Public Affairs Analyst

The Nigeria Immigration Service has come a long way since it was carved out of the Nigeria Police Force in 1958. The Immigration Department, as it was known then, was entrusted with the core immigration duties under the headship of the Chief Federal Immigration Officer. During this period, only the Visa and Business Sections were set up. However, on August 1, 1963, Immigration Department was formally established by an Act of Parliament (Cap 171, Laws of the Federation Nigeria). At that point, its operations and control were moved from the Nigeria Police to the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since then, the functions and responsibilities of the NIS have been expanded to include introduction of the ECOWAS and African affairs/bilateral division; aliens control and border patrol management; and the issuance of all Nigerian travel documents. Among the successes the Service had recorded in its over five decades of operations include the introduction of information communication tec...

.      What’s your take on the above issue? My take on this is that Federal Government should revert to the original October 13, 2014 resumption date. The simple reason being that it will give government adequate time to ensure that all those currently under surveillance for Ebola Virus Disease are all free of the disease and there are no new reported cases. Secondly, it will give government ample time to procure and deploy Ebola screening gadgets for all the public and private primary and secondary schools across the country and train the personnel that will use these gadgets. Thirdly, it will also give sufficient time for schools that do not have water, good toilet facilities, sick bay, first aid kits, sanitisers and so on to provide them ahead of the resumption date. 2 .      What’s your advice to the Federal Government? It is heart-warming that the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu has said that as at Wednesday September ...

Last Friday, the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, announced that all public and private primary and secondary schools are to resume for the 2014/2015 session on September 22, 2014. This announcement supersedes the earlier announced date of October 13. Among the preventive measures being put in place before the resumption are the appointment and training of desk officers on Ebola information in each of the schools; the provision of a minimum of two blood pressure measuring equipment by the state Ministries of Education (what has this got to do with Ebola? Methinks what is needed is thermometer or temperature scanners); steady supply of water in schools while state Ministries of Education are to establish a monitoring team for effective supervision of school activities before and after opening of schools. Since this announcement was made, a lot of rumpus has been generated as the general public is divided on the appropriateness and timing of this school resumption. While ...

“For I hate divorce, says the Lord” —Malachi 2: 16 The most trending news in Nigeria at present, apart from that of Ebola and terrorist attacks, is that of the impending divorce of charismatic Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of the Believers’ LoveWorld, better known as Christ Embassy which The Cable broke last Friday, August 29, 2014. Gossips are having a field day. Tongues are wagging. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war destroyed? It is not the first time a reverend, pastor, bishop, evangelist or any cleric for that matter will divorce. Unless you’re not on top of the news. It is happening daily. The list is growing both locally and internationally. Incidentally, a neighbour to Pastor Chris at Oregun in the Ikeja area of Lagos and his namesake, Rev. Chris Okotie, has even broken a record by divorcing twice, the last one being in June 2012. Internationally, there was the case of the revered tele-evangelist, Pastor Benny Hinn, who earlier divorced his wife, Suzanne, and lat...

The discourse reflected our latest challenges. We shall send the relevant aspects of your recommendations to the Council of State and the National Assembly for incorporation into the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On our part , we shall act on those aspects required of us in the Executive.” President Goodluck Jonathan made the above remark while receiving the report of the National Conference from a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, on Thursday, August 21, 2014. From October 1, 2013 when Jonathan announced to the nation his intent to set up a national confab to the inauguration of the Senator Femi Okunrounmu-led National Advisory Committee to the March 17 inauguration ceremony of the 494 “wise men and women” down to August 21, 2014, when the conference wound down, one of the most trending news were snippets from the conference. For the delegates, it was a tortuous journey. There were disagreements, stalemates, suspicions, resolutions and stat...

It is a month today when the first index case of Ebola Viral Disease was recorded in Nigeria. On July 20, 2014, Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American imported the disease into our shores while attempting to attend an ECOWAS conference in Calabar, Cross Rivers State. Since that unfortunate incident, Nigerians have been ill-at-ease. With Boko Haram insurgents wreaking havoc in northern Nigeria and Ebola claiming lives in Lagos, in Southern Nigeria, indeed, my compatriots have cause to be apprehensive. More so, given the contagious nature of the disease and the high mortality rate of its victims. As of the time of writing this piece, only four lives had so far been lost to the virus while a total of five had been certified healed of the disease and discharged from isolation centre while over hundred others are being quarantined or under surveillance. I join millions of Nigerians to commend the Lagos State Government, the Federal Government and the World Health Organisation for the timely...

On June 29, 2005, the Paris Club and Nigeria agreed on a US$18 billion debt relief package. As at December 31, 2004 Nigeria owed a total of US$35.994 billion. The deal with the Paris Club was celebrated by government and was counted as a major achievement of the Obasanjo administration. Unfortunately, Nigeria is back in the shackles of debt less than a decade after its glorious exit from debt burden. According to the latest release by Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (August 2014), Nigeria’s total debt stock recorded about 2.7 per cent increase to N10.43 trillion ($66.99 billion), against N10.16 trillion ($65.25 billion) at the end of the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. This is the result of continued debt deals by the Federal Government internally and externally. Much as it is practically impossible to run a debt free government, the big questions are: What are the debts procured used for? Are the monies spent on consumption or production? Are they being used on capital pro...