Opinions

It’s on record that Nigerian leadership is very careless about the future of our youths in this country. They have their children abroad, enjoying the wealth of the citizens, living large and feeding their lusts while showing lackadaisical attitudes towards the future of the youths. If right-thinking individuals fail to raise their voices for FUTA and the future of its medical students, these promising youths may spend 10 to 12 years in medical school for a programme intended to last 6 years because of preventable occurrences. There is no doubt that Nigeria is battling with serious challenges as a nation. To start with, it’s obvious that we are being ruled by criminals. As Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has rightly said, most of the people ruling the country currently should be in prison; eve...

In the annals of Nigeria’s democratic dispensation, only former President Olusegun Obasanjo has spent his leave of absence at his Ota Farm in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Apart from him, there is no record of any other president observing leave in the country. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who took over from him, spent a significant leave of absence in Saudi Arabia, where he received treatment for pericarditis. He left Nigeria on November 23, 2009, and returned on February 24, 2010, after over three months in a Saudi hospital. His prolonged absence even led to a constitutional crisis and the temporary transfer of powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan. Former President Goodluck Jonathan who equally became President after the death of Umaru Yar'Adua also spent his own leave of absence in South Afric...

By Olaoluwa Mimiola Nigeria stands as a paradox, endowed with immense natural wealth yet grappling with staggering poverty levels among its populace. The country is blessed with an abundance of resources, including diverse agricultural products, vast oil reserves, and a burgeoning tourism and entertainment industry, all of which hold immense potential for national prosperity. Despite this richness, many Nigerians endure dire economic conditions, raising questions about the effective management and equitable distribution of wealth generated from these resources. The agricultural sector in Nigeria is a significant contributor to both the economy and food security. With favourable climatic conditions and arable land, Nigeria has the potential to become an important player in global agr...

By Olufemi Soneye In the face of the challenges in the oil sector, particularly the current tightness in the supply of petrol, it has become fashionable to blame the national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC Ltd), for everything. Last week, it was Prof. Pat Utomi who railed and fumed at the NNPC Ltd calling it one of the most opaque and unreliable companies in the world. Before then, The Punch had published an editorial in which it described the NNPC Ltd as a danger to Nigeria. The latest of these vitriolic attacks is by Dr. Muiz Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and former Commissioner of Transport and Environment, Lagos State, who contended in his column in The Sun that NNPC Ltd is the black hole of Nigeria. Considering all that is going on ...

By Temitope Ajayi By his advanced age and eminent status as a former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is by no means qualified to be an elder statesman. Statesmen are highly venerated and revered people to whom we go for advice, guidance and direction. But sometimes, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar behaves as if he should be removed from that exclusive club. Or how else can one interpret some of his utterances and statements? Or is the former vice president merely playing politics? But politics should have its season and time and should sometimes give way for nation-building and patriotism. Statesmen are not given to flippancy. Neither are they whimsical. They are measured in words and deeds, a quality that Alhaji Atiku has not demonstrated in public discourse since losing the...

On 28 June 2024, Nigeria signed the Samoa Agreement at the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium. The partnership agreement is between the EU and its Member States, on one hand, and the members of the OACPS on the other. Negotiations on the agreement started in 2018, on the sidelines of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly. It was signed in Apia, Samoa on the 15th of November 2018 by all 27 EU Member states and 47 of the 79 OACPS Member states. The agreement has 103 articles comprising a common foundational compact and three regional protocols, namely: Africa –EU; Caribbean-EU, and Pacific-EU Regional Protocols with each regional protocol addressing the peculiar issues of the regions. The African Regional Protocol cons...

Dear Compatriots,It is my unique honour to address you on this day, the 63rd anniversary of our nation’s independence, both as the President of our dear country and, simply, as a fellow Nigerian. 2.On this solemn yet hopeful day, let us commend our founding fathers and mothers. Without them, there would be no modern Nigeria. From the fading embers of colonialism, their activism, dedication and leadership gave life to the belief in Nigeria as a sovereign and independent nation. Let us, at this very moment, affirm that, as Nigerians, we are all endowed with the sacred rights and individual gifts that God has bestowed on us as a nation and as human beings. No one is greater or lesser than the other. The triumphs that Nigeria has achieved shall define us.The travails we have endured ...

By Funmi Branco LOVERS of democracy and good governance must be troubled by the crisis in Ogun State over local government allocations. When the chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area, Hon. Wale Adedayo, accused the state governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, of diverting local government (LG) funds, there were not a few Nigerians who felt outraged because the allegation was such a weighty, damning one, and it is a fact that state governments had often been accused of strangulating local governments in the country. And so, naturally, many commentators hailed Adedayo for drawing attention to what they thought was the haemorrhage going on in Ogun State. However, as they waited for evidence proving the governor’s guilt, they got none. Instead, evidence from all quarters showed that the now...

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Wednesday, assured Nigerians of his renewed and energised focus on delivering his vision of a unified, peaceful and prosperous nation, following the judgment by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja. President Tinubu welcomes the judgment of the tribunal with an intense sense of solemn responsibility and preparedness to serve all Nigerians, irrespective of all diverse political persuasions, faiths, and tribal identities. The president recognises the diligence, undaunted thoroughness, and professionalism of the five-member bench, led by Justice Haruna Tsammani in interpreting the law. The president affirms that his commitment to the rule of law, and the unhindered discharge of duties by the Tribunal, as witnessed in the panel’s exclus...

If we're talking about natural born leaders, we are referring to individuals who possess innate qualities that make them effective as leaders. While some people believe that leaders are born with these qualities, others believe that leadership can be developed through hard work, experience and determination. One of the few individuals that God has blessed with both talents is Chief (Dr) Kolawole Adewoyin. Chief Adewoyin born 63 years is no doubt a natural born leader who has also developed himself through hard work, experience and determination. Today, he is one of the most noted of his contemporaries who has built a network of successful businesses in Ibadan, Oyo, Lagos, Abuja and other states in Nigeria. Chief (Dr) Kolawole Adewoyin, who is the new Asiwaju General Ona Mogba of ...

By J.D.EPHRAIM. I like the statement in a Facebook account of what has happened to MS Hadiza Bala Usman on the management of her REMITTANCES of the operating surpluses to the Consolidated Federal Revenue Account. That post Saud that Hadiza will be judged by the RECORDS. Yes, " BY THE RECORDS" So, let us not be too emotional, either positively, or negatively, about what has happened to Hadiza and her management of the Ports Authority. I am a Lawyer and I am not guided , or controlled by emotions, but by the law and the facts as revealed. Therefore, my compatriots, I refer you to the query directed to her by the Chief of Staff to the Presidency as a result of the memo to the President by her supervising Minister, Rotimi Amaechi of the Ministry of Transportation. Look at the query s...

By Sufuyan Ojeifo Last week, a friend sent to me, via WhatsApp, a video on YouTube entitled: “CAMP NEYA: The home of Dr Orji Uzor Kalu,” showing his expansive and palatial residence in his Igbere village in Abia state. My friend must have decided to share the video with me knowing that I enjoy some friendship with the former governor of Abia state (1999 -2007) and current Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate (where he represents the good people of Abia North Senatorial zone). I was not too eager to watch the video simply because I had a rare privilege of visiting the place in 2004 with the former governor while he was in the leadership saddle.  I was traveling with him to Abriba en-route Igbere to the country home of Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (retd), who was celebrating his retirement from...

It has become a yearly sacramental that during this season, friends and associates of Nigeria’s former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo converge in the hilly town of Abeokuta, Ogun State, to mark his birthday. On this occasion, Friday, 5th March 2021, the gathering celebrates this most outstanding African and global citizen as he is supposed to turn 84 years, or admittedly, something slightly higher. (more…)