and being punished, much can happen to change social dynamics. From the potpourri of events in the…

Value Added Tax (VAT) is a regressive tax that disproportionately affects poorer families, who pay a larger percentage of their income. Unfortunately, under President Bola Tinubu’s tax reform agenda, which aims to increase government revenue, the plan to double the VAT rate will place the highest burden on the poor. With manufacturing, employment, and income declining, the expected 100% increase in VAT receipts is primarily targeting the telecoms sector, where the poor market their goods and ideas at relatively affordable rates. The next target is bank charges, with 90% of accounts holding less than N500,000. In progressive societies that actively…

“It’s actually going to be easy to cure aging and cancer,” insists David Sinclair, a researcher on aging at Harvard University. Similarly, Elon Musk continues to claim that he will soon land humans on Mars and deploy robotaxis en masse. Major corporations have set carbon-neutrality targets based on highly optimistic forecasts about the potential of carbon-removal technologies. And, of course, many commentators now insist that “AI changes everything.” Amid such a confounding mix of hype and genuine technological marvels, are entrepreneurs, scientists, and other experts getting ahead of themselves? At the very least, they betray a strong preference for technological…