Public Affairs Analyst

The discourse reflected our latest challenges. We shall send the relevant aspects of your recommendations to the Council of State and the National Assembly for incorporation into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On our part , we shall act on those aspects required of us in the Executive.” President Goodluck Jonathan made the above remark while receiving the report of the National Conference from a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, on Thursday, August 21, 2014. From October 1, 2013 when Jonathan announced to the nation his intent to set up a national confab to the inauguration of the Senator Femi Okunrounmu-led National Advisory Committee to the March 17 inauguration ceremony of the 494 “wise men and women” down to August 21, 2014, when the conference wound down, one of the most trending news were snippets from the conference. For the delegates, it was a tortuous journey. There were disagreements, stalemates, suspicions, resolutions and stat...

It is a month today when the first index case of Ebola Viral Disease was recorded in Nigeria. On July 20, 2014, Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American imported the disease into our shores while attempting to attend an ECOWAS conference in Calabar, Cross Rivers State. Since that unfortunate incident, Nigerians have been ill-at-ease. With Boko Haram insurgents wreaking havoc in northern Nigeria and Ebola claiming lives in Lagos, in Southern Nigeria, indeed, my compatriots have cause to be apprehensive. More so, given the contagious nature of the disease and the high mortality rate of its victims. As of the time of writing this piece, only four lives had so far been lost to the virus while a total of five had been certified healed of the disease and discharged from isolation centre while over hundred others are being quarantined or under surveillance. I join millions of Nigerians to commend the Lagos State Government, the Federal Government and the World Health Organisation for the timely...

On June 29, 2005, the Paris Club and Nigeria agreed on a US$18 billion debt relief package. As at December 31, 2004 Nigeria owed a total of US$35.994 billion. The deal with the Paris Club was celebrated by government and was counted as a major achievement of the Obasanjo administration. Unfortunately, Nigeria is back in the shackles of debt less than a decade after its glorious exit from debt burden. According to the latest release by Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (August 2014), Nigeria’s total debt stock recorded about 2.7 per cent increase to N10.43 trillion ($66.99 billion), against N10.16 trillion ($65.25 billion) at the end of the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. This is the result of continued debt deals by the Federal Government internally and externally. Much as it is practically impossible to run a debt free government, the big questions are: What are the debts procured used for? Are the monies spent on consumption or production? Are they being used on capital pro...

I have more than a passing interest in the welfare of Osun State. I may have been born and bred in Ibadan, Oyo State; however, my parents are both from the State of Osun. Thus, ahead of the August 9 governorship election in the “State of the Virtuous”, I carried out all my official assignments in the state with extra zeal and dedication. I had been involved in training of both poll officials and security agents, sensitisation of women groups as well as conduct of security threat assessment in the run up to the election. Though I was not physically on the field to observe the election, I monitored the media for the progress report and was part of the discussion panels on the poll on both the African Independent Television and Nigerian Television Authority. I heaved a sigh of relief when the election was held without bloodshed and post-election violence. I was happy to see jubilation on the streets and not bonfire. I was glad to hear and read the congratulatory messages from President...

In the next three days, about a million voters who have collected their Permanent Voter Card in Osun State will be filing out to choose their governor for the next four years. This exercise hopefully will bring to a close the ongoing uncivil electoral war that was ignited when the Independent National Electoral Commission released the timetable for the poll on Friday, January 24, 2014. In the last six months, different actors and stakeholders in the electoral process have been carrying out a lot of activities in preparation for the August 9 election. Election ordinarily is a civil exercise. A civic responsibility by citizens who are 18 years and above and have registered to vote. It is one of the tenets of democratic culture. The main actors are the electoral management body which conducts the poll and the political parties which field candidates to contest at the election. Stakeholders in the electoral process include the legislature which gives the legal teeth to the contest; the ...