Similar Posts
What Does The Niger Delta Clean-Up Mean for Profiteers
It has been announced by the Buhari Administration that the heinous cumulative oil pollution in the Niger Delta will be cleaned-up; this is very good news. The clean-up was recommended by the 2011 UNEP report (i.e. four years ago). Why it took so long to get to this stage can be said to be as a result of a confluence of sheer misgovernance, inordinate oil wealth greed, political insensitivity and as you might have known already, it is corruption. So what is the predictable expected scenario of the clean-up in practice? Read More “What Does The Niger Delta Clean-Up Mean for Profiteers”
The Sambo Scandal & the “Owners of Nigeria”
The “Sambo Scandal” (concerning one Col Sambo Dasuki) is just another story when compared to the full scale of looting in Nigeria; it’s just ‘Hot Air’ and Hollywood. The Government of Nigeria (GON) since the military regime of Yakubu Gowon has squandered around $1 trillion on nothing but personal enrichment and the provision of mostly shoddy goods and services to Nigerians. Call it the “national cake” (that has no bakery) or the “pot of soup” (that has no kitchen), Nigeria’s wealth is on a daily basis being shared like cake and soup at parties for and by the “Owners of Nigeria Technostructure” (ONT) and at their very own imperturbable convenience. This situation is incredibly far beyond the stilted fanaticisms of All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) supporters. Read More “The Sambo Scandal & the “Owners of Nigeria””
The Uber License Loss and the Spectre of Nigerian Academic Excellence
In the UK and the USA, the spectre of Nigerians achieving academic excellence in institutions of higher learning everywhere has increasingly etched for itself a significant space in the folklore of immigration. Such widespread excellence is even used with dubious effect to show how Blacks born in America or in the UK are simply lazy, unambitious and even of criminal disposition. This is certainly the Hegemon’s and Black Conservative’s comfort; one side of an overstated story. The prospect of Uber, the mobile app taxi business, losing its UK licence for gross corporate irresponsibility exposed a most understated side of the story in a shockwave. Read More “The Uber License Loss and the Spectre of Nigerian Academic Excellence”
“Women’s Rights” as Theme of African Union Summit: Really?
The leaders of the Africa Union when in congress to discuss the problems of the continent, the outcomes are predictable. The stuff put on the table for discussion is often “impossible to achieve but good for utterance only”. These discussions are regularly superficial rhetoric, used to give respectability and fame to those self-appointed African champions who promote them. There will be no concrete and effective instrumental or institutional changes implemented to offer the solutions to the problems at hand. The problems thus persist without foreign intervention. The 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union, with the theme “Women’s Rights in Africa”, is no different.
Read More ““Women’s Rights” as Theme of African Union Summit: Really?”
Monkey Tail, a Date-Rape Drug in Nigeria
Monkey Tail: ogogoro (local gin) left to brew in marijuana leaves. Photo Credit: Usha Anenga
“Monkey Tail,” though an unlikely-sounding moniker, is simply a drink made of ogogoro (local gin) left to brew in igbo (marijuana leaves, stems, roots or seeds) for a few days or more, producing varying units of intoxication (UOI) for the user.
The beverage gives users two different kinds of “highs” simultaneously with unpredictable outcomes, especially for a novice and depending on the alcoholic content, igbo potency and amount consumed. There is also the case of synergy where, for example, ten UOI of ogogoro plus ten UOI of igbo can cause thirty-seven UOI when consumed. Read More “Monkey Tail, a Date-Rape Drug in Nigeria”
Are Buhari’s Fears a Signal of the End of Nigeria?
In December 1984 my late father made a remark that I could not understand at the time, he said, “the leaders of Nigeria will know no fear till the [oil] money runs out”. It was not until July 2000 that my father told me that the idea was proposed by his friend, the late Claude Ake. Since the oil boom of the early 1970s, no Nigerian head of state has been “afraid” of his watch or patch despite the coup d’états and the instances of serious political instability encountered. Now that the abundance of petrodollars earned from oil has suddenly become seriously scarce President Muhammadu Buhari has become in a pioneering approach, frank, open and expansive about his “fears” in power as presented in a recent missive. Read More “Are Buhari’s Fears a Signal of the End of Nigeria?”