It is significant that more than four decades after he left power, Mr Mobolaji Johnson, who died October 30, remained relevant in the affairs of Lagos State and Nigeria. He was a decent and simple soldier who found himself in political office. He handled his office like a soldier with decorum, integrity and firmness. Long after he had been retired, he remain alive and vibrant in the consciousness of the people who remember his service with gratitude and warm nostalgia. Johnson was one of the eleven military governors who served under Mr Yakubu Gowon. The East Central State was governed…

In 2015, United Nations member states adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, which include an imperative to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” Yet, in the last four years, matters have deteriorated significantly. The dangers of environmental pollution receive a lot of attention nowadays, particularly in the developing world, and with good reason. Air quality indices are dismal and worsening in many places, with India, in particular, facing an acute public-health emergency. But as serious as the pollution problem is, it must not be allowed to obscure another incipient environmental catastrophe, and potential source of future…

Just like the prodding of a respected younger professional colleague moved me to take a look at the Ibadan house of horror last week, so also has the intervention of a senior professional colleague that I owe a lot of respect moved me to re-visit the issue. The younger colleague’s experience of how he, a passer-by, was swooped upon and dragged into the Olore compound was his own personal encounter in 1984/85 as a secondary school student; not a story he heard from another person. Today, this person is a highly-placed official of a Federal Government agency in Abuja. According…

Higher nominal wages for low-paid workers can boost real earnings, increase consumer spending, and help make housing more affordable. And insofar as raising the minimum would increase companies’ wage bill, it would create a stronger incentive to replace labor with capital, which could lay the foundation for renewed productivity growth. At 3.6%, unemployment in the United States remains near its lowest level since the late 1960s. There are even signs that people who had previously dropped out of the labor force are being attracted back into it as employers scour a tight labor market for the marginal employee. Consistent with…