Day: May 5, 2024

The Lagos-Calabar coastal road project is undoubtedly Nigeria’s most ambitious transport infrastructure project since independence. In terms of scope, distance covered, and connectivity, not even the 3rd Mainland Bridge in Lagos, the 2nd Niger Bridge in Onitsha/Asaba, or the Abuja-Kano expressway comes close. It is simply a world-class iconic project. Before I go further, I want us to take a brief trip back to history. The idea for a major coastal federal road in Nigeria was first conceptualized in 1955 by the then Federal Commissioner of Finance, Late Chief Festus…

Media reports were awash a fortnight ago with stories of how some repentant Boko Haram insurgents attacked a police station in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in an attempt to free their colleagues that were earlier arrested over alleged drug offences. According to the reports, the repentant insurgents dressed in military camouflage invaded a police station located at Ibrahim Taiwo street and thereafter proceeded to the Nigerian Immigration Service and NDLEA check points at the entrance to the city and burned them down.   This is not the first time…

Today is Saturday, May 4th, 2024. I had an early appointment inside the precincts of Aso Villa. I live in the Gudu District of Abuja, so I came out of my residence and took the turn through the Gudu cemetery, and followed the direction towards Asokoro. That was where my “problem” commenced. I hadn’t driven in that direction for several weeks. After a while, I came upon construction workers that early in the morning, and further ahead, I noticed that I was literally heading into a maze. The roads had…

The scholar and researcher had taken a trip to an open market. There, he met a female fishmonger. Attracted by the casual attention this researcher paid to a croaker fish on display on her stall, the lady attempted to win this potential buyer to her stall. So, she began to dish out a mesh of adulations and panegyrics of the buyer. “Aguntasoolo, okoo mi, e wa ba mi raa,” she chanted. The researcher translated the chant thus: “Dapper-and-gracefully-tall-one, my husband, please buy from me.” The marketing gambit won and the…

On X last week, I lent my voice to an obvious turf war between two great Yoruba songsters, Davido and Wizkid. It was a typical Atatalo assuming his sole ownership of the spatial control of the Ibadan musical space while the Agboluajes, Epo Akaras deconstructed his peremptory self-awarded ownership.   The two great exports to the world of music had taken to their handles to trade mutual tackles. Their spat reminded me of Alamu Atatalo, again. In one of his eponymous songs with which he self-delineated the boundaries of stardom,…

“One of the shrewdest ways for human predators to conquer their stronger victims is to convince them steadily with propaganda that they are still free.” N. A. Scott, American author.   Every human being currently living on earth came to this world and saw the United States of America posing as the cradle of democracy, a bastion of freedom and a citadel of human rights.   For those of us in Africa, especially West Africa, and particularly those along the coastline, that America ruptured family cohesion, ties and lineage by…