We are in a new phase of politics hitherto never witnessed in our country. Sure, politicians that lost out in their parties are known for changing platforms. That isn’t new. They call it cross-carpeting. We should, of course, know that the word “Cross-carpeting” does not exist in the English language. Politicians coined it in Nigeria to describe a common phenomenon by which politicians switch political allegiance just to achieve their personal political goals. Here, this is fueled by the politicians’ desire to attain political office or truncate someone’s march towards political victory, unlike in other parts of the world where…
Author: Editor
Nigeria has a very young population profile so the current generation may not be aware but in April 1984, the Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, ordered that the Nigerian currency be redesigned. Everybody was directed to deposit their money in banks for safekeeping until the government begins exchanging their old bills with the country’s new currency in a move aimed at catching corrupt officials. The then four-month-old military government had seized power with the objectives of solving the nation’s economic crisis and stamping out widespread corruption. Today, almost four decades later, we have the same President and we are…
Ms. Chi Tola is the National President of Women in Agriculture Advancement and Sustainability Africa Initiative. She spoke with Stanley Ihedigbo for ASHENEWS on agricultural development and challenges in Nigeria. Excerpts: Some stakeholders believe that reviving farm settlements in Nigeria would go a long way in improving development of agriculture. What is your view on this? Most of the farm settlements in Nigeria were built in the 70’s. And I keep saying that one of the challenges we have in Nigeria is lack of continuity. Until our leaders learn to continue what they met on ground or what their predecessors…
Over two-thirds of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe, affordable, and timely surgical care You know that phrase, “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, you feed him for life”? Yeah, I hate that phrase; it creates a false dichotomy. Why not do both? After all, it’s easier to learn when you’re not hungry. We often construct a similar dichotomy in global health, pitting relief against development, and assuming only one should happen. For many valid reasons, that one is development. It’s a reductionistic view of global health, and…
Over the last two decades, advancement in science and technology has made meteorological forecast increasingly accurate. All over the world, policy makers utilise the vast meteorological knowledge, as well as precise and other dependable weather tools, to warn about impending adverse weather days, weeks and months ahead. Whether it is a heat wave, hurricane or flood, authorities avert the most catastrophic fallouts of natural and emergency disasters by promptly responding to early warning signs. However, in Nigeria, such early warnings are sometimes ignored leading to unprecedented human and material costs. A case in point is the recent flood disasters in…
The action of the distinguished Speaker, Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila in #EndASUUStrike was highly valuable beyond quantification. He saved the situation at a critical moment when the Court of Appeal had ordered ASUU to do what some legal luminaries termed “doctrine of impossibility”, and when all hopes were almost lost. As mentioned in my piece last week, when a snake is killed, do not celebrate until the head is severed from the body. Therefore, Gbajabiamila’s action is a solid foundation for ending the strike but the edifice has to be completed by putting in place a strategy to ensure fulfillment of…
I have been reading an article based on a recycled Newspaper report that was maliciously put together by PUNCH Newspaper in October 2021 which questions the 2022 budget of the FIRS. It has been shared to my Whatsapp at least twice in the last two weeks. The author, an invincible Godwin Etakibuebu (I can’t remember the spelling of his name) is just looking for an issue where there is none. The statistics in that report are misleading and just wrong! I ask myself, why FIRS? The same FIRS that is funding the nation today? The same FIRS that is providing…
With global prices of food and fertilizers already reaching worrying highs, the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine raise serious concerns for food security, both in the short and long term. IFPRI Senior Research Fellows Joseph Glauber and David Laborde are editing a special series of posts on the IFPRI blog providing analysis on the implications of rising food and fertilizer prices, the potential impacts on global and regional food security, and policy responses that could help increase the resilience of national and global food systems. After the sharp rise in international prices of wheat…
This week, I am in Niamey, Niger Republic engaged in an initiative to create a pathway that could free the Sahel from the existential crisis it faces. In September, a high level panel was inaugurated with an open mandate to galvanise African intellectual and political power in seeking solutions to the insecurity raging in the sub-region and placing development back on the agenda. The Panel is led by the former President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, who working with four other members from the continent. The Panel is supported by the United Nations, the African Union and G5-Sahel and has been…
As election year draws closer, it is important that the health sector should be one of the main talking points of political conversations. This is because, it is only when one is well and healthy that he/she will begin to think of any economic, political or social activity. However, this has not been the case as ethnicity, religion and other issues have remained on the front burner, forgetting the popular saying that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. This maxim makes it imperative for political office aspirants to articulate a comprehensive health financing mechanism to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC),…