Public Affairs Analyst

  If there’s one area of governance that history will be kind to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), it’s in his initiative to fight drug abuse. Though National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, better known as NDLEA, has been in existence for over 30 years having been established by Decree No. 48 of December 29, 1989, the impact of the organisation hasn’t been felt as it has been in the last 20 months since Brigadier General Buba Marwa (retd.) was appointed as the chairman of the anti-narcotics agency. United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime says the illicit drug problem can be divided into three categories: first, those illicit drugs that are either produced or processed from natural plant products such as opium poppy: opium, morphine and heroin; secondly, synthetically produced illicit drugs, such as amphetamine; and thirdly, psychoactive pharmaceutical drugs that become illicit as a result of being diverted from licit uses or purposes. There’s no well-informe...

  That Nigeria’s economy is in bad shape is not in doubt. The entire global economy is either in recession or close to it. In every election across many democracies, the economy ranks high on the ‘to do’ list of candidates vying for elective offices, especially the presidency. I sincerely pity whoever will take over from the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in 2023. There will be no honeymoon for the next president as the situation in the country is very dire. It is almost a certainty that the incoming government at federal and sub-national levels will meet not only empty treasuries but a gargantuan debt profile. According to the June 9, 2022 edition of Nairametrics, the quarterly public debt portfolio report released by the Debt Management Office in June 2022 shows that “Nigeria’s total debt stock rose to N41.6 trillion in the first quarter of 2022, representing a N2.05 trillion increase compared to N39.56 trillion recorded as of December last year.” On August ...

  IT has often been said that if Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will definitely kill Nigeria. Time and again the media regale us with stories of mindboggling malpractices and sharp practices among which is mismanagement of resources. The latest is that which took place at the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund where payment vouchers of over N17 billion have allegedly been destroyed by termites and rain. The revelation was made on Monday, August 15, 2022 during the probe being conducted by the Senate Public Accounts Committee headed by Senator Matthew Urhoghide (Edo-South). The committee began its probe following a query by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation in its 2018 audit report. 50 different queries bordering on the alleged misappropriation of funds were reportedly raised against the agency. During his appearance before the Senate committee probing the agency, NSITF’s managing director, Michael Akabogu, was quoted as saying, “The container wher...

  Yesterday, August 9, 2022, Kenyans marched to the polls to elect their new set of political leaders. At the time of writing this on the day of the election, winners are yet to emerge although the odds favour veteran opposition leader, Raila Odinga, to get lucky after four previous failed attempts. This is because he has the backing of his foe-turned-friend and outgoing president, Uhuru Kenyatta, despite not belonging to the same political party. Aside from that, Raila was a former Prime Minister (2008 – 2013) in a power-sharing agreement after the 2007 electoral debacle that saw over a thousand people killed in post-election violence. Should the pundit fail in their prediction of a Raila victory, that will be the end of the road for the battle-weary opposition leader as this seems his last chance at clinching victory. He is 77-year-old and waiting for another five years will mean he will be recon-testing at 82. Definitely, he won’t be able to perform optimally even if he wins at ...

“The National Executive Council acknowledged the growing understanding of the issues and the groundswell of support for the union’s principled demand for a globally competitive university education in Nigeria. Nigerian universities must not be reduced to constituency projects that merely exist on paper, and our scholars must be incentivised to stay back and do what they know best, here in Nigeria.” – ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, in a press release on Monday, August 1, 2022 A piece of news in The PUNCH on Monday, August 1, 2022 caught my attention. It’s titled “N’Assembly proposes 63 new varsities, others, experts kick.”  The report has it that no fewer than 63 bills have been tabled before the Senate and the House of Representatives for the creation of new universities, polytechnics, colleges of education since the beginning of shutdown of activities in public tertiary institutions in the country in 2022. The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Academic Staff Un...