Opinions

Akwa Ibom State has come a long way. The state that hitherto wallowed in underdevelopment, poverty, ignorance and illiteracy has, over the last five years or so, meandered its way to the forefront for consideration for the award of the most rapidly developed state. The transformation that has taken place in the state, which the […]

The sad turn of events in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with the suspension of key members of the Abubakar Baraje-led splinter group, is another damaging commentary on the abysmal failure of the PDP to meet the very basic requirements of discipline, unity of thought and action. It is also a sickening reflection of […]

Our parlous economic predicament is generally regarded as a “resource curse”; a phenomenon, which the free encyclopedia defines as a paradox of plenty, in which countries with abundant revenue from mineral resources show less economic growth with a beleaguered manufacturing sector when compared with other countries with less resource endowments.  The causes of such paradox […]

“…The hungry child with stomach ache is busy pointing at his head and complaining of headache”. Local adage ‘Wetin’ is a word in local parlance that means many things, it is tone dependent, and it is also a circumstantial word, used by many and for all sorts of reasons. In simple English it means ‘what’. […]

This is a grim and depressing essay and the subject matter is painful to digest. I take no pleasure in writing it and I would suggest that those that are easily hurt, over-sensitive and unduly emotional should stop here and go no further because this is not the stuff for weak stomachs or gentle souls. […]

To a man with a hammer, Mark Twain once said, everything looks like a nail. One hammer that has been working overtime, is that wielded by the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, who has patching and tinkering as her beleaguered record at the helm of the Aviation Ministry unravels. Some stories are best told straight; […]

The inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. –- Francis Baco When Uthman Dan Fodio, the great Islamic scholar who initiated the Sokoto […]

English poet, essayist, critic, 1793, Anna Barbauld was it who said that when we carry our eyes back through the long records of our history, we see wars of plunder, wars of conquest, wars of religion, wars of pride, wars of succession, wars of idle speculation, wars of unjust interference, and hardly among them one […]

The claim last Friday, by former military ruler and APC chieftain, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, that the seven discontented PDP governors, (G-7) have agreed to join the APC with their supporters, was obviously borne out of irrational exuberance. Buhari’s declaration is inconsistent with statements by the G-7 governors, who insist they are still PDP members. This, […]

The frenzy of opinions, allegations and counter allegations on the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s ill-advised purchase of two armoured vehicles has been sustained in the media lately.  The unfolding revelations may have foreshadowed erstwhile favourable public perception of the otherwise optically credible reconstruction and refurbishment of several airport terminals nationwide.  Furthermore, the technical capacity […]

The recent scandal involving the management of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and a private entity named NYSC Foundation has effectively confirmed that Nigeria’s biggest challenge is, perhaps, not corruption but barefaced impunity. According to a report in THISDAY newspapers of Sunday, October 20, 2013, the Foundation has since 2007 been making compulsory deductions […]

Leave Stella Oduah alone -GroupStella Oduah, the glorified ogre who runs the aviation ministry has finally bombed the system and fouled the polity with a disturbing hubris of narrow egotistical considerations. The mantle of queen of the fast and furious oddly fits a woman who is notorious for hard work.  What then explains the ongoing […]