Public Affairs Analyst

Happy New Year and a joyful centennial anniversary of Nigeria, Dear compatriots! It’s the first day of 2014 and congratulatory messages are in order as we usher in a brand new year. Even though I do not have a prior knowledge of President Goodluck Jonathan’s New Year speech, some things are discernible and worth discussing. I am not Nostradamus, the man credited to have a prescient knowledge of tomorrow, yet, I can hazard some guesses on the issues that will define 2014.They are largely carry over issues from last year. Such issues include  this year’s budget which was laid before the National Assembly on December 19 by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi  Okonjo-Iweala; the centennial celebration of Nigeria’s amalgamation; the corruption scourge; the insecurity challenge; the “rofo-rofo” fight within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and between the party and its main nemesis, the All Progressives Congress; the proposed national dialogue; th...

It’s Christmas Day and I wish my dear readers happy celebration. It’s a season of love, sharing, caring, holidaying, indulgence and festivities. The Yuletide better known as the Christmas season is unique and special. Celebrated every year on December 25, the date is sacrosanct even though some theologians have come out to say that the birth of Jesus Christ which is celebrated on that day may have been miscalculated. However, Christmas is peculiar in many respects. It is one celebration that is heralded by so much pageantry. The greetings during the season are special as people say to one another “Compliments of the season”, or “Yuletide” while the most common greeting style  on the D-Day is Merry Christmas! During the season, churches (both orthodox and Pentecostal), government at all levels, schools, and many private and public institutions take turns to organise Christmas carols where choirs engage in rendition of well-composed and rehearsed songs in commemoratio...

Opposition is true friendship. The man who tells you that you have a stinking rear is your friend. He is only drawing attention to your bodily filth and asking you to do something about it. He is better than a sycophant who says you can always come out of the sewage tank and smell of roses! —Aristotle, in his Analytics in the last one week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s December 2 letter to President Goodluck Jonathan which was leaked to the media on Wednesday, December 11 has generated a lot of furore and brouhaha in the media. Opinions are divided on the propriety or otherwise of the 18-page missive. While many believed that it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black and that the ex-president has ulterior motive rather than patriotic reasons for writing the memo; others have also recalled the many woes of the Obasanjo administration while some others said he should not have made the communication public. Yet, there are those who say “focus on the...

On November 6, 2013, the Federal Ministry of Works unveiled a draft Green Paper on federal roads and bridges tolling policy at a consultative forum in Abuja. I have perused the 24-page document and found a lot of interesting and exciting proposals which if carefully, diligently and effectively implemented will go a long way to reverse the road infrastructure deficit in Nigeria. Tolling of roads and bridges is not a new phenomenon in Nigeria, we have treaded that path before between 1980 (or thereabout) and 2004, and it was a sad tale. The new policy identified three challenges faced under the previous toll collection administration. They are:  Legal disputes, revenue leakages and unmet requirements for maintenance of the tolled roads. I recall that tolls were collected from the many plazas built on major federal highways but the proceeds went largely to private pockets. Allegations were rife that toll managers printed their own tickets and were issuing more of their...

My man, can you answer this simple question:  Are you sure, really sure, you’re the father of those children in your house?  I mean, are you their biological father? Do they carry your genes? Was it your sperm that impregnated your wife resulting in the birth of those children? Pardon my meddling in what clearly is your family affair. However, you do have a right to know that you’re not raising other people’s children under the illusion that they are yours. Recent revelations about disputed paternity of children brought to mind the agelong belief that it is the mother of a child who knows the real father. Dr. Murray Conrad, remember him? He was the personal physician of the music idol, Michael Jackson. In a recent interview he granted a US news medium, the doctor said Jackson was not the father of his three children as he claimed he never slept with their mother, Debbie Rowe.  (See: http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/24/dr-conrad-murray-michael-jackson-penis-inte...