Public Affairs Analyst

  Since news broke about the Federal Executive Council’s approval of the implementation of Steve Oronsaye report on the merger and acquisition of Ministries Department and Agencies on Monday, February 26, 2024, I have granted several media interviews on the subject matter. The approval for implementation is a welcome but belated decision. It should have been one of the first things President Bola Tinubu would do shortly after his inauguration. Furthermore, it is not going to be far-reaching enough to reduce the rising cost of governance in Nigeria. According to this newspaper report in yesterday’s edition, 12 years after it received the Stephen Oronsaye report, the Federal Government, on Monday, approved the implementation of some of its recommendations to reduce the cost of governance. Consequently, 29 government agencies will be merged even as eight parastatals will be subsumed into eight other agencies. More so, four agencies have been relocated to four various ministries, whi...

  I have been a staunch advocate of state police despite the concerns raised in some quarters about the propensity of governors to grossly abuse the security outfit if created. Even the rank of Nigerian governors was divided on whether or not to establish state police. The southern governors were fully in support of this initiative, but their northern counterparts were not so enthusiastic initially. Thus, out of frustration, South-West governors of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Osun decided to establish the South-West Security Network, better known as Amotekun Corps, in January 2020. On Monday, February 12, 2024, governors elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party met in Abuja and issued a communique in which they called for the establishment of state police with appropriate safeguards to prevent abuse. Earlier this month, the Lagos State House of Assembly also passed a resolution calling for the establishment of state police. Even this newspaper, in a Febru...

  St. Valentine’s Day otherwise known as Lovers Day has come a long way. According to History.com, the Catholic Church recognises at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realising the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Still others insist that it was Saint Valentine of Terni, a bishop, who was the true namesake of the holiday. He, too, was beheaded by Claudius II outside Rome. Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. Ac...

  Introduction Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says security and welfare of the citizens shall be the primary purpose of government. In 2024, neither of these two are being enjoyed by Nigerians. Compatriots feel unsafe in their own country and as for welfare, it’s a case of what legendary Afrobeat musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti call “Suffering and smiling”. Once upon a time, armed robbery, kidnapping and other crimes were largely restricted to the urban centres with many promising to run and hide in their villages from night marauders and criminals. Sadly, nowhere is safe any longer. The grassroot, I mean people in the communities, are facing so much unrest from criminal elements that they are now leaving their ancestral land in droves to seek refuge in towns and cities that have no succour for them. Truth be told, Nigeria is fast sliding to what the great political philosopher, Thomas Hobbes described in his 1651 famous book titled L...

I was in Lagos, the State of Aquatic Splendour, last weekend from February 1 – 4, 2024. A non-governmental organisation, Peace and Development Project, had organised a three-day capacity-building retreat for the Department of Dispute and Conflict Resolution of the Niger Delta Development Commission and I was one of the resource persons. I presented a paper titled “Peace as a multistakeholder enterprise.” Other resource persons included: Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy of the University of Lagos who presented on “Communication and Interpersonal Conflict Management – Increasing Self-Awareness: Power Perspective”; Dr Tunde Akanni, Associate Professor at the Department of Mass Communication, Lagos State University presented on “NDDC and the imperatives of Multi-Track Diplomacy,” while Osaze Nosaze, Director Projectworks of Xrimedia and Francis Abayomi who is the Director of PEDEP jointly presented on “How to make impact in Disputes and Conflict Resolution.” As the popular axiom says, “All work and...