Public Affairs Analyst

“ …in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the various Federal Government committees that have reviewed socio-economic matters and the Nigeria Governors Forum, I have approved a phased and gradual easing of lockdown measures in FCT, Lagos and Ogun States effective from Monday, 4th May, 2020. However, this will be followed strictly with aggressive reinforcement of testing and contact tracing measures while allowing the restoration of some economic and business activities in certain sectors” — President Muhammadu Buhari in his third broadcast on COVID-19 on Monday, April 27, 2018. There has been a raging debate as well as speculations on what will be the key decision of the President when he eventually addressed the nation after a month-long lockdown of Lagos, Ogun and Federal Capital Territory. The argument is between two schools of thought. There are those who believe that rather than unlock the areas where there has been shutdown of activitie...

It’s my birthday. Hurray! I give glory to God for the grace, mercy and opportunity to celebrate another date of birth alive and in good health. I am not ungrateful of divine favour that has made me to emerge from a muddy background to becoming a notable newsmaker. In my short life, I have gone through trials and travails. I have contemplated suicide when I was failing English and Mathematics examinations in a record four times before making it at the fifth attempt (1985 – 1990). My family was so poor that even poor people in the neighborhood were calling us poor. While others were born with silver spoon, I was born with no spoon at all, not even a wooden one. My father was a primary school teacher and retired as a village headmaster in my hometown, Ile-Ogbo in Ayedire Local Government of Osun State. Mum was just a petty trader. My family migrated to Ibadan about 1964. Going to school was stressful. It was education with tears. I have to walk kilometers to and from school every day ...

The above question was posed to me on Monday, April 20, 2020 by the anchor of ‘Politics Today’ on Channels Television, Seun Okinbaloye. Well, I answered in the negative and I would advance my reasons for taking that position shortly. But before then, what really does a Chief of Staff to the President do? Information garnered from Wikipedia has it that “The White House chief of staff position is the successor to the earlier role of the President’s private secretary. The role was formalised as the assistant to the president in 1946 and acquired its current title in 1961. The current official title is Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff. The chief of staff is a political appointee of the president who does not require Senate confirmation, and who serves at the pleasure of the president. While not a legally required role, all presidents since Harry Truman have appointed chiefs of staff.” Specific to Nigeria, Wikipedia says “The Chief of Staff to the President is the senior ...

  “Fellow Nigerians, follow the instructions on social distancing. The irresponsibility of the few can lead to the death of the many” — President Muhammadu Buhari in his second nationwide broadcast on COVID-19 on Monday, April 13, 2020. For the second time in about a fortnight, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) on Monday evening addressed the nation in a broadcast on what his administration was doing to combat the coronavirus pandemic which crept into Nigeria in February 2020. Since he delivered his 60-paragraph speech, a lot of analyses have been done on it and I was privileged to have been interviewed on three media channels on the issue. On Tuesday, I was on the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Independent Television and Kapital 92.9 FM, to discuss the speech. I think the President did better in this second speech than the one he made on Sunday, March 29, 2020. He was more forthcoming with statistics and marshalled out what had been done, what ...

“As of today, subsidy/under-recovery is zero. Going forward, there will be no resort to either subsidy or under-recovery of any nature. The NNPC will just be another player in the market space. But we will be there for the country to sustain security of supply, at the cost of the market” – Mele Kyari, GMD of NNPC on Monday, April 6, 2020 The above quote was the cheering remark credited to the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Malam Mele Kyari. He allegedly said this during his interview on the African Independent Television programme called, “Moneyline with Nancy” on Monday, April 6, 2020. Another heartwarming news was the GMD’s claim that as of last Sunday, Nigeria produced 2.3 million barrels of crude oil, including condensates. Kyari said that the plan was for the country to ramp up production to three million barrels per day in no distant future. I really want to believe the NNPC GMD on his subsidy removal claim but I can’t. Procedurally, t...

“Based on the advice of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC, I am directing the cessation of all movements in Lagos and the FCT for an initial period of 14 days with effect from 11pm on Monday, March 30, 2020. This restriction will also apply to Ogun State due to its close proximity to Lagos and the high traffic between the two states.” –President Muhammadu Buhari in a national broadcast on March 29, 2020 Since Nigeria recorded its first positive case of coronavirus on February 27, 2020, many Nigerians called on the President to address the nation on his plans and strategies to contain the spread and ensure that the virus did not inflict maximum damage on our fragile country. Many compatriots are paranoid going by what other countries with better medical facilities than us such as Italy, Spain, Iran, China and the United States of America have been going through in dealing with the pandemic. Incidentally, though belatedly, the President did address the nation at 7pm on Mo...