Public Affairs Analyst

  Greetings from Ikot Ekpene where I and my egg-head colleagues have been building the capacity of state lawmakers from some of the South-East and South-South states in the last 10 days. The induction workshop was organised by the German International Non-Governmental Organisation, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in collaboration with the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies. The participants were appreciative as most of them are first-timers in the legislative assembly. Topics that they were taught include “The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as altered and the Concept of Separation of Powers”; “Legislative functions, process, power, ethics and privileges”, “Committees in the legislature: Composition essence, power of oversight and limitations in budget racking.” Other topics include: legislative agenda and benchmarking the activities of state Houses of Assembly, parliamentary protocol – standing orders, motions, debates and resolutions, intro...

A lot has happened in Nigeria in the last one week. Things are taking place at supersonic speed so much so that it’s becoming difficult to keep pace.  On June 13, the 10th National Assembly was inaugurated after the election of the presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives. There have also been suspensions of some powerful ‘bigwigs’ among them being the Central Bank of Nigeria’s governor, Godwin Emefiele and the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa. On June 19, a major shakeup took place in Nigeria’s security and defence sector as the service chiefs, Inspector-General of Police, the Comptroller General of Customs and leadership of some intelligence commands were sacked by President Bola Tinubu. He also approved the immediate dissolution of the governing boards of all Federal Government parastatals, agencies, institutions, and government-owned companies. The dissolution does not, however, affect boards, commissions and councils li...

  Painfully, I have asked you, my compatriots, to sacrifice a little more for the survival of our country. For your trust and belief in us, I assure you that your sacrifice shall not be in vain. The government I lead will repay you through massive investment in transportation infrastructure, education, regular power supply, healthcare and other public utilities that will improve the quality of lives – President Bola Tinubu’s first Democracy Day broadcast on June 12, 2023. Where were you 30 years ago was a challenge on social and broadcast media last Monday, June 12, 2023. Many who are old enough recounted their experience on Saturday, June 12, 1993 when the presidential election of the aborted Third Republic held. I was then an undergraduate student of the University of Lagos. Though I was of voting age then, I did not register to vote. I was however fully involved in the protests aimed at de-nullification of the presidential poll. I had started my practice of freelance journalis...

Politicians campaign in poetry, but they govern in prose – Mario Cuomo, 52nd Governor of New York President Bola Tinubu and 28 governors have been in office for barely one week and what a baptism of fire it has been for some of them. As predicted, there has been no honeymoon period for the newly inaugurated political leaders of the world’s largest black nation and Africa’s biggest economy. For the President, he has been slow in appointments but has been busy meeting different stakeholders as part of attempts to resolve the country’s hydra-headed challenges. He has met with security chiefs, ordering them to deal decisively with oil thieves and bandits. Unfortunately, at least 78 Nigerians have been killed and 12 abducted in violent attacks across the country in the first week of the President in office. The incidents happened in Rivers, Zamfara, Kaduna, Ogun, Sokoto, and the Federal Capital Territory. This was contained in data obtained from the Nigeria Security Tracker, a project ...