Public Affairs Analyst

  “ When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Refrain: Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one; And it will surprise you what the Lord   hath done” -         Author: Johnson Oatman, Jr. I am not unhappy to be alive. To have lived for fifty-five years on mother earth, especially in a challenging environment like Nigeria calls for celebration. In the last one year since I last celebrated my birthday, a new government has been inaugurated with economic policies that have seen to rising cost of living. My living standard, like those of most of my compatriots, have dropped significantly. I have never borrowed to live as I have had to do recently, no thanks to paucity of consultancy opp...

  The National Assembly has set in motion committees to further alter the 1999 Constitution. President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, on February 14, 2024, constituted a 45-member Committee on Constitution Review chaired by the Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau. The House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review had already issued a Call for Memoranda, enjoining Nigerians to submit memoranda or proposals for further amendments to the constitution on a variety of thematic areas, including the Nigeria Police and security architecture, public revenue, fiscal federation and revenue allocation, judicial reforms, electoral reforms, traditional institutions, gender-related issues, process of state creation, state access to mining, among others, as well as any other matter that will promote good governance and welfare of all persons in the country on the principles of freedom, equality and justice. I had wished for an exercise that would be driven by the executive...

  For some time now, a group of dissidents have been gathering under the platform of Yoruba Nation Agitators. On Sunday, May 28, 2023, people suspected of being members of the Yoruba Nation agitators reportedly hijacked Amuludun 99.1 FM in Ibadan around 6am that day. Amuludun FM is a community station owned by the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. Seven of the agitators were arrested and charged to court by the Oyo State Government. Emboldened by that previous successful attack, members of the group last Saturday, April 13, 2024, invaded Oyo State Government House and the state House of Assembly in Ibadan and attempted to hoist their flag and take over the premises. However, the combined efforts of the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Army and Amotekun Corps foiled their sinister attempt with 21 of them arrested. According to this newspaper in its yesterday, April 16 edition, The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Hazmat Adebola, on Monday, April 15 paraded 21 suspected Yoruba Nation ...

  On April 4, 2024, civil society organisations on the platform of the West Africa Civil Society Institute with funding support from the Ford Foundation met in Lagos to find a lasting solution to the threat to democracy in the West Africa sub-region. I was one of the participants at the august event. The meeting came on the heels of a similar one held in Accra in November 2023 and on March 11, 2024, with the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States. At the one-day roundtable were representatives of civil society organisations from Anglophone and francophone West Africa such as Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Niger Republic, Senegal and Burkina Faso. A scene-setter presentation on “Socio-political and Economic Context of Democracy in West Africa” was made by Ikemesit Effiong of SBM Intelligence, Nigeria. Keen observers of West Africa’s political crisis will know that there is a worrisome trend in the sub-region as it is classified as the “coup belt” of Africa, having wi...

  Health is wealth so says a popular adage. Out of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, at least two of them are health-related. Goal 3 says, “Good health and well-being” while Goal 6 speaks to “clean water and sanitation.” Truth be told, Nigeria’s health services are largely in disarray. Doctors, Nurses and other health workers in public health institutions are overworked and underpaid. No wonder many of them voted with their feet and emigrated to Europe, America, the Middle East, including other African countries to ply their trade. An October 20, 2022 report in Premium Times quoted the then President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Uche Rowland, as having said at a symposium, “One doctor is available to treat 30,000 patients in some southern states, while in the North, it is one doctor to 45,000 patients. In some rural areas, patients have to travel more than 30km from their abodes to get medical attention where available; thus making access to healthcare ...