Public Affairs Analyst

Last Friday, August 21, 2020, marked exactly one year since the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), inaugurated his 43-member cabinet. In celebration of the day, the presidency listed 35 projects it claimed to have achieved in the last 12 months. Sincerely, these so-called accomplishments should have been compressed into not more than 20 as many of the things listed cannot by any stretch of imagination qualify for achievements. Moreover, the checklist to be used in coming up with these nebulous realisations should have been the “Next Level” Agenda of the President and his party, the All Progressives Congress. I will rather not bore the readers with repeating the so-called achievements on this page. Rather, I will limit myself to those ones I disagree with. On the restoration of the budget implementation cycle to the January-to-December Calendar, with the signing of the 2020 Appropriation Bill in December 2019, while this is commendable, the President failed to sign a...

  “ Without prejudice to the general powers of the University Governing Council to appoint and remove a Vice Chancellor under the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2003 (No. 1 2007), and without apportioning any blame to either the Governing Council or the Vice Chancellor, the University of Lagos Alumni is of the view that before the Council can exercise such powers, it must follow due process, particularly as mandatorily provided under Section 3(8), (9) and (10) of the Act in the removal of the Vice Chancellor and Section 3(13) in the appointment of an acting Vice Chancellor” – University of Lagos Alumni Association in an August 14, 2020 statement. I have more than a passing interest in the affairs and well-being of the University of Lagos. The 58-year-old institution is my alma mater where I bagged my first degree before I proceeded to the University of Ibadan for my postgraduate degree after my National Youth Service Corps. It therefore rends my heart t...

  “The COVID-19 pandemic provides sufficient motivation for all of us to be engaged in the governance process because if we are not vigilant and the funds meant for COVID-19 response are stolen, misappropriated, misapplied or in any other way diverted to other purposes, then the objectives of the response will obviously not be achieved. In such a situation, the consequences are better imagined than experienced” – Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda   On August 5 and 6, 2020, two media centred-civil society organisations pooled resources together to build the capacity of some Nigerian journalists from both print and electronic media on how to use the Freedom of Information Act to demand transparency and accountability in the management of COVID-19 funds as well as campaign finance. The two organisations, International Press Centre and Media Rights Agenda were able to conduct the workshop with funding support from the European Union. Among the participants w...

  In order to alleviate the sufferings of the oil producing communities of the state, the Imo State Government in 2007 established an interventionist agency called the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission. It was modelled after the federal interventionist agencies such as the Niger Delta Development Commission and the North East Development Commission. Unfortunately, rather than ISOPADEC, as the agency is called, improving the welfare and well-being of the people of the oil producing areas of Imo State, it is at present embroiled in allegations of fraud. Some national newspapers last Sunday, August 2, 2020 published different versions of the report of the forensic audit of the agency where an estimated N12bn was allegedly unaccounted for. The reports claimed that N12.3bn was misappropriated between 2007 and 2020. Out of the sum, N10bn claimed to have been used for execution of projects by the commission during the years in review was discovered to be false as the ...

“Contrary to what naysayers are spinning. no one is hijacking the National Theatre. It remains our national heritage. This Public-Private Partnership is a win-win for all. It restores this iconic edifice to its glory days and develops the land that has been lying fallow for over four decades, creating massive jobs for our teeming youths and providing a go-to spot for our teeming population.” –   Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Sunday, July 12, 2020 Nigeria’s National Theatre is known more to Lagosians as an entertainment and relaxation spot. However, not many know the story behind the cultural monument which was constructed in the form of a military cap. I went in search of information about the complex and got exciting information from the website of the organisation. According to available information, the architectural masterpiece and cultural landmark located at Iganmu, in the heart of Lagos, covers an area of about 23,000 square metres and st...

Not a few Nigerians are amused at the theatre of the absurd playing out at the Niger Delta Development Commission. The whole circus show climaxed last Monday when three dramas took place during the House of Representatives Probe Panel of the 20-year-old interventionist agency. First, the indicted Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo recused himself from chairing the day’s meeting following the allegation of his crime against NDDC levelled against him last week by the acting chairman of the Interim Management Committee, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei. The acting Managing Director was to shock the nation days later as he fainted while being grilled by the lawmakers. The last but not the least was the allegation by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, that members of the National Assembly were the greatest beneficiaries of contracts in the NDDC. It is intriguing that two chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on the NDDC, decided to s...

On Thursday, July 2, 2020, I was a guest of the Nigerian Television Authority Yoruba programme called, “Ojumo ‘Re”. The topic of discussion that day was “The role of godfathers in Nigerian politics”. That got me thinking and I decided to research more and do this piece on the phenomenon. Merriam Webster online dictionary defines a godfather in the following terms: “A man who sponsors a person at baptism” 2: “One having a relation to someone or something analogous to that of a male sponsor to his godchild: such as a: one that founds, supports, or inspires; b: the leader of an organised crime syndicate.”   Invariably, when adapted to the field of politics, a godfather could be said to be one that founds, supports, or inspires. Godfathers whether in religious, business or political terms are generally very influential and powerful. They are the typical “Very Important Personalities”. Strikingly, not all godfathers run for political office or seek political appointments. Some of ...