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Opinion

Thursday, 28 September 2023 04:30

So now you can be arrested by a tomato? - Abimbola Adelakun

One of the things I have come to detest about Nigeria is how individuals, especially the ones with means, get to use security agencies like they are personal thugs. Once upon a time in Nigeria, when you needed to settle scores without recourse to the law, you hired urchins from a motor park to beat up people. These days, you use the police or the Department of State Services for the same purpose. Both agencies differ in scope and responsibilities, but they fulfil similar functions of punishing people on behalf of those who can afford to summon them. They so…

Wednesday, 27 September 2023 04:37

It’s a lie promoted by the right that state help saps people of their drive

Liz Truss is back in the news, but a small state is out of fashion – or at least with the punters. The new British social attitudes survey finds that seven in 10 of us think it’s definitely government’s job to control prices, up from three in 10 in 2006. Only 30% wanted public spending increased in 2009; now that’s 55%. This has libertarians turning in their Tufton Street graves. But they should relax. Partly that’s because the surge in support for big government shouldn’t be a surprise and may be temporary. The survey was carried out in autumn 2022,…

Tuesday, 26 September 2023 04:53

Politics of power and the imperative of morality in authority - Akinyemi Onigbinde

Introduction Let us take off from the stand point of offering a conceptual clarification by way of making a distinction between power and authority. It is important to offer a peg for our discussion in a forum, as this, crowded with men of authority, lest they are perceived to be people with power, even if their own brand of power, a phenomenon they share with others with less desirable pedigree, is deemed the same and equivalent. I shall explain. For example, drivers of articulate vehicles, otherwise called ‘trailers’, also wield enormous power on our road networks that are more of…

Monday, 25 September 2023 04:54

United States deceived Ukraine - The Standard

The United States dragged Ukraine into an armed conflict with Russia promising it accelerated entry into NATO as a “bonus” before changing the goal posts by delaying Kiev’s entry into the military alliance. People who have no legal responsibility are advocating for the country's immediate entry into NATO. For example Tom Malinowski, a former congressman, believes that Ukraine should have been included in the alliance yesterday without any additional conditions. Malinowski understands very well the prospects of a war with Russia, but “democratic Ukraine” is much more important to him. However, Malinowski's rhetoric is not completely clear - either his…

Sunday, 24 September 2023 04:36

Why Tinubu must sack his US lawyer - Festus Adedayo

When Obafemi Awolowo died in 1987, amid a deluge of musical tributes in his honour, a line among those offerings stood out, evergreen. Sang by Fuji music lord, Kollington Ayinla, while extolling Awolowo’s panegyrics, he sang: “ookan ile l’osa gbe, Baba Yinka//eyin t’o funfun kii gbe koro enu.” This line profoundly articulated the open life of Awolowo, as well as his trackable history and pedigree. As short as the lines were, they drilled deep into the most granular of Yoruba’s concept of openness and transparency. Literally translated, it means that shrines that a people are proud of are erected in…

Sunday, 24 September 2023 04:34

Walking In the realm of wonders - Taiwo Akinola

From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? ~ Mark 6:2b. Introduction As we think about the life of Jesus Christ, we stand all amazed in every way! For example, we can’t mistake the uniqueness of the circumstances surrounding His coming to earth — His conception and His birth. All the works He did, and is still doing, both for us and through us, are simply wrapped up in absolute wonders. Indeed, Jesus Christ performed wonders without number! He defeated evil…

Sunday, 24 September 2023 04:32

Article of faith: The God who creates situations and circumstances - Femi Aribisala

Bolaji Ogundimu had only recently been appointed as my secretary when she put in an application for a housing loan. I had put aside a lump sum of money that could be borrowed by my staff interest-free. This was operated as a round-robin. As some pay back every month, new loans could be disbursed. However, Bolaji’s chances of getting a loan in the short term were slim because many others were in the queue before her. But then two “good Samaritans” came to see me. They insisted that Bolaji should be given a loan right away. What kind of favouritism…

Saturday, 23 September 2023 04:42

The West and the hypocrisy of democracy - Toyin Falola

Western deception has been with Africa forever: 1493: Pope Alexander VI issued a papal bull, “Inter Caetera,” proclaiming the right of Spain and Portugal to enslave Africans and own the land. They were subjects. They stole your people and your land. 1885: Africa was a Dark Continent. It required colonization to become civilized. Europe would bring change and civilize them. They stole your raw materials and truncated your self-development. 1940: When over a million Africans fought in Europe, North Africa and the Far East during the Second World War, the West convinced them they were dying for freedom and democracy.…

Friday, 22 September 2023 04:46

Begging for a seat at the table - Azu Ishiekwene

Following the G-20 summit held in India, I have been amused by the debate about whether or not Nigeria should be more than a guest again at the next G-20 meeting in Rio, Brazil. If South Africa is a member, why not Nigeria? How do you offer Africa’s largest economy only a complimentary ticket every time to such an important global event, leaving it with the rather humiliating option of begging for a place? I thought that we had outgrown the belief that respect is earned by size or by simply hanging out with the right crowd, regardless of performance.…

Thursday, 21 September 2023 04:17

There are no abominations left in our culture - Abimbola Adelakun

If Nigeria were a different country, a society that draws a moral line no one is allowed to cross, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, would be out of her job by now. For some unclear reasons, she intervened in the case of the embattled Dean of Law, University of Calabar, Cyril Osim Ndifo, who is being investigated for cases of sexual assault. Her interference, the subtle threats she made to the young women she called on the phone, and her stunning lack of understanding of what sexual assault entails, jointly disqualify Kennedy-Ohaneye from holding a “Women Affairs” ministerial…

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Thursday, 21 September 2023 04:16

Mohbad: When RIP is not enough - Soji Odedina

Mohbad is dead but the controversy surrounding his death is pretty much alive. If you are in my generation and you don't know the crooner of "plenty enemies..." you would be forgiven. Afterall, Mhobad himself predicted in his lyrics that he would be more popular when he's laid down, prostrate and dead. And it came to pass. He was born only 27 years ago and at that age, on reflection, I realised that that was just a year after I was done with my Masters degree at the University of Lagos. Like people my age at that time in Nigeria,…

Wednesday, 20 September 2023 04:42

The world’s population may peak in your lifetime. What happens next? - Dean Spears

Most people now live in countries where two or fewer children are born for every two adults. If all people in the United States today lived through their reproductive years and had babies at an average pace, then it would add up to about 1.66 births per woman. In Europe, that number is 1.5; in East Asia, 1.2; in Latin America, 1.9. Any worldwide average of fewer than two children per two adults means our population shrinks and in the long run each new generation is smaller than the one before. If the world’s fertility rate were the same as…

Tuesday, 19 September 2023 04:47

Is democracy at risk of extinction? - Michela Morsa

According to a survey by Open society foundations, more than a third of 18-35 year olds favour a military regime or an authoritarian leader. How did it come to this? Do people still believe in democracy? This was the question asked by a recent Open Society Foundations poll, which for the second consecutive year surveyed more than 36,000 people in 30 countries around the world to hear their opinions and feelings about human rights, democracy, and other important issues facing countries around the world. The "Open Society Barometer: Is Democracy Effective?" survey, one of the largest global polls ever conducted,…

Monday, 18 September 2023 04:33

How global currencies end - Barry Eichengreen

Is the dollar poised to lose its dominance of global economic and financial transactions? Many commentators apparently think so. Russia obviously hopes they are right, given that it has been shut out of the United States’ banking system and suspended from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT). China evidently wants to help the process along by encouraging countries to undertake transactions in renminbi. And Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called for the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to create a common currency as an alternative to the dollar. Russia’s shift away…

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