For decades, Nigeria has invested enormous resources in combating terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, communal violence and organised crime. Yet, despite remarkable sacrifices by our Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police Force, intelligence agencies and other security services, insecurity continues to mutate and spread across different parts of the country. This reality calls for a fundamental shift in our thinking. Nigeria’s insecurity is national in its consequences, but it is overwhelmingly local in its origins, organisation and execution. Criminals do not emerge from nowhere. They are recruited from communities, supplied within communities, sheltered in communities and operate across forests, villages, border settlements and…
Author: Editor
“Speaking Truth to Power, One Story at a Time”
Former Vice-President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over the allocation of N22.15 billion in the 2026 budget for the construction and renovation of 106 palaces for traditional rulers. Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, described the allocation as a constitutional aberration, arguing that the Federal Government lacks the constitutional mandate to fund the construction or renovation of traditional rulers’ palaces. He said the responsibility for traditional institutions falls within the purview of state and local governments, questioning the legal basis for the Federal Government…
A high-level stakeholders’ meeting involving Fulani leaders, security agencies, farmers, traditional institutions and community representatives has been held in Oyo State to address insecurity, kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts and the need to strengthen peaceful coexistence between Fulani communities and their host communities. The meeting, convened by Fulani leadership in the state and hosted by the Chairman of Oyo West Local Government, brought together representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Amotekun Corps, farmers’ associations, traditional institutions, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), and Fulani leaders from across Oyo…
Gov. Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto has flagged off the 2026 seasonal malaria prevention campaign, reiterating his unwavering commitment to reducing the burden of malaria in the state. Speaking on Wednesday in Wamakko, Governor Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto commended the State Commissioner of Health, the Sokoto State Malaria Elimination Agency, development partners, the National Malaria Elimination Programme (Abuja), and the Malaria Consortium for sustaining this life-saving initiative every year. He said, “I also thank our traditional and religious leaders, local government chairmen, and the dedicated mass drug distributors who go from house to house to administer these drugs to targeted children. “It is…
Face of Liberty International, a nonprofit group in Nigeria, has called on young Africans to take greater responsibility for solving developmental problems bedevilling their nations instead of depending solely on governments and political institutions. The organisation’s Executive Director, Leonard Ogunweide, made the call on Saturday during the virtual graduation ceremony of the first cohort of its 2026 Free Market Fellowship, held in Lagos State. The 10-week programme was designed to inculcate leadership and civic education training in the next generation of leaders, featuring participants from several African countries. The fellows also examined ideas such as human dignity, personal agency, markets,…
This piece is a corollary to last week’s write-up, which posed several questions: What are the mandates of the Northern Nigeria Security Trust Fund? Will the Trust Fund end up similar to Trust Funds established a few decades ago, without tangible results? Will the state governors fulfill their one-billion-naira monthly pledge? Answering these questions and offering recommendations to make the Trust Fund effective and sustainable are pertinent to the success of the high-integrity personalities who serve on the fund’s board of trustees. These skilled personalities have a high capacity and are endowed with a wealth of experience from diverse backgrounds;…
“Trust is the glue of life. It is the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It is the foundational principle that holds all relationships.” These words, attributed to Stephen R. Covey, speak directly to the challenge confronting institutions, governments and communication professionals in an age of declining confidence. For much of Nigeria’s modern history, however, the organising metaphor of national wealth has been geological. We have measured prosperity in barrels, mapped opportunity through seismic surveys, interpreted power through proximity to the wells beneath our feet, and built an entire political economy around the premise that the most valuable thing about…
Every generation of leaders is confronted with defining decisions that shape the future of its nation. Such decisions often require the courage to examine existing institutions honestly, preserve what has served the country well, and reform what no longer responds adequately to contemporary realities. Nigeria’s ongoing debate on the establishment of State Police is one of those defining moments. The conversation is not simply about creating another police organisation. It is about determining whether our policing architecture is sufficiently equipped to confront the increasingly complex security realities of a twenty-first-century federal democracy while remaining firmly anchored in constitutional governance, national…
“Football is the most important of the least important things in life,” the great Italian football thinker Arrigo Sacchi once observed. The enduring wisdom of that paradox is that football matters precisely because it offers humanity a temporary republic of emotion. For ninety minutes, borders become jerseys, ideology retreats before artistry, and the complicated grammar of power gives way to the simpler language of passes, tackles, goals and saves. A child in Kano, a taxi driver in Buenos Aires and a banker in Madrid can inhabit the same moment of wonder. That is the beautiful game. Yet, as the curtain…