debt – Grimot Nane Zine

Where is Nigeria’s Thriving Middle-Class in 2021? The Youth Want to Know

Courtesy Adedire Abiodun

Where is Nigeria’s Great Middle-Class in 2021?

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:April 15, 2021
Post category:Culture as Institution Governance Social Crisis
Post comments:0 Comments
Reading time:6 mins read

Where is Nigeria’s Thriving Middle-Class in 2021? The Youth Want to Know.

A truism of economies is they thrive when they have a large stable middle-class. In the mid-2010s, one of the most aggressive facts promoted about the Nigerian economy was that it had created a large and thriving middle-class. Many observers were skeptical but were called naysayers.

Today, we are all concerned about the future of our economies, which has become incalculable because of the uncertain impacts of COVID-19; rising inequality, growing poverty, upward concentration of wealth, and climate change. Nigeria is facing such concerns and has a serious youth immiseration and deprivation problem. The culture of youth neglect has never been so insensitive. And yes, the middle class and the less well-off are the hardest hit. Upward mobility for the youth has become a phantom. (more…)

Yankius on The National Cake

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:May 6, 2020
Post category:Yankius
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Reading time:3 mins read

Yankius on the National Cake.

Windfall: Yankiokwa! Yankiokwa!!! Anytime you are this quiet we know you are up to something. Meanwhile, how is you, Boss?

Yankius: Windokwa! The Windfall maker himself! Your potbelly has dwindled seriously. Otherwise, is everything okay?

Windfall: Leave my stomach alone. I am curious. That bakery where the National Cake is being baked does still exist?

Yankius: The National Cake is crude oil. It still exists only nobody really wants it anymore. At least not for now.

Windfall: How can crude oil be the National Cake? Crude oil is a fossil fuel. Why do you have to be figurative about everything? Can you not just call cake what it is?

Yankius: In that case, I will not talk any further about the National Cake. (more…)

“Coconut Head” Corruption

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:April 25, 2017
Post category:Corruption Governance Institutions
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Reading time:14 mins read

“There is no good name for a terrible disease” – Urhobo proverb.

“The solution to Africa’s problems lie solely in Africa” – George Ayittey.

Coconut Head Corruption (CHC) is a term derived from the vocabulary of George Ayittey. He is a distinguished U.S. based Ghanaian economist and is used to describe the observed hollow-headedness and thoughtlessness exhibited by corrupt African leaders and their clients. These Big Men Ayittey is critical of have engaged in corruption since the beginning of the post-colonial era. Ayittey consistently and emphatically in his works and on social media uses words like “Coconut Leader”, “Coconut combat” or “Coconut solutions” to address misgovernance and lousy leadership in African. (more…)

Nigeria: Loans For Unsolicited Proposals

Post author:Grimot Nane Zine
Post published:April 24, 2016
Post category:Corruption Governance Institutions
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Reading time:5 mins read

Nigeria: Loans For Unsolicited Proposals

How can a so-called modern nation be perennially managed since Independence by way of “unsolicited proposals”? President Muhammadu Buhari came to power on the slogan of “Change” but he is still governing Nigeria unrelentingly with the instrument of “unsolicited proposals”. When loans are used to fund “unsolicited proposals” it is no different from gambling, high-stakes gambling. Any government that manages its affairs and vision with total dependence on “unsolicited proposals” is devoid strategic planning, structural effectiveness and reliable outcome expectations beyond the short-term; such is governance by improvisation [haphazard] and instantaneous expediency. Is this truly the way forward for Nigeria? (more…)