Public Affairs Analyst

There are four major means of transport. They are road, sea, air and rail. In Nigeria, the four are present in various degrees. In the good old days, many Nigerians travelling abroad who could not afford the cost of flying did so via ships. These days, that is no longer fashionable as most Nigerians now travel abroad by air. However, canoes and boats are still being used to ferry people across most of the riverine areas. That is however not to say the ships are out of service. They are majorly consigned to cargo services. They bring in goods from overseas and are also used to transport products outside the country. Air plane is, however, the fastest and safest means of transport (yes, despite the occasional crashes). Road transport is the commonest. However, when it comes to mass transit, the train is unbeatable. A train can carry a thousand passengers per trip. Transport is a social service and the Nigerian government used to have some control of these four means of tr...

“Sport is art, amplified! It is dance, music, theatre, and drama combined. The stage (the sports field) is the biggest theatre in the world. And the actors, some of the highest paid. The major difference between conventional theatre and this, is that sport is unscripted drama.”   –Ex Green Eagles Captain, Segun Odegbami, in Saturday PUNCH, July 10, 2004 How true! Mathematical Odegbami was spot on with this remark made some nine years ago. There are over 60 sports in the world. Some of them are boxing, high jump, triple jump, long jump, weightlifting, discus, table tennis, lawn tennis, javelin, swimming, gymnastics, hockey, cricket, handball, volleyball, basketball, baseball and football. There are sports which are very popular in some countries and unpopular in some others. For instance, while lawn tennis, baseball, basketball and boxing are very popular in United States of America, football is not so popular. Cricket is the domineering sport in India and Pakist...

On Saturday, August 10 Special Assistant on Media and Communication to the Honourable Minister of Power, Ms. Kande Daniel issued a press statement on behalf of her boss to the effect that the total amount of electricity generated in Nigeria as at 6am on that day was 2,628.6 megawatts. This indicates a sharp drop from the peak of 4,517.6MW generated power as at December 23, 2012. The drop in generated electricity, according to the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, is as a result of severe leaks in the supply of gas to some strategic power plants across the country. These leakages were ascribed to activities of pipeline vandals. The minister went further to state that low head water elevation was also limiting generation at Kainji and Jebba hydro stations to one unit each. I want to thank the honourable minister for coming out clean to Nigerians on the parlous state of our electricity generation. If there is an albatross that the current administration of President Jonatha...

  Election time is an interesting time in Nigeria. It is a season of spending spree by politicians and their political parties.    Some years ago, about 2004, I was privileged to participate in a two day seminar organized by the Independent Policy Group, a think tank established to assist the former President Olusegun Obasanjo to research on topical national issues. The forum discussed extensively what the Nigeria political class spends their election fund on. The submissions from that event were very insightful. The IPG seminar came up with a comprehensive list of what politicians spend their election fund on. Among the legitimate spending are the funds used to hire campaign offices and equip them with furniture, automobiles, and staff. Money spent on campaigns is also a legitimate spending.   This is inclusive of monies spent on hiring campaign venues, public address systems, decorations, printing of manifestoes or program of action, provision of security...

As I sat waiting for my flight at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on Wednesday, July 31,   I was furious. My source of irritation was Arik Air’s delay of my flight to Owerri. The flight scheduled for 1:00pm was rescheduled for 4pm for operational reason. I didn’t know my situation was much better until we eventually took off around 6pm and I discovered that some of the people we were on the same flight had been at the airport since 9am as the flight was originally scheduled for 11:55am. I and my colleague were in the midst of this agonizing wait when ‘Mathematical’ Segun Odegbami walked by in the midst of four or five other companions. I nudged my colleague with whom I was traveling to Umuahia in Abia State. The ex-international didn’t see us as we were just two of the sea of heads seated at the waiting lounge pending when our flight boarding announcement would be made. Then fate brought him my way. He had gone to the adjoining lounge to search for a seat without...