Public Affairs Analyst

  “The collapse in oil prices coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to plunge the Nigerian economy into a severe economic recession, the worst since the 1980s, according to the latest World Bank Nigeria Development Update” – World Bank in a release on June 25, 2020. What initially was predicted by the World Bank in June this year has now been officially confirmed by the National Bureau of Statistics. Nigeria has for the second time in five years slipped into economic recession, the worst in about 40 years. The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), had first hinted of this possibility during the presentation of the 2021 budget to the National Assembly on October 8, 2020.   On that day, the President highlighted a number of things such as significant increase in deficit beyond the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, following revenue pressures faced by the government; the persistent headwinds from the coronavirus pandemic; the resulting global ...

  Last week, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said he was going to stop the payment of pensions to his predecessors and former deputy governors of the state. He said this while presenting his 2021 Appropriation Bill to the Lagos State House of Assembly. He said that the aim of repealing the law was to free the state government of the legal obligations, saying it was a step to reduce the cost of governance. A news report in THISDAY of November 11, 2020 traced the genesis of what has become obnoxious rat race by governors to enjoy life pensions after leaving office.   The newspaper observed that Lagos State blazed the trail in 2007 when its then governor,   Ahmed Tinubu, at the twilight of his tenure, signed into law a bill earlier passed to provide pensions and other welfare benefits to former governors and their deputies beyond the package outlined for former political officeholders nationwide by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission. ...

  As an election expert with a root in Nigeria’s civil society, I often get invited to discuss both national and international elections on various media channels. What was however surprising to me was that the raft of invitations I got to discuss the 2020 US elections especially the presidential poll. Conservatively, I must have granted about 20 interviews on this year’s US presidential election with a record high seven interviews granted last Monday, November 9, 2020 to major TV and radio stations. What do the Nigerian media want to know about the US elections? They asked me about the lessons learnt, potential impact of Joe Biden’s presidency on Nigeria, nay Africa, likely economic implications of Biden’s presidency on Africa as well as what his emergence as the 46th US president meant for international relations and politics. No doubt, the victory of Biden and Kamala Harris as president-elect and vice president-elect after the nerve-wracking November 3, 2020 presidential poll ...

  On Tuesday, October 27, 2020, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), officially reappointed Prof. Mahmood Yakubu as the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission. In an official communication to the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, the President said he was making the appointment in consonance with the provisions of Section 154 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). This appointment has been widely commended. However, did the President fulfil all righteousness in making that appointment? NO! Section 154(3) of the Nigerian Constitution says, “In exercising his powers to appoint a person as Chairman or member of the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Judicial Service Council, the Federal Judicial Service Commission or the National Population Commission, the President shall consult the Council of State”.   To the best of my knowledge, the last Council of State meeting held in accordance...