Public Affairs Analyst

The issue of corruption in Nigeria is a lingering one. The phenomenon is as old as humanity itself. The most intriguing thing is that most people claim to know much about it and condemn every other person but themselves for the scourge. The issue has become like that of the proverbial lost knife that no one is willing to admit being its last user. From time immemorial, government claims to be waging war against the ugly spectacle but rather than it abating, like cancer, it is metastasising. Just last week Monday, March 19, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo blew the whistle on the last administration. All the newspapers reported the VP criticising   the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, alleging that while it spent a paltry N14bn on agriculture in 2014, N15bn on transport, and only N153bn on infrastructure in three years, it shared N150bn two weeks to the 2015 elections. Incredible! He was reported to have said this at the 7th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum...

It’s indeed season of anomie in Nigeria. The country has been turned to killing field by heinous and fiendish insurgents and herdsmen. It used to be weekly bloodletting but it has since about two weeks ago turned into a daily ugly phenomenon. Not even the state visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to Taraba, Yobe, Nasarrawa, Benue and Plateau has been able to stem the orgy of killings by the murderous herdsmen. The President had earlier asked the Inspector General of Police, I. K Idris to relocate to Benue State while additional mobile unit has been sent to Benue to reinforce the existing force on ground. All these have achieved limited success as the killings have continued unabated. In the last few weeks with the latest being last Thursday, March 15, 2018, Benue State had conducted two mass burial of its citizens murdered in cold blood by the rampaging herdsmen. When it became obvious that the Police are overwhelmed by the crimes and criminality of the villainous herdsmen, the Nig...

Yes, I thank God, I am not a woman. What a relief! I celebrate this because I cannot imagine how I would have coped with the mistreatment, molestations, and discriminations from the male folks who think they own the world. Globally, women’s rights are not guaranteed and well-respected. In Nigeria, nay Africa, the fate of women is worse off. It is said that poverty bears the face of a woman. Legally, culturally, socially, educationally, economically and politically, Nigerian women are discriminated against.   This is heart-wrenching! Culturally, in many Nigerian societies, women are not perceived as being equal to men. They are not allowed to be community leaders neither are their views considered when decisions are to be made about their families and communities. A section of the Nigerian society believes that women are acquired as chattels and do not have a say in how families are run. They are denied inheritance rights and are mistreated including being divorced on account...

After about seven years of implementation, President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2016 suspended the tenure policy in the Federal Civil Service.   The directive was contained in a Monday, June 20, 2016 circular to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies signed by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita.   The HoS, in the circular, said the directive was from President Buhari and asked all concerned to comply accordingly. Until the suspension, Permanent Secretaries were appointed to serve for a tenure of four years, subject to renewal, while directors were appointed to serve for eight years, except the mandatory 60 years retirement age or 35 years in service catches up with them. The tenure policy was fixed in 2009 by the Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration. The then Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, had, in an August 25, 2009 circular, announced fixed tenure for permanent secretaries and directors in the Federal Civil Servic...

“ Recent reports of violations by underage persons following the local government elections in Kano State are deeply disturbing.  The voter register in Kano State is the one used for the 2015 general election. In July 2016, INEC used the same register to conduct a State Assembly bye-election in Minjibir Constituency…... No single incidence of underage voting was recorded. What therefore happened in the last local government election conducted by the State Electoral Commission? Was the voter register actually used or not?”  - INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on Friday, February 16, 2018 while setting up investigative panel to unravel the reported incidence of underage voting in Kano LG election. On February 10, 2018, Kano State Independent Electoral Commission conducted elections into the 44 Local Government Areas and 484 Councillorship positions in the state. As usual, the ruling party in the state, All Progressives Congress, won all the contested positions. That is ho...

Background Since the House of Representatives passed the 2010 Electoral Act amendment on Tuesday, January 23, 2018, there has been a lot of disquiet in the polity.  Senate had earlier on March 30, 2017 passed its own version of the amendment. The major concern of the political watchers is the reordering of sequence of election by the Green Chamber.  It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission had on March 9, 2017 announced the dates and sequence of elections and only on January 9, 2018 released a comprehensive schedule of elections. According to the commission, the presidential and National Assembly elections will hold simultaneous on February 16, 2019 while Governorship, state assembly elections as well as Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections are to hold two weeks after on March 2, 2019. This was the same sequence the 2015 General Elections were held. However, the House of Representatives decided to reorder the elections as follows:...

Happy Valentine’s Day! It will be one year to the proposed 2019 general election on Friday, February 16, 2018. The Independent National Electoral Commission has been put on the spot recently. Many news media are interrogating the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration exercise. In fact, this newspaper’s sister publication, Saturday PUNCH of February 10 had a screaming headline on its front page entitled “Voter registration: Shortage of manpower, faulty equipment mar exercise”. Earlier, NOI Polls on Tuesday, February 6, 2018 published report of its opinion survey on the commission’s CVR. Apart from that issue, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu last Thursday hosted the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu. During the courtesy visit, the INEC chairman solicited the support of the EFCC in addressing vote buying and monitoring of political parties’ campaign funds. Furthermore, the National Assembly last Tuesday passed the Electoral Act 2010 amendm...