Public Affairs Analyst

On Monday, April 16, 2012, the long awaited report of the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Agencies, Commissions and Parastatals headed by Mr. Stephen Oronsaye was submitted to President Goodluck Jonathan.  The committee which was inaugurated on August 18, 2011 was mandated to: study and review all previous reports on similar exercise; examine the enabling Acts of all MDAs and classify them into various sectors; examine critically their mandates and make appropriate recommendations to either restructure, merge or scrap; and, advise on any other matters, which may be relevant to the desire of government to prune the cost of governance. While summarizing his 800 page report, the committee noted that: “It is a fundamental breach of acceptable practice of good public sector governance to create a new agency or institution as a response to the seeming failure or poor performance of an existing agency in order to suit political or individu...

The formal announcement on Monday, March 19, 2012 by Central Bank of Nigeria suspending its much touted cashless policy is a welcome development and shows the apex bank as respecting public opinion on the volatile issue. It is not only the suspension of the take off of the policy till January 1, 2013 in other parts of the country that is heart-warming, the fact that the withdrawal and deposit limit was also increased from N150, 000 to N500, 000 for individuals and N1 million to N3 million for corporate entities also portray the CBN as a responsive and responsible institution. Other measure announced by CBN was the reduction in the processing fees to be paid by customers who may wish to deposit or withdraw more than the approved amount. The CBN’s plan to push Nigeria into a cashless society is aimed at reducing incidences of money laundering, terrorist financing and other economic and financial crimes. It is also aimed at lessening dependence on cash transactions while exposing bank cus...

We have not completely fulfilled our responsibility as parents until we bequeath to our children a love of books, a thirst for knowledge, a hunger for righteousness, an awareness of beauty, a memory of kindness, an understanding of loyalty, a vision of greatness and a good name. - William Arthur Ward Parenting is a very challenging obligation, no doubt. Child rearing is energy and purse sapping. Children’s needs are endless; they want comfort, attention and the best of everything money can buy. Modern civilizations have exposed them to a world of fantasies which many parents can ill-afford. William Arthur Ward in the opening quote imposed eight duties on parents: First is love of books. How have we fared as parents on this count? Statistics showed that there are over 10 million out of school children in Nigeria. Even those who are enrolled in schools, what manner of education are they exposed to? What is the quality of education imparted on our children? In Nigeria, public schools are...

" On this day, the 25th of March 2012, at 9:27 p.m., President Abdoulaye Wade, a candidate in the presidential election, called President Macky Sall to congratulate him for having won the election and to wish him good luck in his mission at the head of Senegal in the hopes that he will render the Senegalese happy. In this way, Senegal, through a transparent election, has once again proven that she remains a great democracy, a great country." – Spokesman to outgoing President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Serigne Mbacke Ndiaye. Following the precedent established by his predecessor in office, President Abdoulaye Wade last Sunday, March 25, after a bitter but peaceful run-off presidential election, conceded defeat to his protégé and former Prime Minister Macky Sall who had defeated him by a margin of 65.80 percent to 34.20 percent. This rare gesture was first exhibited by former Senegalese President, Abdou Diouf on March 19, 2000 after the presidential runoff between him and the...

There is no gainsaying that Nigerian government and its officials have penchant for waste. The evidence of this abounds in the way we utilize public resources. Public edifices and utilities are often treated with disdain. One of such is our stadia that dot Nigerian landscape. These recreational monuments are built with enormous resources but are hardly maintained after completion. Sport is under the concurrent legislative list hence as there are national stadiums, there are also state owned stadia as well as township sporting arenas. Before the construction of the Abuja National Stadium between 2000 and 2003, there was National Stadium, Lagos which alongside Liberty stadium in Ibadan provided play ground for many international football and other sporting competitions either being hosted by Nigeria or in which the country is participating. Today, these stadia no longer host sporting fiestas but have turned to pepper soup joints where night crawlers now feed their stomachs rather than ...

I could have died on the night of December 15, 2011. I had hoped for a direct flight to Ibadan or an afternoon flight to Lagos en-route Ibadan for the final burial rite of my late mother-in-law. Unfortunately, there was no direct flight from Abuja to the ancient city that fateful day and by the time I got to the airport; the only available flight to Lagos was for 6pm. I grudgingly bought the ticket but there was another hour delay before take- off. Eventually, I got to Lagos around 8pm and by the time I navigated the Lagos traffic to the Ojodu -Berger Motor Park, it was past 9pm. I eventually got on an Ibadan bound vehicle which unknown to me does not have sufficient fuel for the journey and secondly, was not in good condition as it had problem with the carburetor. The vehicle bought black market fuel at Ogere, shortly after, it started to break down. It did that four times on that very dangerous Lagos – Ibadan expressway and each time we have to come down to push the bus to start, ri...

“ We want to make sure that we conduct election in Nigeria without the police, we want to conduct election without security people carrying guns, we want a situation where Nigerians will queue up, vote and go back home, the votes are counted and nobody is cheated so that at the end of elections, there will not be all kinds of litigations.” –President Goodluck Jonathan in Calabar on 21 February 2012. Our dear president really means well for our democracy; he is making serious effort at leaving a lasting political legacy for Nigeria. He strives to be a statesman. Last year, he mooted the idea of a single term of six or seven years for president and governors in order to cut the cost of electioneering as well as remove the distraction usually engendered by pursuit of second term. In 2012, he is already eyeing the conduct of elections in Nigeria without the assistance of police and other security agencies. Beautiful, wishing thinking I dare say. Security has been an issue in Nigerian ele...