Public Affairs Analyst

There is no gainsaying that Nigerian government and its officials have penchant for waste. The evidence of this abounds in the way we utilize public resources. Public edifices and utilities are often treated with disdain. One of such is our stadia that dot Nigerian landscape. These recreational monuments are built with enormous resources but are hardly maintained after completion. Sport is under the concurrent legislative list hence as there are national stadiums, there are also state owned stadia as well as township sporting arenas. Before the construction of the Abuja National Stadium between 2000 and 2003, there was National Stadium, Lagos which alongside Liberty stadium in Ibadan provided play ground for many international football and other sporting competitions either being hosted by Nigeria or in which the country is participating. Today, these stadia no longer host sporting fiestas but have turned to pepper soup joints where night crawlers now feed their stomachs rather than ...

I could have died on the night of December 15, 2011. I had hoped for a direct flight to Ibadan or an afternoon flight to Lagos en-route Ibadan for the final burial rite of my late mother-in-law. Unfortunately, there was no direct flight from Abuja to the ancient city that fateful day and by the time I got to the airport; the only available flight to Lagos was for 6pm. I grudgingly bought the ticket but there was another hour delay before take- off. Eventually, I got to Lagos around 8pm and by the time I navigated the Lagos traffic to the Ojodu -Berger Motor Park, it was past 9pm. I eventually got on an Ibadan bound vehicle which unknown to me does not have sufficient fuel for the journey and secondly, was not in good condition as it had problem with the carburetor. The vehicle bought black market fuel at Ogere, shortly after, it started to break down. It did that four times on that very dangerous Lagos – Ibadan expressway and each time we have to come down to push the bus to start, ri...

“ We want to make sure that we conduct election in Nigeria without the police, we want to conduct election without security people carrying guns, we want a situation where Nigerians will queue up, vote and go back home, the votes are counted and nobody is cheated so that at the end of elections, there will not be all kinds of litigations.” –President Goodluck Jonathan in Calabar on 21 February 2012. Our dear president really means well for our democracy; he is making serious effort at leaving a lasting political legacy for Nigeria. He strives to be a statesman. Last year, he mooted the idea of a single term of six or seven years for president and governors in order to cut the cost of electioneering as well as remove the distraction usually engendered by pursuit of second term. In 2012, he is already eyeing the conduct of elections in Nigeria without the assistance of police and other security agencies. Beautiful, wishing thinking I dare say. Security has been an issue in Nigerian ele...