Public Affairs Analyst

“Financial institutions which are poorly governed pose a risk to themselves and also to others and could pull down financial markets. Recent experience in the Nigerian financial market attests to this fact.” SEC DG, Ms. Arunma Oteh at the International Conference on Good Governance and Regulatory Leadership, May 2010 Yours truly is an investor in Nigeria's capital market having bought small units of shares in some of the quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. I had been taken in by the huge return on investment and the humongous profit after tax that many of the companies listed in the NSE declared at their annual shareholders meeting. That was before the bubble burst in March 2008. Today, my shares are not worth the share certificates on which they were written. My personal loss is miniscule compared to many big time investors in the stock market. Many lost millions and probably billions. The total loss is actually in trillions. My sense of loss was relieved on 5 August...

Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria's call obey To serve our fatherland With love and strength and faith The labour of our heroes past Shall never be in vain To serve with heart and might One nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. These are the lines of Nigeria’s current national anthem. Sadly, not many Nigerians, including those who are holding public offices, could recite the national anthem, let alone believe in the words. Nigeria is in her year of Golden Jubilee having got independence on October 1, 1960. There have been series of lectures, seminars, colloquia, conferences, exhibitions, debates etc planned in celebration of the country’s 50th anniversary. There is no gainsaying that Nigeria still grapples with the challenges of nationhood and governance. It is doubtful if this state of underdevelopment; anomie and morass were envisaged or hoped for by the founding fathers and mothers of Nigeria. I mean the political, labour and media bourgeoisie who were actively involved in negot...

Daily Sketch Wednesday, 18 November, 1998 You can get through life with bad manners, but it is easier and more honourable with good ones. Character is the only religion there is. Anonymous The late Mahatma Ghandi of India identified what he called seven deadly sins. These are: Wealth without work; pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; business without ethics; science without humanity; politics without principles and religion without sacrifice of pride and prejudice. It is a truism that ‘the true rule in determining to embrace or reject a thing is not whether it has any evil in it, but whether it has more evil than good’. There is no gainsaying the fact that most of the world nations, with special emphasis on Nigeria are guilty of these seven deadly sins of Ghandi. Gone are the days when good and exemplary character is regarded as a virtue in Nigeria. Moral upbringing counts little and less these days with testimonials not worth the paper on which they were written...