Public Affairs Analyst

  There are only two Catholic priests I respect their views on politics and governance in Nigeria. They are Bishop Matthew Kukah and Rev Fr George Ehusani. These two clerics are fiery advocates for justice, human rights and good governance. They speak truth to power. They are the conscience of the nation. While Fr. Ehusani heads Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, Kukah is the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.   Kukah was in his element again last Sunday when he delivered a five-page Christmas message which was very critical of the incumbent regime in Nigeria. His 22-paragraph homily titled “Nigeria: Let us turn a new page” has something in it for everyone. Expectedly, it has been generating a lot of furore in the public space. I was a member of the three-man panel of discussants that reviewed the Bishop’s speech on Politics Today anchored by award-winning journalist, Seun Okinbaloye on Channels TV last Monday, December 26, 2022. Who’s Kukah? Kellogg Institute for Internationa...

  Water is life is a popular axiom. There’s practically nothing one can do in this life that does not involve the use of water. If it’s not for drinking, the essential product is needed for washing and sanitation. It is vital for both domestic and industrial uses. Make no mistake about it, every living organism needs water to survive. The existence of man, animals, and plants depends on water. It is unimaginable if there could ever be life without water. Despite the existence of streams, rivers, oceans, well, borehole and rain, water is still very scarce in many communities especially during the dry season as we are now. Many water sources have dried up as a result of hot weather conditions. In places where there is drought, vegetation has withered, animals are dying and human existence is also threatened. There have been stories of people who do not have easy access to water having to drink their own urine! The lack of water impacts negatively on sanitation and hygiene. It is a ...

  Since I started working in the development sector in 1998, I have been very passionate about the socio-economic and political emancipation of women. I have conducted several researches for women-focused non-governmental organisations such as Women’s Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre and Nigeria Women Trust Fund to mention a few. I have equally been involved in capacity building and advocacy for these groups. It is very saddening that Nigeria has the lowest female representation in governance in Africa, if not in the world. We have only a sprinkle of women elected into national and state houses of assembly. Among the ministers, commissioners and heads of government departments and agencies, the number of women in leadership positions is very abysmal. For instance, there are only seven women in the 43-member cabinet of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). The number at the state level is worse. Las...

  According to Wikipedia, midterm elections in the United States are the general elections that are held near the midpoint of a president’s four-year term of office on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The 2022 midterm polls were held on November 8, 2022. Federal offices that were up for election include all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate, i.e.   35 seats out of 100. In addition, 34 of the 50 U.S. states elect their governors for a four-year term during midterm elections, while Vermont and New Hampshire elect governors for a two-year term in both midterm and presidential elections. Thus, 36 governors are elected during midterm elections. Many states also elect officers to their state legislatures in midterm years. There are also elections held at the municipal level. On the ballot are many mayors, other local public offices, and a wide variety of citizen initiatives. Historically, midterm elections often see ...

  According to the International Growth Centre, a global research Centre, “Well-functioning democratic structures and strong political governance are central to economic development. However, a lack of information about elections in younger democracies can weaken the accountability of elected politicians and, consequently, decision-making.” Political information can be difficult to access in developing countries because of fledgling democratic structures and poor media penetration. Citizens may vote for candidates with little knowledge of their policy stances, qualifications, previous performance, or potential remit.   The IGC research in Ghana and Sierra Leone revealed that “voters showed improved awareness of specific candidates, their policies, and general political knowledge for several weeks after viewing a debate.” Furthermore, “participants reported that debates helped inform their choices at the ballot box. They were more likely to vote for candidates who shared their ...

  Introduction On Wednesday, October 26, 2022 at a media briefing the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele announced the redesigning of some of the banknotes. He hinged the apex banks decision on the powers conferred on it by Section 2 (b) of the CBN Act 2007. According to Emefiele, currency management by CBN has faced a number of challenges for some time now. This include: Significant hoarding of banknotes by members of the public, with statistics showing that over 85 percent of currency in circulation are outside the vaults of commercial banks. At the end of September 2022, available data at the CBN indicate that N2.73tn out of the N3.23tn currency in circulation, was outside the vaults of Commercial Banks across the country; and supposedly held by the public. This, to my own mind, is indicative that Nigerians have not fully accepted the cashless policy of the Central Bank. Other challenges are: Worsening shortage of clean and fit banknotes with attendant nega...

  A September 19, 2022 press release by Nigeria’s Debt Management Office put the total public debt stock, representing the domestic and external debt stocks of the Federal Government, 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory at N42.84tn ($103.31bn) as at June 30, 2022. This has been a source of worry for financial experts who believe that though the country’s debt to Gross Domestic Product may be relatively low and tolerable, debt to revenue ratio has been a major concern as the country has not been meeting its income projections across the economic spectrum. In order to defray the revenue shortfall, the country has persistently relied on borrowing. For instance, the proposed 2023 Budget of Fiscal Consolidation and Transition submitted to the National Assembly on October 7, 2022 came with a deficit of N10.78tn, which represents 4.78 per cent of estimated GDP and above the three per cent threshold set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007. According to the President,...

  “Politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose.”- Mario Matthew Cuomo, American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York. Last week, I was in five out of the six South-West states (except Lagos) on what I tagged political evangelism. As a consultant on Democracy and Good Governance, I sometimes get opportunities to build the capacity of actors and stakeholders in the sector ranging from political party chieftains, staff of election management bodies viz. the Independent National Electoral Commission and State Independent Electoral Commissions, Civil Society Organisations, media practitioners, security agents, lawmakers at both federal and state levels as well as the electorate.   I was on one of such assignments last week when the Nigeria Women Trust Fund organised training for selected campaign promises trackers in Ekiti and Osun states.   What informed the choice of the two states was the fact that they just had new governors in ...

  It comes with the season but I had thought things will be different now after 23 years of having successive elections in this Fourth Republic, more so, for the first time since the establishment of the National Peace Committee in 2015, the wise men deemed it fit to have a peace accord signed before the commencement of the campaigns rather than at the eve of the elections when the bad deeds must have been done. So on September 29, 2022, barely three weeks ago, at a well-attended event in Abuja, all presidential candidates and their party chairmen signed Peace Pact wherein they promised to have issue-based campaign and eschew violence. Unfortunately, recent development in Nigeria’s polity is very disconcerting. As against the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022, which says there shall be no use of intemperate and abusive language during the campaigns, we have all sorts of name-calling such as a political party being described as a “party of termites” and saying that members of a...

  It is heartrending and most unfortunate that many states in Nigeria are at present ravaged by floods. Recently, the Director General, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, said the agency had identified 233 local government areas in 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory that would experience flooding in 2022. He spoke at a national consultative workshop on 2022 Flood Preparedness, Mitigation and Response organised by the agency in Abuja. This followed the 2022 Seasonal Climate Prediction released by Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the Annual Flood Outlook released by Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency. In early September, NEMA DG revealed that flash floods across Nigeria had affected about 508,000 people, killing about 372, injuring 277 and destroying 37,633 houses aside from farmlands and livestock lost, within the last eight months. Given what has happened in the last two weeks, the casualty figures and number of internally displaced persons have...

  Introduction Today, October 12, 2022 marks the 32 nd anniversary of my inadvertent voyage into media advocacy and also a decade of my being a columnist with the highly influential The PUNCH newspaper. Not only that, it’s the 30 th anniversary of my advocacy via electronic media. Thus, it’s triple celebrations! As I said severally, Prof. OBC Nwolise formerly of the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan nudged me into media advocacy way back in 1988. Then, I was a student of Extra Mural Studies organised by the Adult Education Department of the premier university. It however took me two years to summon courage to start writing for newspapers. My first “Letter to the Editor” titled “Complete Iwopin Paper Mill” was a mere one paragraph reproduced below: Complete Iwopin Paper Mill Daily Sketch, Friday, 12 October, 1990. (Page 2) When I got to know that the Iwopin Paper Mill had gulped about N300 million naira and yet remained in its embryonic stage, producing...