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Opinion

Sunday, 13 October 2019 05:53

One item missing from the Budget - Simon Kolawole

Over breakfast and the obligatory cups of coffee somewhere in New York late September, a bright and enterprising Nigerian lady was, as it were, preaching to the converted on the urgency and benefits of private sector investment in infrastructure in Africa. The previous day at the Africa Investment Forum road show held at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, she had challenged the world’s biggest investors and partners of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to increase their stake in Africa. She said there were solid investment opportunities and bankable transactions on the continent which they would do well to…

Friday, 11 October 2019 05:10

Sexual exploitation of students - Yetunde A. Odugbesan-Omede

Sexual exploitation and harassment of students by teachers and administrators are reflections of corrupt education systems. Sexual exploitation and harassment are not peculiar to systems of education in Nigeria. They are a global issue affecting school systems and students worldwide. Places where control mechanisms are lax, corruption levels are high and fear of reprisal in reporting crimes, especially conducted by those in power are breeding grounds for teachers and administrators to engage in such action without regard. Sexual harassment is defined as unwanted sexual advances or remarks typically in the workplace, professional or social setting. Sexual harassment and abuse in…

Friday, 11 October 2019 05:09

Bad road paved with good intentions - Dare Babarinsa

When was the last time you drove for five kilometres on a good road in Nigeria? For me, I cannot remember, especially the so-called Federal roads. It seems as of now that all the Federal roads in the South-West are under re-construction or under re-consideration. I think it is time we end the charade and allow each state to take care of the roads within its jurisdiction. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ife-Ibadan road was so good that Oyo State government had to set up the first Road Safety Corps in Nigeria mostly to control speed on that road. Chairman…

Thursday, 10 October 2019 04:57

If Nigeria was a PLC, it would be sold for N1 and restructured - Olu Fasan

There is a well-known practice in the business world in which a large multinational corporation could be sold for £1 or $1, the token price tag serving only as a symbolic proof of exchange. But why would a corporate entity be sold for a token sum? Well, that often happens when a company, despite its asset-base and prospect, has been so badly mismanaged that it’s struggling to operate profitably. Someone, usually a private-equity investor, could then buy the distressed company for a token sum, restructure and turn it around. There are several high-profile examples of such £1 or $1 companies,…

Thursday, 10 October 2019 04:56

Preventing digital feudalism - Mariana Mazzucato

By exploiting technologies that were originally developed by the public sector, digital platform companies have acquired a market position that allows them to extract massive rents from consumers and workers alike. Reforming the digital economy so that it serves collective ends is thus the defining economic challenge of our time. The use and abuse of data by Facebook and other tech companies are finally garnering the official attention they deserve. With personal data becoming the world’s most valuable commodity, will users be the platform economy’s masters or its slaves? Prospects for democratizing the platform economy remain dim. Algorithms are developing…

Tuesday, 08 October 2019 05:48

How to rethink capitalism - Simon Johnson

The 2008 financial crisis, together with failed efforts to combat climate change and sharply rising inequality, has frayed the neoliberal consensus that has prevailed in the United States and much of the West for more than two generations. Three issues must be considered in weighing what comes next. The United States Business Roundtable, an organization of CEOs of large US companies, recently issued a statement that caused quite a stir in some circles. Rather than focusing primarily or exclusively on maximizing shareholder value, America’s corporate titans argued, companies should attach more weight to the wellbeing of their broader stakeholder community,…

Monday, 07 October 2019 05:29

The crisis of Central-Bank governance - Lucrezia Reichlin

European Central Bank may enjoy stronger protection against political pressure than other central banks do, but it also faces unique constraints. The more ECB is forced to expand its policy remit to meet new economic challenges, the more likely it is to trigger destabilizing political conflicts within the eurozone. The relationship between monetary authorities and governments differs in important ways between the United States and the eurozone. The US invariably falls into a traditional pattern whereby governing politicians, with an eye toward the electoral cycle, tend to favor expansionary fiscal policies and looser monetary conditions, while the Federal Reserve, wary…

Sunday, 06 October 2019 05:48

A MUST READ: Time to drag Buhari, el-Rufai and others to Kigali - Festus Adedayo

Rwanda does not hide the fact that she is a coquette. From the moment you land at the Rwanda International Airport, Kigali, the irresistible mermaid which Rwanda lets loose on you, begins to openly seduce you, making salacious passes and daring you to resist her bewitching beauty. She does not pretend that she is seeking to take away your innocence. Without forewarning you, Kigali caresses your skin like an adulterous woman seeking a liaison, as if telling you to your face that her tender touch on your skin is a favour from her. In her eyes, you could see a…

Sunday, 06 October 2019 05:45

Are we living in a post-happiness world? - Laura M. Holson

Joy, it seems, is everywhere these days. It is used to sell boxes at Ikea. It is included in ads for drinks at McDonald’s and as a prescriptive for female hygiene. There are T-shirts that tout joy as “an act of resistance.” There is the “Chasing Joy” podcast. And a number of books are being published this year devoted to joyful living, including marriage, productivity, even how to live more like Hugh Jackman. But if joy is everywhere, why does happiness feel so elusive? Haven’t we learned anything since 2014 when Marie Kondo taught us that cleaning our closets was…

Friday, 04 October 2019 05:57

Nigeria at 59: I am so sorry! - Bola Bolawole

“I am sorry” can be an admission of guilt or wrong-doing and an apology; it can, however, mean exasperation, surrender, and throwing in of the towel. Like that boxer who refused to come out of his corner for the next round of boxing, shouting “no mas, no mas”; which means “no more, no more”. He has taken enough punishment and was not willing to continue. He has had enough! His handlers appeared to think he could continue; at least he could hang in there and complete the remaining few rounds, so he would not be seen as having gone down…

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Thursday, 03 October 2019 05:53

This is why Trump is right to challenge China - Henry Olsen

The use of live ammunition by Hong Kong police against protesters fighting for freedom in the city on Tuesday is a sad but fitting way to mark the Chinese Communist Party’s 70th anniversary in power. . What was once thought to be a regime headed for the dustbin of history instead is poised to become a challenge for freedom across the globe. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. In the late 1990s, liberal democratic global capitalism looked to be the wave of the future. Scholars wrote about “the end of history” as the communist world collapsed and former authoritarian…

Wednesday, 02 October 2019 06:14

70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China shows Beijing’s communism may be the most viable - George Galloway

While mistakes of the Soviet Union put it in the museum, China’s capacity to adapt and reinvent itself could soon make it the most important country in the world. Last weekend, I addressed a 70th anniversary commemoration of the victory of the Chinese revolution. I joked to the Chinese diplomats present that I had spoken at the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia too and look what happened after that! Cards on the table, I spent the best years of my life defending the perspectives of the USSR and, where they differed, opposing the Maoist line on matters…

Wednesday, 02 October 2019 06:12

The rise and future of China as an economic power - James Early

Since 2012, I've been a frequent visitor to the People's Republic of China. With 52 red stamps on my passport to prove it, I'm still mystified by the incongruities that jump out at me as a Westerner. I’ve come to accept that plenty of contradictions about China will never make sense to the Western mindset. Yet China, whose Communist Party government turns 70 today, marches on, contradictions and all. The same China that’s famous for its human rights violations is the China that lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty as per capita GDP rose from $89 in…

Sunday, 29 September 2019 05:34

So many Nigerians want to escape out of the country, but they are held captive - Pat Utomi

A professor of political economy, entrepreneur, and former presidential candidate, Mr Pat Utomi, who also contested the governorship primary of his party in the last election, shares his thoughts about the state of the nation in this interview with TUNDE AJAJA Nigeria will be 59 in two days and many Nigerians are grossly disappointed with the country’s level of development. How would you assess the country’s progress so far? Part of my personal burden is that I have been around for all of those 59 years and so I have seen those 59 years from the eyes of a young…

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