Public Affairs Analyst

The Ugandan election was my fourth international election observation mission. I had previously served as Short Term Observer with Carter Centre in Ghana (2008); International Foundation for Electoral Systems in United States of America (2010) and African Union in Egypt (2014). My Ugandan observation mission was courtesy of Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa. We were handpicked from 22 African countries and I was in Uganda from February 12 – 22, 2016. After three days of briefings from the Ugandan Electoral Commission, representatives of political parties, civil society groups, security experts, and the EISA secretariat team, I and my Zimbabwean team mate, Gamuchirai Matsheza were deployed to Masaka District to observe the February 18 presidential and parliamentary elections. A lot has been said on the polls by various observer missions in their preliminary statements released at a press conference last Friday, February 19. While some of them like the Common...

I am not new to election observation. It is one of my fortes, being a psephologist. I have been an accredited observer of Nigerian elections since 1999 and have been privileged to serve as an accredited short term observer at international level with Carter Centre in Ghana (2008), International Foundation for Electoral Systems in the United States of America (2010); African Union in Egypt (2014) and Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa in Uganda (2016). I was in Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, from February 12 – 22 during which I and my colleagues from about 22 African countries received briefings from different electoral actors and stakeholders such as the Ugandan Electoral Commission, representatives of the political parties, civil societies, security agents and EISA. I and my Zimbabwean colleague, Gamuchirai Matsheza were deployed to Masaka District to observe the February 18, 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections. It was an awesome experience for me. It...

There are different modes of transportation. Commuting can be by road, air, rail and water. Airplane or Aeroplane is used for air transportation and this is mostly used by the elite and the affluent because of the cost implication. Air transportation is swift and allegedly the safest even though occasional crashes do take its toll on scores of life depending on the number of passengers on board and the crash site. Nigeria has had its fair share of plane crashes. Water transportation is done via ships, boats and canoes. It comes with its own risk as well, as there have been a number of ship wrecks and incidences of boats capsizing. Rail transportation is equally prominent in Nigeria and is done through trains. It is the major means of mass transportation as the trains are capable of carrying hundreds of passengers at a time.     There have also been incidences of derailment claiming lives of commuters. Rail transportation is perhaps the cheapest though not the fastest. R...

Today, February 14, is St. Valentine’s Day also known as Lovers Day. An internet source claims that: “The Catholic Church recognises at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realising the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.” Did you know that an approximately 150 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine's Day the second most popular card-sending holiday after Christmas? Already Nigeria’s entertainment industry has keyed into making Valentine’s Day celebration colourful. Musicians, comedians, thespians, ...

On Monday, February 8, 2016, the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and some civil society organisations picketed the offices of electricity distribution companies nationwide. This was done while they protested against the 45 per cent hike in electricity tariff which took effect on February 1, 2015. The NLC president, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, “called on President Muhammadu Buhari to revisit the privatisation of the power sector as it was marred by corruption”, lamenting that the current increase would make it the fifth time the tariffs would go up since the privatisation exercise was concluded. Among other things, labour leaders accused government of acting in bad faith by taking sides with the private investors in the power sector against the suffering masses. Some other complaints include the lack of transparency in the affairs of the electricity generating, transmitting and distributing companies. The protesters said these private investors had refused to publish their fin...

The chairman of the Independent Na­tional Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu recently met with different actors and stakeholders in the elec­toral process where he tried to pick their brains on how the electoral commission can improve on its performance in delivering credible elec­tions thereby consolidating Nigeria’s democra­cy. I was privileged to be at the Commission’s meeting with civil society organisations held on January 21, 2016. It was a frank interactive ses­sions where the Commission highlighted some of the areas it wants input. Indeed it got a full dose of ideas and recommendations. INEC chairman espoused nine areas name­ly; Judicial annulment of 82 and upturning of 15 out of the elections held in 2015; Man­agement of voting process (i.e. should sepa­ration of accreditation and voting subsist or the two should hold simultaneously as was the case until 2011 General Elections?); soar­ing incidences of electoral violence in spite of the peace accords and increase in...

Everyone likes to enjoy and make oneself happy in a season of abundance. It’s a normal human inclination. Irrespective of race, creed, clime, sex or colour, we all have a propensity to indulge ourselves when we have the wherewithal to do so. However, in a situation where one’s finances is in the red and one has to borrow to augment, shouldn’t one lead a life of prudence? On November 16, 2014, our former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, officially declared austerity measures in Nigeria. She announced some strict policies aimed at helping the country to save scarce resources. In order to curtail waste, she said there would be no more foreign travels by civil servants unless for purposes that could be fully defended as absolutely necessary. In addition, foreign training programmes would be stopped and all training done in-country. The exception, she said, would be to secure foreign sponsorship for such travels and training abroad. ...