Category: Features/Analysis

The sign greeting visitors at the entrance of Igbo-Ora in southwest Nigeria welcomes people to “TWINS CAPITAL OF THE WORLD”. The sleepy-looking town boasts of having the highest concentration of multiple births of any place on the globe. To celebrate its self-proclaimed title the town hosts an annual festival, now in its second year, that draws hundreds of sets of twins from around the country. Donning different traditional clothes and costumes, the twins — male and female, old, young and even newborns — sang and danced at the latest edition…

Read More

With homelessness increasing in the United States, many people, including President Donald Trump, have proposed institutionalizing those who can no longer afford their rent or mortgage costs. But as I learned myself this year, one serious medical event can be all it takes to destroy a stable living situation. Though I didn’t know it at the time, my descent into homelessness began nine years ago, when I was working as a college music professor in Bronxville, New York, where I commuted from my studio apartment in Manhattan. After decades of…

Read More

The cardinal aim of every academic pursuit, according to the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, “is to develop the power to think – clearly, correctly, and scientifically.” Nothing could be further from this truth!  More often than not, people that obtain sound education are analytical and able to proffer solutions to complex problems. This explains the huge resources some countries devote to providing quality education for their citizens.  Such countries, among other things, believe in hard work, and also encourage their best brains to be in charge of their affairs.…

Read More

Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai dominated the media space on Monday as he enrolled his six-year-old son, Abubakar, in the state’s 62-year-old Capital School, Malali. Capital School is one of the legacies of the late Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello. The governor was the first to break the news on the state government’s Twitter handle @GovKaduna before one of his aides, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the report. el-Rufai, had in a state broadcast in December 2017, promised to enroll his child in a public school when he turned six years. He had…

Read More

    Take-off point was Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, destination was New York, the city usually called the Big Apple, in United States of America. Mission was to attend the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and President Muhammadu Buhari was leaving Abuja with two state governors (Osun and Nasarawa), as well as his personal aides and other delegates. I remembered the film, Coming to America, by Eddie Murphy, as we boarded Nigeria Air Force 1 presidential jet. The 1988 film, written by Murphy, and in which he played…

Read More

What could be considered as a form of cheering report came the way of Nigeria last week as The Times Higher Education released its latest World Universities Rankings for 2020. Four Nigerian universities made the list of top 1,000 institutions in the world, with two of them placed within the bracket of 400-600. This is Nigeria’s best outing in the globally recognised education rankings that started in 2004. Covenant University leads the universities in Nigeria, occupying a space among the top 400 universities in the world. The University of  Ibadan,…

Read More

When countries around the globe are busy thinking of how to build world class universities that will have positive impacts on their societies, it is unfortunate that some universities in Nigeria could still be burdened with the task of keeping cows away from their classrooms. Sometimes, stories about happenings in Nigeria are just unbelievable. Or, how can anyone fathom a cry for help by a university to curtail cattle invasion of its premises? This is pure tragedy especially now that many universities are working on attracting more funds   to embark…

Read More

It is hard not to complain about this country these days. The killings of Nigerians both within and outside the nation’s shores are overwhelming. The economic outlook is getting dimmer by the day. The Bureau of Statistics has told us that Nigeria’s economy grew by mere 1.94 percent in the second quarter of 2019. In the midst of this gloom, executive rascality is on the rise at an alarming rate.  Just a few days ago, a train was allegedly delayed for two hours because of two ministers.   Similarly, a vice…

Read More

Today is the last dance of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), and our fifth day in Yokohama, Japan. A bouquet of goodies is being unfolded for the African continent, aftermath of the conference, but as a participant-observer, what are the low hanging fruits Nigeria can pluck immediately? That is why I want to count our blessings, and name them one by one. Yesterday and today, particularly, have seen the unfolding of some good things for Nigeria. Like Bongos Ikwue sang, “only last night I had…

Read More

Sure, there are some Nigerian rascals abroad. But every country has its share of deviants, both at home and abroad. Not all Nigerians in the Diaspora are crooks, though some drag the country’s image through the mud. Not all Nigerians in foreign land are irreverent, though some funny characters exist outside our shores. We have seen some of them in action this week. There are Nigerians of sterling character, both at home and abroad. They can stand and hold their own with the brightest and most decent in any part…

Read More