Olu Falae @80: Still going to farm before dawn - Sina Kawonise
I had known Chief Olu Falae, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Minister of Finance, only by reputation. When, on Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999,...
Between HSBC and Buhari - Jideofor Adibe
Since the report that HSBC, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services companies, took a dim view of the Buhari government’s economic policies, operatives and supporters of the...
Bola Ajibola: Before he bows out - Tola Adeniyi
This is a special tribute to a very special man. A very unusual man. A most under-celebrated icon of immense and immeasurable proportion. A man who towers well above several...
Lessons from Adeosungate - Reuben Abati
Nigeria’s former Minister of Finance (2015-2018), Kemi Adeosun threw in her letter of resignation on Friday, September 14, to bring to a temporary closure, the public outcry and the embarrassment...
Please, students, take that ‘impractical’ humanities course. We will all benefit - Ronald J. Daniels
Last fall, on the campus of Johns Hopkins University, where I serve as president, I happened to overhear a conversation among a group of students. One student was telling the...
MTN and the multibillion-dollar perils of Nigeria’s regulatory minefield - Feyi Fawehinmi
Nigerian officials like to tell a story about the telecoms revolution that began in Nigeria in 2001. It involves how Vodafone, the British telecoms giant, had been offered the chance...
The real problem with Free Trade - Jayati Ghosh
For most critics of globalization, trade is the villain, responsible for deepening inequality and rising economic insecurity among workers. This is the logic driving support for US President Donald Trump’s...
Tinubu the Ap’ejalodo and his strange fish friend - Festus Adedayo
There is this story that helped to tame the greed of pre and post-colonial Yoruba society, as well as any tendency within it to play God. Set in an African...
Revisiting ‘democracy and dictatorship’ - Edwin Madunagu
Let us begin by quickly recalling two bits of Nigeria’s recent history. First, at the close of 1983, a military junta overthrew and supplanted the elected civilian government of Shehu...
2019 and the road to Damascus - Jideofor Adibe
We have now fully entered the political season – with its embedded bazaars, festivities, speeches, permutations and configurations. Most of the activities in the political space are configured to bring...
The slippery slope of regulating social media - Peter Suderman
Speech on Twitter and Facebook should not be treated like a collective good that should be subject to political control. The promise of the internet, and social media in particular,...
2019: A brief manual of Nigerian politics - Reuben Abati
The political primaries are scheduled to hold between this month and the next and definitely by the end of October 2018, the hustling and jostling in Nigeria’s political arena would...
China is losing the new Cold War - Minxin Pei
When the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, the Communist Party of China (CPC) became obsessed with understanding why. The government think tanks entrusted with this task heaped plenty of blame...
Four more years of Buhari? Nigeria deserves better - Thomas Mösch
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Muhari has announced he will run again in the 2019 election. He has just started his work on important reforms — but that's exactly the problem, says...
The Buhari-Punch tango - Festus Adedayo
A very pathetic story which crept into the media a few hours to this weekend, suddenly took away the appetite of sane citizens of the world. According to the story,...
Between the VP and Ex-VP - Tola Mobolurin
I do hope those on this platform are not confused by the political fencing game between the VP, Mr Yemi Osinbajo and the ex-VP, Mr Atiku Abubakar. I hold no...
“In defence of history” - Edwin Madunagu
I cannot now remember exactly how I first encountered this phrase: “In defence of history”. But I think it was during my days on the Editorial Board of The Guardian...
Buhari, 2019 elections and the law - Reuben Abati
President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly declared in China, last Sunday, that he believes in the idea of free and fair elections, and that he is committed to this pillar of the...
The three tribes of austerity - Joseph E. Stiglitz
No policy is as self-defeating during recessionary times as the pursuit of a budget surplus for the purpose of containing public debt – austerity, for short. So, as the world...
Road to making Buhari the fuhrer - Festus Adedayo
There has been a raging debate on what drove President Muhammadu Buhari or what the President drove to the Abuja venue of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA’s) 58th Annual General...
Buhari, Rule of Law, National Interest and National Security - Jideofor Adibe
President Muhammadu Buhari has been getting raps for asserting that his government would continue to place the nation’s security and national interests above the rule of law. He reportedly argued...
Akomolede and a professor in search of Nigeria - Dare Babarinsa
Books are the keepers of eternal secrets. I remember my first encounter with Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart when I was a student at Ife Anglican Grammar School, Ile-Ife. Who...
To Samir Amin, a personal tribute - Edwin Madunagu
The year 1982 began with a revolutionary upheaval in Ghana: a group of young and radical military officers – some retired, others still in service – appeared to have seized...
Rule of Law: The President got it wrong - Reuben Abati
It is unfortunate that the most important statement made so far at the on-going Annual Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association, an outright derogation of the supremacy of the rule...
This mafia style of government makes Trump a role model for all autocrats - Jonathan Freedland
More than 18 months into his presidency, Donald Trump’s modus operandi – and the danger it represents – is clear. His working method is that of the mafia boss and...
McCain was a force of nature in Washington with an unrivaled global stature - Paul Kane
Everyone walked away from fights with Sen. John McCain a little worse for wear, even if the Arizona Republican came out on the losing end. Some friends joked that McCain...
Nigeria, where impala eats lion for supper - Festus Adedayo
One of my favourite channels on the DSTV is the Animal World channel called National Geographic. I am fascinated by the process of how wild animals capture their preys; how...
Asa, broda ole and the fight against corruption - Muyiwa Apara.
Bukola Elemide the amiable Nigerian songstress answers the sobriquet ASA, the Yoruba name for the predatory hawk. However, better known for its predatory prowess than its chirping, still I confess...
Ajimobi’s giant strides in folly - Azu Ishiekwene
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State is increasingly becoming the Rochas Okorocha of the South West. With very little effort, he might surpass the latter, the self-acclaimed exponent of iberiberism...
Why Buhari’s ‘800m walk’ makes both his health and age legitimate campaign issues - Jideofor Adibe
Do public officials owe the public full disclosures about their health status? Does the age of a political leader really matter when it comes to the leader performing his/her statutory...
Why prosperity has increased but happiness has not - Jonathan Rauch
In 1990, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain was challenged by a Labour member of Parliament on the subject of growing inequality. “All levels of income are better off than...
Electorates are the unusual suspects - Israel A Ebije
We have spent so much time, with rolled up sleeves throwing punches at the elitist class over poor leadership and devastated economy, while electorates have escaped critical lens of analysts....
Buharimaniacs and Buharideens - Femi Aribisala
New nomenclatures have come into the national political lexicon since the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria. Two that come to mind here are Buharimaniacs and Buharideens. There...
Elon Musk, Donald Trump and the second gilded age - Robert Reich
I’ve long admired Elon Musk as a technological visionary. But I worry about his sense of responsibility to the public.Last week, Musk announced on Twitter that he intended to turn...
A Dry Sallah And Other Stories - Reuben Abati
“Baba is back, we thank God” “You have started your mischief again. Baba said he will be back in two weeks, and he is back, so what is special about...
It’s time to reclaim ‘socialism’ from the dirty-word category - Elizabeth Bruenig
A Gallup poll this month found that Democrats are warming up to the idea of socialism — or at least to the word. While 57 percent of Democrats polled said...
Why Facebook is running out of time to rebuild its reputation Running - John Oswald
“Silicon Valley faces many challenges, and I am encouraged that there are so many dedicated, thoughtful and skilled people continuing to tackle these challenges at Facebook.”You bet, Mr Stamos. You...
“Demolition” of common sense - Seun Kolade
In the early hours of this morning, agents of the Oyo state government under Governor Ajimobi stormed the premises of Fresh FM owned by Yinka Ayefele. According to reports, the...
Why PDP is ten times better than APC - Femi Aribisala
I have said time and again that I am not a member of the PDP. I am saying it again. I have never been and will never be a member...
'Kofi Annan tended the world as a sacred garden” - Dankwambo
The Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, has described the death of former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, as a great loss to Africa and the entire world. He...
