Nigeria’s fiscal landscape is filled with paradoxes, but few are as striking as the story of Value Added Tax (VAT) allocation across states. Regions known for intense entrepreneurial activity, dense trading networks, and vibrant industrial clusters often appear to contribute surprisingly little to national VAT receipts. Meanwhile, states with smaller economies or less visible commercial activity sometimes receive disproportionately higher allocations. This apparent contradiction raises fundamental questions for policymakers. Are VAT contributions truly reflective of economic productivity? Does the current allocation framework reward states fairly? And more importantly, how can fiscal policy be structured to ensure that vibrant economic ecosystems…
Author: Editor
The big gains recorded in the country’s rice industry under the previous administration are being eroded by rising imports, with the country spending N51 billion ($34.4 million) on foreign rice in 2024, according to UN Comtrade data. Despite gains in rice productivity per unit area under the Buhari administration and the expansion of milling capacity, Nigeria’s local rice remains uncompetitive with imports due to persistently high production costs. The inability of the country’s rice to compete has also forced farmers to abandon cultivation, resulting in heavy losses. The trend is a challenge for President Bola Tinubu’s plan to boost food…
Nigeria’s dairy industry continues to attract attention from policymakers, development partners, agribusiness investors and rural development practitioners. In recent years, several policy initiatives and private sector interventions have sought to revive domestic milk production and reduce the country’s heavy reliance on dairy imports. However, despite these efforts, Nigeria still faces a significant milk supply deficit. Industry assessments suggest that Nigeria produces roughly 600 million litres of milk annually, while national demand is estimated at 1.6 to 1.7 billion litres per year (Sahel Consulting, 2021; FAO, 2019). This gap means that over 60 percent of dairy consumption is supplied through imports,…
The Nigerian State is crumbling. There is widespread violence orchestrated by state actors, and state-supported actors at the same time, that violent insurgencies and bandit-orchestrated violence are spreading and deepening. At the same time, institutions are crumbling as they get diverted to serve the interests of those in power. The judiciary has become a sad tale of the perpetuation of injustice to serve the interests of those in power. The tax authorities have been turned into a weapon to impoverish the people, as multiple taxation through bank withdrawals, VAT, and personal income taxes augmentation is all synchronized to get every…
Since Friday evening when Mehdi Hasan’s Head to Head interview with Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication Barrister Daniel Bwala was aired on Aljazeera, the social media scene in Nigeria has been awash with words such as “humiliation,” “disgrace,” “unprepared”, “evasive,” “volte face,” “hypocrisy” and “resignation.” I intend to become the only person in Nigeria who will defend our brother Bwala from the sneaky foreign/local social media lynch mobs and put everything in its proper context. Those who are saying that Daniel Bwala has been humiliated by Al Jazeera interviewer Mehdi Hasan, do they know what the meaning…
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had its 304th meeting last month, reviewing both domestic and global economic developments before implementing a measured policy adjustment. Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, said the 50 basis points policy adjustment reflects a careful evaluation of economic indicators and structural dynamics. With the retention of the asymmetric standing facilities corridor at a +50/-450 basis points spread and the Cash Reserve Requirements (CRR) at 45 per cent for deposit money banks, the committee members demonstrated their commitment to business growth and macroeconomic stability. The meeting was an opportunity…
Nigeria stands at a decisive crossroads. With youthful potential, resources, entrepreneurial drive, and intellectual talent, we still struggle with policy inaction, weak institutions, and overreliance on outside approval. I have highlighted how stories of competence and integrity can transform Nigeria’s global image. This aligns with university values: seeking truth, engaging in evidence-based dialogue, and nurturing active citizens. Thus, the significance of ABU’s 45th Convocation is clear, especially in light of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s candid message to Africa. This year’s ABU Convocation was more than an academic ceremony; it became a forum for critical discourse on national and continental issues. By…
This has not been subtle. Across multiple decades, Israel, and Benjamin Netanyahu in particular (he has been Israel’s premier for almost 20 of the last 30 years), have tried to pull America into a war against Iran. Netanyahu briefly succeeded last June when Trump launched the one-and-done Operation Midnight Hammer strikes. That appeared to only whet appetites. Israel’s campaign to induce a full-scale American assault on Iran became relentless. Netanyahu visited Trump twice in the roughly eight weeks preceding the launch of this illegal war of aggression (and that’s a total of seven Netanyahu meetings with the president in the…
After watching the recent Head to Head interview between Mehdi Hasan and Daniel Bwala several times, I was struck by the precision and intensity of Hasan’s questioning. This was not just a political discussion; it was a masterclass in holding a guest accountable, exposing contradictions, and pressing for clarity. Hasan’s approach resembled courtroom cross-examination, where every word and past statement is carefully scrutinized. For Nigerian journalists, there is much to learn from this interview, both in technique and in mindset. From the very beginning, Hasan set the tone by highlighting Bwala’s political shift. Bwala, once a vocal critic of President…
I have said far more about Daniel Bwala’s sensational Al Jazeera rhetorical incineration than I am inclined to, and honestly wanted to move on, but his ludicrous, self-indicting post-interview ego defense has drawn me in again. I will isolate only the most egregious alibi he invoked to explain away his embarrassing lies, contradictions, inconsistencies, and lack of basic decency to admit the truth. He says he should have been told in advance that his past criticisms of Tinubu would come up in the interview so he could “prepare himself.” That is a remarkable confession. In journalism, interviews are not take-home…