Public Affairs Analyst

With the exception of the period of the three years fratricidal civil war of 1967 – 1970, I do not know of any other point in time when Nigeria wit­nessed an upsurge in the number of inter­nally displaced persons as we do now. Factors that give birth to IDPs range from the nat­ural to manmade. Natural disasters such as flash flood, earthquake, famine and tsunami can displace people from their homes mak­ing then to seek temporary refuge in a safer environment. Unfortunately, in most part of Africa, Nigeria inclusive, the main cause of people’s displacement are not natural disasters but manmade or self-inflicted conflicts such as ethno-religious disputes. Conflict is inevi­table and could bring both good and bad out­come. The current refugee problem Nigeria is grappling is mainly as a result of the acts of insurgency being perpetrated by the dreaded Islamic sect popularly known as Boko Haram. This ugly phenomenon started like a child’s play in 2009 with the arrest and premeditat­ed mur...

One of the canons of the electoral campaign promises of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in the lead up to the 2015 nationwide polls is anti-corruption. Nigeria has consistently been rated by many anti-corruption research institutions such as the Transparency International and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative   as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. It is believed that monies that should have been used to tackle the huge infrastructural deficits in the country have found their ways into private pockets. The country’s ruling elites have always occupied prominent positions in international corruption scandals such as the Halliburton, Siemens, Sagem (over the national Identity Cards) and the latest Panama Papers leak. The president on assumption of office had made no pretence about his commitment to fight this monster hence the renewed vigour by the anti-corruption agencies to investigate, arrest and prosecute past and present corrupt public office ...

Shortly after the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari and state governors on May 29, 2015, many of the state chief executives who allegedly met empty treasuries and backlogs of unpaid salaries came together and jointly made a demand via the Nigeria Governors’ Forum for the Federal Government to come to their rescue. In July 2015, the President after due consultation with the National Economic Council approved a bailout for the states. First, the federal and state governments shared $2.1 billion (about N497 billion) sourced from the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas proceeds to the Federation Account. Second, the Central Bank of Nigeria prepared a special intervention fund to the states. The package, between N250 billion and N300 billion, was to serve as a soft loan available to states to defray backlogs of unpaid salaries. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who heads the National Economic Council, said the loan was repayable at an interest rate of nine per cent over a 20-year period a...

  “ Inclusion is not a strategy to help people fit into the systems and structures which exist in our societies; it is about transforming the system and structures to make it better for everyone. Inclusion is about creating a better world for everyone. Let our actions be a yardstick of quality to greater height for our betterment .” - Dana Richeler, past President of Inclusion International On Tuesday, April 19, 2016, Nigerians from all walks of life gathered in Abuja to demand unequivocally for inclusive education for children with disabilities. It was the official media launch on ‘Inclusive Basic Education for Children with Disabilities’ and official presentation of a baseline survey report, factsheets, policy briefs and the Model for Accessible & Inclusive School Environment poster.   The event was organised by Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities with support from USAID Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement Programme in Nigeria. In atten...

If you listen well around you these days, you will hear not a few Nigerians mutter to no one in particular: “This is not the change Nigerians voted for last year!”  Since the coming into power of the All Progressives Congress on May 29, 2015, it is instructive that all it has done is to blame previous administrations for the nation’s woes. All you hear is that the Peoples Democratic Party destroyed Nigeria in its 16 years at the helm of affairs. To my mind, it is not the PDP or any political party for that matter that should be held responsible for the country’s miserable state. It is the ruling elite across all political platforms. There are the PDP governors that did well and former opposition governors that performed poorly too. Even if we acknowledge without admitting that the PDP fared badly in governance, that exactly was the reason the electorate voted out the party at the centre and most of the states. The APC has been at the helm of affairs in the last 11 months, what has...

Nigerian economy is obviously in a bad shape, some analysts said it’s in recession. The indices are frightening. There is growing inflation, unemployment and poverty. Several reasons have been adduced for the state of the economy. These range from bad leadership, corruption, profligacy, policy inconsistency, overdependence on imports, lack of proper national planning, nepotism, political instability and many others too numerous to mention. Every economy depends on the informal sector to grow and develop. Nigeria is not an exception. The total strength of government employees across the three tiers of government, that is, federal, state and local government is perhaps one per cent of the total number of the country’s entire workforce. What that means is that the organised private sector made up of small and medium enterprises makes up the chunk of the country’s working population.   Many of the country’s labour force are found across the Nigeria’s open markets. Markets had be...

On Saturday, April 9, 2016, the Independent National Electoral Commission pursuant to the powers conferred on it by the Electoral Act 2010 as amended in Part VI, to conduct periodic elections into the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory held the polls into Gwagwalada, Kuje, Abaji, Bwari, Kwali and the Abuja Municipal Area Council. The elections were largely peaceful but witnessed low voter turnout as well as glitches with the Smart Card Readers, particularly for the voter authentication.    The elections were initially scheduled to hold on March 19, same day as the rerun elections in Rivers State, but had to be shifted by three weeks by INEC due to shortage of ad-hoc staff. The most unfortunate thing about the April 9 polls was that five out of the six Area Council’s chairmanship positions, with the exception of that of Bwari, were declared inconclusive by the electoral umpire. The reasons advanced for that include violence, over voting and non-use of Smart...

In February 2016, some fiends alleged to be Fulani herdsmen swooped on 10 communities in Agatu Local Govern­ment Area of Benue State killing about 500 persons and setting ablaze properties worth billions of Naira. This was said to be a repris­al attack for the killing of some of the cat­tle of these nomads when they grazed on the farmland of the Agatu people. For the records, it was not the first time this hap­pened, just that the February faceoff was of genocidal proportion. It is not also in Benue alone that such armed conflict between the herdsmen and farmers had happened in Ni­geria. It has occurred and still does in sever­al places across the country. Elder Statesman, Chief Olu Falae similarly was victim of this menace in 2015 when part of his farmland was destroyed by herdsmen who brought their cattle to graze there. It is thus a peren­nial problem with a long history. Researchers are of the opinion that climate change has a role in this. For example, deser­tification in the s...

Campaign finance is sine-qua-non in all democracies. Contestants to all elective offices have to spend a lot of money on different aspects of their campaigns ranging from purchase of expression of interest and nomination forms, setting up of campaign offices, hiring of consultants and vendors, renting and setting up of campaign venues, communication and publicity, and several other logistics. Politics is therefore not a tea party. It is a rich man’s game. I was an accredited short term observer under the aegis of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) during the just concluded general elections in Uganda, the Pearl of Africa. I was there from February 12 – 22, 2016 and observed the presidential and parliamentary elections in Masaka District. Before our deployment to area of observation, from February 13 – 15 we received briefings from various actors and stakeholders in the electoral process ranging from civil society organisations, the Electoral Comm...