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Opinion

Sunday, 12 April 2020 05:46

Chad’s Idris Derby as Odogo’s wife, the incriminator - Festus Adedayo

Yoruba people have been serially accused of over-explanation of their world. Perhaps, just like every other tribe in Africa. Chinua Achebe’s explanation of “the word” to the Igbo is that the race regards the art of conversation very highly, to the extent that, “proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten.” Traditional Yoruba society too deployed words, signs, innuendos, folklores to explain its world. So when someone advertently or inadvertently gets the other into trouble, the Yoruba use, among others, the story – real or imagined – of an Odogo and his wife to illustrate its implication. And…

Sunday, 12 April 2020 05:43

The myth and harsh lessons of Easter - Kola Oyefeso

It is Easter week and in deference to this unique period, I will be digressing from the series I have started with, to remind us about what Easter portends. This is considered of essence because Easter presents before us, a veritable opportunity to remember our Creator. It is also in perfect consonance with our desire for enduring happiness in the earthly field. Easter is celebrated yearly by Christians all over the world with the usual pomp and pageantry. While Easter is an occasion for celebration to some, to those living truly, it is really a period for sober reflection. To…

Sunday, 12 April 2020 05:42

My faith is what's helping me get through this pandemic

Faith. I don’t know how long I’ll have your attention before you swipe or scroll to something else. So I’ll get straight to the point, because as we all attempt to social distance in the middle of one of the largest pandemics the world has ever seen, our tender hearts and fragile minds need this now more than ever: My faith in God is what’s giving me hope in the midst of this pandemic. Yes, that’s right: Faith. It’s my faith that I lean on as the death tolls resulting from the coronavirus continue to rise. My faith that keeps…

Saturday, 11 April 2020 04:41

The pandemic and the state: Creating the Coronopticon

Having been quarantined at his parents’ house in the Hebei province in northern China for a month, Elvis Liu arrived back home in Hong Kong on February 23rd. Border officials told him to add their office’s number to his WhatsApp contacts and to fix the app’s location-sharing setting to “always on”, which would let them see where his phone was at all times. They then told him to get home within two hours, close the door and stay there for two weeks. His next fortnight was punctuated, every eight hours, with the need to reactivate that always-on location sharing; Facebook,…

Saturday, 11 April 2020 04:40

Pandemic and socialism - Prabhat Patnaik

It is said that in a crisis everybody becomes a socialist; free markets take a back seat, to the benefit of the working people. During the second world war for instance, when universal rationing was introduced in Britain, the average worker became better nourished than before. Likewise, private companies get commandeered to produce goods for the war effort, thus introducing de facto planning. Something of the sort is happening today under the impact of the pandemic. In country after country there is a socialization of healthcare and of production of some essential goods, which markedly departs from the capitalist norm;…

Friday, 10 April 2020 05:12

Land of the feuding elephants - Dare Babarinsa

With the world-wide coronavirus pandemic, no one could predict when the University of Lagos would be opportune to hold its convocation again. The 2019 Convocation was supposed to hold between March 9 and 13 until its Pro-Chancellor, Mr Wale Babalakin, an old student of UNILAG, protested and Minister of Education upheld his prayer asking that the ceremony be put on hold. Despite entreaties from top academics and other stakeholders, the convocation remain suspended. It was the latest in the ongoing war of attrition between Babalakin and the Vice-Chancellor, Mr Oluwatoyin Ogundipe. UNILAG is one of Africa’s leading universities. In normal…

Friday, 10 April 2020 05:11

The revolution is under way already - Rebecca L. Spang

Far from making Americans crave stability, the pandemic underscores how everything is up for grabs. Fear sweeps the land. Many businesses collapse. Some huge fortunes are made. Panicked consumers stockpile paper, food, and weapons. The government’s reaction is inconsistent and ineffectual. Ordinary commerce grinds to a halt; investors can find no safe assets. Political factionalism grows more intense. Everything falls apart. This was all as true of revolutionary France in 1789 and 1790 as it is of the United States today. Are we at the beginning of a revolution that has yet to be named? Do we want to be?…

Thursday, 09 April 2020 05:57

When Lagos State Government self-destructs: Matters arising (1) - Bola Bolawole

Last week we published “When Lagos State Government self-destructs...” based on the complaint of Mr Yacoob Abiodun, a passionate urban development planner and advocate for safe and wholesome environment who retired as a Director in the Federal Civil Service, that the Magodo master plan was being bastardised. I have known Abiodun for more than 20 years. In fact, he contributed a chapter titled “Housing delivery in Lagos metropolis: Challenges of the next millennium” to my book “State Administration and the challenges of the 21st Century: A case-study of the Marwa Years in Lagos: 1996 – 1999” Abiodun has also been…

Wednesday, 08 April 2020 05:33

Seeing Boris Johnson go into intensive care with coronavirus should rid us - Nigel Farage

One of the sentiments that British people of my generation and younger have been brought up to believe in is the "Blitz spirit". This phrase refers to the stoicism and determination shown by Britons during the eight-month period from September 1940 when London and the UK's major ports and industrial cities were under constant attack from the German Luftwaffe bombers. We are led to believe that under the inspirational leadership of Winston Churchill the country was wholly united and everybody played their part. Yet the truth about Britain during the Second World War is far more complex. At the outbreak…

Wednesday, 08 April 2020 05:31

Are social goods back on the table? - Kayode Komolafe

Before the coronavirus crisis, advocates of a better funding of the healthcare sector were often told to temper their expectations. The reason often adduced by brilliant experts and technocrats in Nigeria is that there were competing priorities in the budget. With graphs and figures they would seek to convince you in their inimitable power-point presentations on why Nigeria could not meet the international standards in health budget. You would be reminded of the hundreds of billions of naira needed to fund already awarded contracts and, of course, the cost of running government among other expenditures. However, in the last few…

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Tuesday, 07 April 2020 04:48

Nigerian billionaires have been donating to govts instead of giving money directly to the poor who need it. This is why

David Bigila Behind every great fortune, there is a great crime- St Honore De Balzac (1799 -1850) So, dont expect any money or palliative directly from any Nigerian billionaire - repeat, do not. The likes of Emeka Offor, Femi Otedola, Aliko Dangote are giving billions to goverment instead of doing so directly to the poor, and you are wondering: 'Dont they know about corruption in govt? Dont these billionaires know that mandarins in goverment will embezzle this money? They know... So, why are they not giving to the poor, themselves, you wonder. They wont because they dont care whether the…

Monday, 06 April 2020 05:51

Covid-19: Matters arising - Bolanle Bolawole

Coronavirus remains the rave of the moment and the talk of the whole wide world. The cause of the virus has spun an array of conspiracy theories – from the believable through the sublime to the totally ridiculous. Is COVID-19 chemical or biological warfare? Is it the cut-throat struggle for world supremacy between the United States and China? Is it a 3rd World War fought by other means? In other words, does coronavirus follow after Carl von Clausewitz’s definition of war as “the continuation of (super-power) politics by other means”? If so, who is the culprit or agent provocateur: the…

Sunday, 05 April 2020 05:50

Seizing the opportunity of the pandemic to remember our Creator - Kola Oyefeso

We are continuing with what we ended up with last week, but primarily, I wish to appreciate the encouraging feedbacks from the recipients of the discourse. Furthermore, I feel inclined to react to Mr George Anabs, who wrote all the way from Port Harcourt to wit; “Your message of 25th of March was sent to me with your phone number by a friend and for desired effects,I deemed it expedient to react to you directly as follows; "Your discourse rightly captured our situation in the world without proffering any solution to them. I hope subsequent ones will give direction on…

Sunday, 05 April 2020 05:49

Human race under siege - Simon Kolawole

This is one of the most profound statements about the human race you will ever come across: “We were all humans until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us and wealth classified us.” I don’t know the author (I’ve seen it attributed to Susan Boerner, the American artist) but I know one thing: as the entire world comes under attack from COVID-19, humanity is collectively in severe distress and disarray — irrespective of race, religion, class and ideology. We are all in panic mode. We are desperately looking for a solution and we don’t care the race or…

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