Public Affairs Analyst

The growing religious and ethnic intolerance being displayed in Nigeria is both scary and heart-rending. Some clerics now openly call for jungle justice against Fulani cattle herders and Islamic jihadists. To justify his call for Christians to bear arms, one of the pastors quoted Luke 22:36 where Jesus told his disciples that “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” Another said the fight between David and Goliath was not a fiction and as such Christians should be ready to fight. But doesn’t the Bible say in 2 Corinthians 10:4 that, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds”? If indeed Jesus’ speech in Luke 22:36 was to be taken literarily, why did he rebuke Peter at the  Garden of Gethsemane, when he slashed the  ear of Malchus, one of the priests’ servants with a sword? Jesus ordered Peter in Matthew 26:52 to “Put up again thy sword into ...

You possibly have seen the picture of black people lined up by a wall in a place supposedly in Libya. It was said that many of them are Nigerians who are about to be shot for illegally migrating into Libya.   Two friends sent it to me on WhatsApp. This was what the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa was reacting to last Monday when she said “While the authenticity of the pictures and tapes in question cannot be verified, it is a known fact that Libya has been executing alleged black illegal immigrants for years.” That North African country has also been deporting Nigerians back home steadily for some time now. I have seen footage of many dead persons in the Sahara Desert as they tried in vain to illegally migrate through North Africa into Europe. Virtually every week, there are reports of many Nigerians and people of African descent who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to illegally migrate from Libya to Europ...

Today, January 18, 2017 marks the last day of legitimacy of Yahaya Jammeh as the President of The Gambia. From tomorrow, Thursday, January 19, the megalomaniac dictator who calls himself His Excellency, Sheikh, Professor, Alhaji, Doctor ceases to be the president of his country. Since 1994 when he ousted the first president of The Gambia, Sir Dawda Jawara in a coup as a Lieutenant, Jammeh has ruled his country with iron hand and a lot of repression. He curtailed human rights and was fingered in a lot of atrocities including drug and arms trafficking. He has won four controversial presidential elections but surprisingly lost his fifth attempt on December 1, 2016. Though he initially conceded defeat and actually called to congratulate the opposition candidate, Adama Barrow, Jammeh changed his mind a week later and unilaterally declared the election which he has initially praised as being rigged-proof, null and void. Though he did not declare himself the winner of the poll, he has cal...

“Today’s Federal Executive Council approved the procurement of some fire-fighting equipment. The last time equipment were procured was sometime in 1996.The equipment in the inventory today were those procured between 1985 and 1996, and since then there was no procurement.” -   Interior Minister, Lt. Gen.   Abdulrahman Dambazzau (Retd.) on January 4, 2017. When I heard the above statement in the news last Wednesday, I shuddered. This is flabbergasting! For twenty years Nigeria did not improve or increase the paraphernalia of the Federal Fire Service. Yet, many of us tongue lash and molest firemen when they come late for rescue operation or are unable to deal efficiently and effectively with emergency situation when summoned. We do these in anger and ignorance of the numerous challenges this very important government agency has to contend with. I was quite aware that things are bad with the country’s Federal Fire Service but I never knew it’s this deplorable. This is a...

It’s a brand new year. Congratulations to compatriots and readers across the globe on the successful crossover into 2017. The fad is for individuals to set resolutions and for corporate bodies and governments to have plan for every New Year. As is well known, Nigeria is in economic recession and pulling the country out of that quagmire remains a daunting challenge. I have been reflecting on how this beloved country can overcome this Herculean task. Fair enough, the federal government has set out details of what it wants to do to revamp the economy in its N7.3tn budget estimates for 2017 which is currently before the National Assembly. However, even if the FG gets everything right, without a corresponding unflinching support from other tiers of government, the country will not get out of her economic doldrums. In my estimation, there are about three things that need to happen before Nigerians will start to experience better life. The first is the imperative of cooperation among t...

Jide Ojo is a development consultant, author and public affairs analyst. In this interview with CHIJIOKE NELSON of The Guardian, he noted that apart from the oil crisis-induced economic challenges, wrong policy options and erratic changes worsened the situation. How would you describe the business outlook at the beginning of 2016? At the beginning of 2016, there were a lot of promises by government to improve the business climate, especially the ‘Ease of Doing Business’. However, the sourcing of foreign exchange, the floating exchange rate, the high interest rate on loans, the lingering challenge of availability and affordability of electricity, the soaring incidences of crimes and criminality, and the slipping of Nigeria’s economy into recession, have all impacted negatively on the country’s business environment. This year, there are more businesses, which shut down than new ones created. There was a lot of divestment. This has worsened unemployment and poverty in the country. In ...