Public Affairs Analyst

  Last week’s cabinet reshuffle by President Bola Tinubu has generated a lot of mixed reactions. While many saw it as a masterstroke, others are either indifferent or knock the move as being underwhelming. I have had the privilege of discussing the shuffle on about 20 media platforms 13 of which were on the day after the announcement. All the major broadcast media (radio and television) and print wanted to know my position on the president’s decision, so I graciously obliged. This piece chronicles my thoughts on the president’s decision to overhaul his cabinet. The takeoff point is the announcement of the decision which was on the evening of Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser, Information and Strategy for the President announced on his X-handle that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the immediate implementation of eight far-reaching actions to reinvigorate the administration’s capacity for optimal efficiency pursuant to his commitment to deliver on ...

  “Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.”   - Jonathan Swift. Cambridge online dictionary defines the word impunity as “freedom from punishment or from the unpleasant results of something that has been done”.   Over time, I have been reflecting about Nigeria’s underdevelopment status despite our great potentials. Many say our problem is leadership, others think it is followership. Not a few have also identified corruption, nepotism, lack of rule of law, tribalism, incompetence, self-aggrandisement, religious bigotry, indolence and the likes as our bane. While I agree with this school of thought, I am of the considered view that impunity trumps all the other aforementioned factors or variables. There is a cliché from George Orwell’s classic, “Animal Farm” which says all animals are equal but some are more equal than the others. Crimes and criminality are global phenomenon. They are two evils that defy clime and cre...

  Despite not holding a press conference, I may have set a record of highest number of interviews in one day, perhaps in Nigeria. Most of the interviews were on President Tinubu’s Cabinet Reshuffle of yesterday.   Wow! It feels good. Asorogbayi, gentleman of the press! Check this out! 1.      Radio Now 95.3 Lagos 2.      Raypower 100.5 FM Network 3.      Law FM 103.9 Lagos 4.      Nigerian Television Authority   5.      Daily Trust 6.      Arise News TV 7.      True Vision TV 8.      TV 360 9.      Blueprint 10. The Guardian 11. Voice of the People TV (VOP) 12. Global TV 13. Citizen 93.7 FM Abuja

According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics: “The history of modern Banking in Nigeria dates back to 1892 with the establishment of the African Banking Corporation in Lagos. In 1894, the Bank of British West Africa (now First Bank) took over the Africa Banking Corporation. The Bank for British West Africa remained the only bank in Nigeria until 1912 when Barclays Bank (now Union Bank) was set up. Subsequently, other banks came on-stream. Until 1959, the banking industry in Nigeria was largely unregulated. Thus, there were no reliable and organised data on the monetary sub-sector. As the country approached independence, the Central Bank of Nigeria was founded, on 1st July, 1959. According to Section 4 of the 1958 CBN Ordinance, one of the principal objectives of the bank is “to promote monetary stability and a sound financial structure in Nigeria”. Privatisation and commercialisation happened early for the Nigeria’s banking sector. Owing bank accounts was elitist until 1990s. Recal...

In the vast arena of the Nigerian media space, where voices rise and fall with the tide of public discourse, Jide Ojo affectionately known as Asorogbayi, stands as a towering figure defined by integrity, fearlessness, and an unwavering commitment to truth. There's hardly any media analyst more engaged  in Nigeria than Jide Ojo. Today, we celebrate not just his career but a pivotal moment in the history of Nigerian journalism 34 years of tireless writing and 12 years as a columnist with The PUNCH, one of Nigeria’s most influential newspapers. In an era where media narratives can easily be swayed, Jide has become a beacon of clarity and reason. Since October 2012, his incisive commentaries have shaped public opinion, with over 1,500 thought-provoking columns that inform and challenge readers to think critically about governance, leadership, and societal issues. His words resonate deeply, transforming complex topics into accessible insights for all Nigerians. Jide's influence exte...

  Since the return to civil rule in 1999, Rivers State, the acclaimed treasure base of Nigeria, has had five governors namely Peter Odili, Celestine Omehia, Chibuike Amaechi, Nyesom Wike, and now Simnalayi Fubara. The first major political crisis in the state happened in 2006 during the Peoples Democratic Party governorship nomination for the 2007 election. Ameachi had won the primary but ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo said his victory had k-leg–whatever that means–and as such, Ameachi was denied the party nomination, and the ticket was unjustly given to Celestine Omehia who did not participate in the PDP primary election. The Supreme Court nullified Omehia’s election on October 25, 2007, and asked that Amaechi be sworn in as governor. It was what the lawyers call locus classicus. It was unprecedented for someone who did not campaign to be declared winner of the election and be asked to be sworn in ‘immediately’. The apex court reasoned that when people vote at elections, they ar...

Nigeria has had 16 Presidents and Heads of State since independence in 1960. Each of them has contributed incrementally to nation building. However, while we are not where we were at independence we are not where we ought to be in the comity of nations. We failed to meet any of the eight Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations and we are not on course to meeting any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals barely six years to the end date in 2030. We have set many targets such as Health and Education for All by 2010. Vision 20:2020 was to make us part of the twenty most industrialised countries by 2020, however, they all turned out to be a mirage. The Tinubu administration which kick started 16 months ago came with the mantra of eight broad Renewed Hope Agenda. Unfortunately, with the rising cost of living occasioned by the removal of subsidy from petrol and the floating of the naira which is our national currency, Nigerians now live in an Hobessian state painted by the...

  “The world is witnessing and benefiting from the can-do spirit of the Nigerian people, our massive intellectual capacity, and our enterprise and industry in all vocations, from arts to science, technology to infrastructure. The dreams that our founding fathers envisaged are still a work in progress. Every day, we put our hands on the plough, determined to do a better job of it.” – President Tinubu in his 64th independence anniversary speech yesterday, October 1, 2024. I listened to the 22-minutes’ national broadcast of President Bola Tinubu yesterday. While it had some soundbites and generally updated the citizenry on the state of play about our country, it fell short of the expectations of many compatriots. Before I address the missing gaps, here are some of the highlights of the president’s second independence day speech since inauguration on May 29, 2023. On the security front, the president said his administration is winning the war on terror and banditry. He said the ta...

  Introduction President Bola Tinubu signed into law N70,000 as the new national minimum wage on Monday, July 29, 2024 after the bill was expeditiously passed into law by the National Assembly. Hitherto, the minimum wage was N30,000. It was also agreed that due to inflationary trends, the new national minimum wage will be reviewed every three years rather than the statutory five years. This was no mean achievement for the Nigerian labour unions. They had hitherto asked for N250,000 but had to settle for N70,000 when government said that is the only condition that will make it not to increase the price of petrol. Unfortunately, despite this gentleman agreement, the Federal Government recently jerked up the price of petrol to above N800 per litre. Recall that on January 30, 2024 a 37-man Tripartite Committee to negotiate the new national minimum wage was inaugurated. It was headed by a former Head of Service of the Federation, Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji. The committee submitted its re...

  I am a psephologist, an election expert. I have had the privilege of being an accredited election observer both in Nigeria and abroad. In Nigeria, I have had the rare privilege of observing elections since the return to civil rule in 1999. Outside of Nigeria, I have been an accredited observer of the Ghanaian presidential run-off election in 2008, the US midterm election in 2010, the Egyptian election in 2014, and the Ugandan election in 2016. Election is a rule-based endeavour and an emotive exercise, especially for candidates, their political parties, and the electorate. Edo State has had a chequered history of elections, and it happens to be one of the eight states where the judiciary has fostered off-cycle governorship elections in Nigeria. Others are Imo, Ondo, Anambra, Kogi, Bayelsa, Ekiti, and Osun. Edo is a volatile state politically. The electorate in the state is politically savvy. They tend to rebel against godfather politics. Information gleaned from the website o...

  President Bola Tinubu is the 16th president of Nigeria. He said that becoming the president of this great nation has been his lifelong ambition. Many of us saw him as the right man for the job given his pedigree as a former senator, governor of Lagos State, a private sector senior management staff and a business mogul. The president has been in the saddle for 16 months now and I daresay many Nigerians are wondering if we voted right last year. The rising cost of living has brought about excruciating pain to most Nigerians; no thanks to the twin policy of subsidy removal and floating Nigeria’s currency, the naira. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that all measures of inflation rate rose in June 2024, albeit at a slower pace. Headline inflation increased to 34.2 per cent in June 2024 from 22.8 per cent in June 2023 and 34.0 per cent in May 2024. The inflationary pressures remain driven by currency depreciation, with the official exchange rate averaging N1471/US$ in June...

  There is no gainsaying the fact that we are in a season of anomie in Nigeria. The country is being buffeted by insecurity of diverse ilk—kidnapping, armed robbery, ritual murder, arson, etcetera. The cost of living crisis has made my compatriots turn beggars. What has kept many alive is hope for a better tomorrow. Life has thrown lemons to many Nigerians and rather than sulk in self-pity, they decided to make lemonade out of it. Today, on this page, I want to celebrate the indomitable spirit of Nigerians. Their never-say-die attitude to problem-solving. Yes, the situation is terrible, but agonising over it is never going to make the situation better. It’s this understanding that has made many Nigerians embark on a voyage of discovery. Look at the Nigerian multi-billion-dollar entertainment industry. Thespians like Chief Hubert Ogunde, Duro Ladipo, Ola Omonitan, Akin Ogungbe, Tunbosun Odunsi, Adeyemi Afolayan (Ade Love) and Moses Olaiya (Baba Sala) played a pioneering role befor...