While I was in Kano for a friend’s wedding, I overheard a conversation that Uber drivers in Abuja have increased the cost of commuting from the airport to the city center to N15,000. Given the new price, I knew any time I returned to Abuja, I would have to trek home. As a university lecturer, there is no way I could afford such a price.
Author: Editor
In his inaugural address on Monday, President Bola Tinubu announced the end of fuel subsidy as it would no longer be an item on the budget. On Wednesday, Government announced a drastic rise in the prices of petrol from 185 to up to 557 Naira a litre depending on location. It was a shock to the Nation and immediately, labour was up in arms demanding for a complete withdrawal. The shock was due to expectations based on government announcements that palliatives would be negotiated and offered to poor Nigerians who would be impacted negatively by the new prices expected to come into effect in July this year.
Ahead of the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly the race for the post of senate president has narrowed to three frontrunners among the contestants. They are Senators Osita Izunaso, Abdulkadir Yari and Godswill Akpabio.
Now that the presidential inauguration has come and gone by, attention has now been shifted to the National Assembly.
From the bustling Nigerian state of Imo, came a Senator named Osita Izunaso. He is a man of charm and wit, always with a kind word for his colleagues and constituents alike. He is well-respected and has a reputation for fairness and integrity that precedes him wherever he goes.
I was taught and have taught/still teach in many institutions of learning within and without but two of such institutions are uniquely occupying the center stage of my heart. These two are so dear to me that I can give all I have to advance their causes. Government Secondary School (GSS) Funtua and Ahmadu Bello University Zaria are the two exclusively pricey schools I cannot but continue to hold close to my heart. Coincidentally, my age and the age of these two schools marked our Diamond age in 2022 as they were established in October 1962 while I was born three months earlier. I paid a glorious tribute to ABU Zaria, titled “ABU@60: Giant, Still Briskly Walking in the Right Direction” published on 13th October 2022. This article can be accessed via my blog; https://deepthoughtwithmkothman.blogspot.com/2022/10/abu60-giant-still-briskly-walking-in.html
I stand before you honoured to assume the sacred mandate you have given me. My love for this nation is abiding. My confidence in its people, unwavering. And my faith in God Almighty, absolute. I know that His hand shall provide the needed moral strength and clarity of purpose in those instances when we seem to have reached the limits of our human capacity.
In an interview with a team of newspapers, print and online, a high ranking Senator of the South East extractions, Senator Osita Izunaso, speaks on issues of who becomes the President of the 10th Senate. Excerpts:
I address you today, in my last assignment as a democratically elected President of our great and well-endowed nation, with a deep sense of gratitude to God, a great deal of appreciation to the Nigerian people and a modest sense of fulfilment.
Today marks the end of the two-term tenure of a man who came with tremendous goodwill, the kind never before witnessed in Nigeria’s chequered political history. One can still remember some young Nigerians trekking from one end of Nigeria to another in high hopes of the new president. However, unlike Caesar, it is doubtful if he can thump his chest and declare “Veni, vidi, vici”—I came; I saw; I conquered.