The proponents of violent protests are not relenting. They have fixed August 1 to August 10 as the days of rage. They are insisting that the house must be burnt down in anger. Like W. B. Yeats’ wrote in his poem, The Second Coming, “the falcon no longer hears the falconer.” In this case, the champions of violence are not willing to listen to wise counsel. There’s a loss of order and guidance as the forces of chaos and destruction no longer heed the call of reason. To what…
Category: Opinion
Of minimum wage, tortoiseshell and Akpabio’s threat, by Hassan Gimba, anipr
“Unlike the stomach, the brain doesn’t alert you when it’s empty.” – Arabic proverb. There are many tales about how the tortoise got its cracked back. One with various versions stands out. It is the one in which the tortoise had two geese as friends. In the Buddhist scriptures, the tortoise fell from the sky and split in two as the geese were taking it to their home in the Himalayas. According to the story, the geese held a stick in their beaks while the tortoise grasped it in…
Dangote and NNPC’s “Gwo Gwo Gwo Ngwo” dance By Festus Adedayo
Without moving his body, African Development Bank (AfDB) President, Akinwumi Adesina, watlzed his tall frame in a dance last week. He danced to the rhythm of Gwo Gwo Gwo Ngwo of Gentleman Mike Ejeagha’s trending song track, Ka Esi Le Onye Isi Oche. A rhythmic refrain track from an album titled Akuko N’Egwu Vol. 1., Ka Esi… has a lot of similarities with A o m’erin j’oba, both taken from Igbo and Yoruba cosmologies respectively. Both are from rich traditional African folklores. While both also had Elephant and Trickster Tortoise…
Gbolagunte: Good night, great jurist By Festus Adedayo
On Friday, I listened to one of the most impactful sermons ever at the New Reservation Baptist Church, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State. It was devoid of the depressing low of “style-style fundraising” and motivational prosperity sermons that Pentecostalism has sunk into in Nigeria. Church Pastor, Dr. Kayode Oyedemi, taught about how death was man’s companion which should be loved and not hated. He brought the reality of death in our lives so vividly that I doubt if any one who attended that service would unnecessarily reify life, going forward. It…
Hardship protest: “Bi iwo ba se rere…” By Festus Adedayo
All of a sudden, President Bola Tinubu is running from pillar to post. The febrile fear with which his presidency tries to stave off the proposed August 1 hardship protest is baffling. It seems to remind one of the biblical verse in Genesis 4:7 which says, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” This English interpretation does not convey the message’s total interpretative capturing as its Yoruba version rendition. That particular scriptural verse is interpreted in Yoruba as “Bi iwo ba se rere, ara ki yio ha ya…
Girls,your sweet thing won’t always be sweet by Funke Egbemode
A playboy can play the field forever or till his penis drops off, or whichever one comes first. A play-girl? No she must retire quickly, indeed, before everyone notices what she does for a living. A playgirl, a runs-girl, a courtesan or a high class call girl must know when to stop. Only dumb girls play the field endlessly. Is any playgirl reading this? Or is someone reading this who knows a playgirl? Pull her ears and tell her to pull back. A girl is expecting to be cool…
Endorsements and the power-brokers (1) By abiodun KOMOLAFE
The trend of endorsing governors for a second term has gained significant momentum. This trend is particularly noteworthy in the context of Nigeria’s political landscape, where endorsements can make or break a candidate’s chances of winning. In various states, governors have received endorsements from diverse groups and individuals. For instance, Governor Peter Mba of Enugu State secured the backing of the Northern Community in Enugu, while Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has earned the endorsement of the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, barely a year into the…
UBEC; Synchronizing Roadmap (2021-2030), with SDGs, BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF
The Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC roadmap encapsulated in the 2021-2030 was geared towards improving on the glaring lapses of the previous one executed between 2015-2020. Even though, with a considerable improvement and successes recorded in the management, enrollment, provision of both infrastructure and technical know- how, the demands of the current order does not conform with the subsisting situations. This is the desire for accelerated Basic Education programs, reduce to the barest minimum Out of School Children OOSC, strengthen post COVID response with a debilitating effects, increase the dynamics…
Farouk Ahmed’s Template of Probity, Transparency and Accountability at NMDPRA, BY ABUBAKAR YUSUF
Engr Farouk Ahmed was appointed by the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as the Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Midstream, Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority NMDPRA, soon after the unbundling of the defunct Department of Petroleum Resources DPR, into upstream and downstream. Upon assumption of duty few years down the line , he has ensured a level playing ground , away from the translucent practices bedeviling the petroleum sector over the years. With his indepth experience from the NNPCL over the years as the maiden Chief Executive Officer,…
REPOSITIONING THE ECONOMY AND WHAT THE NUMBERS ARE SAYING By Temitope Ajayi
On Thursday in Abuja, Minister of Finance Mr Wale Edun addressed a press conference and gave a mid-year report on the economy. The Minister told the press what President Tinubu’s administration had done in the last year to address some of the structural imbalances in the economy, working with the fiscal and monetary authorities. The Minister, who will now address a quarterly media briefing on the state of the economy, highlighted that the economy grew faster in the first quarter of 2024 than in the first quarter of 2023.…