On May 18, African heads of state, European leaders, and representatives of international institutions gathered in Paris for a summit on financing African economies. As heads of African sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), we strongly believe that mobilizing national resources – and using them to attract additional foreign capital – is the only way to ensure our economies’ financial independence. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the lingering vulnerabilities of African economies. They remain too sensitive to exchange-rate risk, unable to finance themselves, and too dependent on donors. In addition, adverse risk perceptions mean that most international investors and asset managers still…

With all the noise and rumours of coups and military intervention in the horizon, a domestic variety of the dreaded phenomenon was the least on snooper’s mind as we expected a special breakfast promised by the indomitable and indefatigable Mama Igosun. Yours sincerely had always advised Okon to steer clear of the kitchen whenever the ancient Amazon insisted that it was her turn to stir things up in the culinary department. It was always a pretext for a declaration of hostilities. But on this fateful morning, the crazy boy decided to press his luck too far. After lapsing into an…

Perhaps if Alois Hitler, father of a man who would later be the albatross of the whole human race, had performed a ritual which the Yoruba call the Ẹsẹ̀ntáyé – a traditional earthly journey investigation – on his son Adolf, six million Jews who were exterminated in excruciating circumstances decades later by same man who grew to become the most notorious troubler of the world, would probably have had their lives spared. Alois’ Austrian-German society of the 19th century ostensibly didn’t believe in Ẹsẹ̀ntáyé and would have thought it to be craps. Not doing this, itself to be, for the…

Nigeria's total collapse and disintegration appears imminent. One does not need a soothsayer to know this. The ominous signs are everywhere for all to see. Apart from the political turmoil instigated by cronyism, misgovernance, leadership failure and incompetence - all of which validated strident calls for restructuring of the polity and self-determination by some ethnic nationalities, the clock is ticking for the implosion of multidimensional internal conflicts that will soon climax in anarchy and splitting of the country into irredeemable fragments. This is not a prophecy of doom; even the visually impaired can see the thick cloud of imminent rain…