Public Affairs Analyst

“Now that our people in the rural areas are going back to their farms, and the country has saved huge sums of money which would otherwise have been expended on importing rice using our scarce foreign reserves. We cannot allow smuggling of the product at such alarming proportions to continue” –President Muhammadu Buhari to his Beninois counterpart, Patrice Talon, on the margins of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference for African Development, in Yokohama, Japan On August 20, 2019, President Mhammadu Buhari ordered a partial closure of Nigeria’s land borders in order to check smuggling of contrabands into the country. The banned items include rice, secondhand clothing materials and poultry products among others. Opinions are divided among Nigerians on the propriety or otherwise of that action. I have said on several platforms that though the decision is laudable, it is not far-reaching. It is true that no sane country will allow its market to be flooded with products of doub

There is a raging debate about how best Nigeria can reduce considerably the cost of governance. Opinions have been offered by the immediate past governor of Imo State, now a serving senator, Rochas Okorocha, and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State on what to do with the National Assembly. The Federal Government weighed in last Wednesday when it issued a circular with immediate effect on travel restrictions for heads of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Okorocha fired the first salvo when he called for the reduction in the number of senators from three to one per state and House of Representatives members to three per each state. He said this while contributing to the debate on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper preceding the 2020 budget during plenary. While contributing to the debate, Fayemi rather advocated the scrapping of the Senate in order to save cost and reduce financial burden on the government. He also called for the adoption of the

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 sent a letter to the Senate, seeking its approval for the payment of N10bn to Kogi State. Buhari, in the letter, addressed to the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan said the money would be used by the state government to settle local debts it incurred as a result of the projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government. Buhari said his request was based on the resolution passed by the eighth Senate.   He noted that 24 out of 25 state governments had received the approval of the National Assembly for the settlement of claims on projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government since the eighth Senate passed the resolution. He added that N10.069bn was the outstanding amount due to Kogi State Government which is the only state yet to receive a refund. The Senate President referred Buhari’s request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts for further legislative work. The big question is why is Kogi State the

“More than $1bn seized from Mr. Abacha’s bank accounts has been returned. But many African states have not helped their cause, often because thieving politicians are still in charge. When Switzerland returned $500m of Mr Abacha’s money, most of it disappeared again.” – The Economist Magazine of October 10, 2019 When in 2016 former UK Prime Minister, David Cameron in a conversation with the Queen of England described Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt” many Nigeria excoriated the former British leader. However, growing evidences have confirmed this. The latest of such is the report in The Economist Magazine of October 10, 2019 which revealed that about $582bn has been stolen from Nigeria since independence in 1960. This was according to Chatham House, a British think-tank which was quoted in an article published by magazine titled, ‘Catch me if you can, African kleptocrats are finding it tougher to stash cash in the West’. At least N11tn is said to have been divert

On October 3, 2019, in Abuja the Centre for Legislative Engagement of the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth & Advancement better known as YIAGA Africa, a non-governmental organization publicly presented the “Scorecard of the 8 th National Assembly”. I was privileged to be among the august gathering. Immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega led the team of researchers to understudy the performance of the Bukola Saraki led Senate and Yakubu Dogara led House of Representatives. The 117-page report was an eye opener to the operations of the Eight National Assembly. The study drew its data from secondary and primary sources. Secondary data were sourced from books, journals, committee reports (sessional and legacy reports), records of proceedings, Hansards and other official documents of NASS. Primary data were generated through in-depth interviews, survey using structured questionnaires, and Focus Group Discussions. A tot

  “ Ultimately, Nigeria must urgently reform, operate true federalism and organise to allow for peaceful resolution or separation. There is nothing sacrosanct about a political contraption, which Nigeria is. The amicable separation and success of the Czech and Slovakia Republics prove this. There is no viable alternative to restructuring and unless we make the right choices, an untidy implosion is neither far-fetched nor too far away. Far from being celebration time, this is a time to act to save the tottering edifice” – The PUNCH Editorial, October 1, 2019. Happy 59th Independence anniversary compatriots! Congratulating ourselves is still in order despite our numerous developmental challenges. This is indeed a time for sober reflection, as the President said in his Independence Day speech. Nigeria, truth be told, is a failing country. The country’s leadership has failed the citizens. Grand corruption, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, indiscipline and culture of impunity have b