Public Affairs Analyst

“It has been a tough year for Nigeria and I hope next year will be a much more prosperous one,” - President Muhammadu Buhari on December 25, 2017 Compliment of the season! It’s barely four days to the end of the year and what a year it has been! I recently joined the Arise TV as an in-house analyst and on Christmas day we had a one hour documentary on the issues that defined the outgoing year. There were so many things tabled for discussion but time was so insufficient that many of them had to be shelved for discussion on another day. For me seven key issues defined Nigeria in 2017. They are the 154 days of medical tourism by the president, the restructuring debate, the budget imbroglio, the herders versus farmers faceoff, the economic recovery and growth plan, the lingering fuel scarcity, the party politics and preparation for 2019 General Elections.  All these can be subsumed under politics or economy. In the outgoing year, President Muhammadu Buhari was out of the country ...

A public affairs analyst, Jide Ojo, also told Sunday Sun that the yearly quagmire in the budgetary process occurs due to lack of political will by the government to do things right.   He said: “For me, the problem is lack of political will to do the right thing. We cannot say that we don’t have competent hands in a country of 180 million people that can deliver a sound, foolproof, and credible budgetary process. But it’s like there is too much politicking in that process because of inherent corruption. A lot of people want to take maximum advantage of that exercise to enrich themselves, communities and cronies. I mean in all good conscience, how could  you say that a country like Nigeria with experts in all spheres of human endeavour cannot assemble a committee of experts that will plug and deal with all the issues we perennially have with our budgetary process?  We have been told that the 2018 budget is allegedly padded. The bottom line is that those estimations are f...

"People with disabilities are also people with extraordinary talent.  Yet they are too often forgotten.  When people with disabilities are denied opportunities, they are more likely to fall into poverty -- and people living in conditions of poverty are more likely to develop disabilities.  As long as societies exclude those with disabilities, they will not reach their full potential and the poor in particular will be denied opportunities that they deserve." - Paul Wolfowitz, Former World Bank President. According to United Nations Covenant on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”  From time immemorial, PwDs form the bulk of Nigeria’s community of beggars. Perhaps because many of them are destitute – poor, feeble, ...

“Politics is not a game to be played by the poor. A poor person has no role in politics. A poor man cannot win election in Nigeria, how will you campaign. If you are poor, stay in your house.”  – Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, former Minister of Works and Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe is a political juggernaut. A former senator and minister as well as governorship aspirant in Lagos State. I watched him on Politics Today , a political programme of Channels Television anchored by Seun Okinbaloye on Friday, December 1, 2017. The topic was the chairmanship tussle of the Peoples Democratic Party. The party’s elective convention is due next Saturday in Abuja. The political tactician answered the questions posed to him deftly. He revealed that he was backing Chief Olabode George for the chairmanship position because the man has sacrificed a lot for the party. He described a move for a consensus candidate from Lagos or the south-west as undemocratic. In...

Last Monday, November 27, 2017, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated a 30-member tripartite National Minimum Wage Committee for the negotiation of a new National Minimum Wage for Nigerian workers. The inauguration held inside the council chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, has in attendance governors and senior government officials. All Progressives Congress governors, Rochas Okorocha of Imo, Rauf  Aregbesola of Osun, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi and Simon Lalong of Plateau as well as Peoples Democratic Party governors Nyesom Wike of Rivers and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe, are  members of the committee. The president said the inauguration of the committee followed the recommendation of a technical committee put in place after the increase in the price of petrol in 2016. He also said the current minimum wage being used in the country has already expired. (It was supposed to be reviewed every five years). After the completion of the work of the committee, an executive bill wo...

Every living thing – human beings, animals and indeed plants - need food and water to live. They are one of the basic necessities of life, the other two being clothing and shelter. Ironically, many Nigerians are being fed with poisons in the name of food. A visit to our foodstuff markets will reveal to discerning minds that many of the raw food offered for sale are not fit for human consumption. They are either adulterated or contaminated. Nutrition experts said many of the chemicals used to preserve most of the foods on sale in Nigeria are dangerous to human health. Some of the poultry products on sale in our markets are preserved with poisonous chemicals. An April 29, 2016 report in Thisday newspaper entitled “Imported Frozen Poultry Product as a Silent Killer” stated that “Medical experts have noted that these imported products are poisonous because smugglers use formalin, to preserve and keep them fresh from neighboring countries till it gets to Nigeria. Formalin is a cancer cau...

Anambra, the Light of the Nation, is set to witness the election of a new governor come next Saturday, November 18, 2017. The Independent National Electoral Commission had on February 23 this year published the timetable for this looming election. The 10 months advance notice is now down to 72 hours before the D-Day. Such is life; it’s a day that is not set that does not come. What will happen on Saturday? Will the over two million Anambra registered voters heed the call of Indigenous People of Biafra and boycott the election or will they turn out en-masse? Will the incumbent Governor Willie Obiano retain his coveted seat as the number one citizen in the state or will he be dethroned? Will the election be concluded on the first ballot or will it be inconclusive? Will the poll be peaceful and credible or will there be violence and electoral heist? I am not Nostradamus, the man who saw tomorrow. However, I will appeal to the good people of Anambra to allow for peaceful, credible and s...

As the rainfall recedes and dry season takes over in Nigeria, a mixed grill of emotion is palpable. Those whose houses are prone to flood and have therefore gone to take refuge elsewhere are joyful to return home with the cessation of rain. Also gone is the blowing off of rooftops by windstorms, the marshy roads, the excessive wetness and other negative things associated with the rainy season. Now we are effectively in dry season. Should we rejoice? Well, yes. We should be happy that the dry season is here. The harvest season for the farmers is here. Time of plenty and cheap food is here. Time of festivities, celebrations and partying has come Time of vacationing has dawned. However, dry season brings with it harmattan haze. Now, the fog and dew of harmattan makes visibility poor. Indeed, many flights are cancelled for that single reason as many pilots will not dare to fly blind; same with vehicular traffic. Poor visibility arising from harmattan smog has been responsible for many r...

“I expect that the expeditious coming into force of the commission will remedy the long years of under-development suffered by the region. The recovery and redevelopment of the zone devastated by terrorism is expected to last decades.” – Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Speaker, House of Representatives. News broke last week that President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the North East Development Commission bill passed by the National Assembly. I congratulate the Speaker of House of Representatives and Senator Ali Ndume who are the lead sponsors of the bill in the two chambers of National Assembly. I equally felicitate with all sons and daughters including residents of the beleaguered North East Nigeria on this well-deserved federal intervention. The lamentable development situation in that geo-political zone is well known. Even when there was no Boko Haram insurgency, NE has always lagged behind in human development index. In May 2015 Senator Abdul-Aziz Murtala Nyako did a concept note...

Anyone living in Nigeria needs a shock therapy from time to time, unless perhaps one does not listen to news or follow up with trending stories. Few days back I learnt from the news that there are over 500 abandoned federal government projects in Akwa Ibom State alone! The revelation was made by a Commissioner in the State. How could that be? But then, I remember that this is Nigeria where anything goes. A Sunday, June 28, 2015 report in the Daily Trust says that the Director of Administration of Chartered Institute of Project Management of Nigeria, Mr. David Godswill Okoronkwo stated in an exclusive interview with the newspaper that there are approximately 56, 000 abandoned government projects across the country. He listed them according to geopolitical zones. In his words,  “South-east has 15,000, South-west, 10,000: South-south, 11,000: North-west, 6,000: North-central, 7,000: North-east, 5,000 and Abuja, 2,000.” All these projects were estimated at N12trn. Earlier on March ...

The recent move by the Oyo State government to enforce the law banning noise pollution in the state is a commendable one.  Indeed, it’s long overdue. It will be recalled that in March this year the State House of Assembly had invited the Commissioner  for Environment and Water Resources,  Isaac Ishola and his counterpart from the  Information, Culture and Tourism Ministry  Toye Arulogun to explain why the law banning noise pollution is still being observed in breach. The duo explained their efforts and challenges and were informed by Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Michael Adeyemo to use the force of law to make defaulters to comply if dialogue is not yielding positive results. Section 58 of the Oyo State Environmental Sanitation and Waste Control Regulation (No. 6, Vol. 38 of 2013) is targeted at curbing noise pollution of religious houses and entertainment outfits. On August 15 this year, the two commissioners addressed the press to update ...