Opinion

As a Nigerian living in the US, I have been following the news about my home country with great concern and interest. Nigeria, the largest economy and oil producer in Africa, is facing a serious debt crisis that threatens its economic stability and future prospects. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s public debt stock stood at N46.25 trillion (US$103.11 billion) in Q4 2022, an increase of 658 percent since 1999. Of this amount, N18.70 trillion (US$41.69 billion) was external debt, while N27.55 trillion (US$61.41 billion) was domestic debt. The rising debt burden has been driven by several factors,…

This signing of the Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership ETIP by the Minister of Trade and Investment is simply put a recolonization agenda coming through the back door. This trade deal accommodates British legal practice in Nigeria and does not provide for Nigeria legal practitioners to compete in UK. The real debate about this Enhanced Trade Partnership deal should be whether at this point of our nationhood, there is plausible need for us to resubmit ourselves as a nation to another era of British colonization in view of the fact that we're not just able to manage our affairs sustainably…

This is a candid response to the views of Dr. Philips Nto, a former commissioner for finance and economic planning in Abia State, on the state's 2024 budget. Dr. Nto had lauded the budget as realistic and capable of boosting the economy, especially through its high allocation to capital expenditures. It is also his opinion that borrowing is not a bad idea, as long as the borrowed funds are invested in productive projects. Nonetheless, Prince Ike Okorafor, who holds a strong commitment to promoting good governance in Abia State, has some reservations and critiques regarding Dr. Ntos assertions, based on…

In 1973, writer and dermatologist, Professor Anezi Okoro published a novel for young adults titled One Week, One Trouble. It tells the story of Wilson Tagbo, a secondary school student, who from the first day he got enrolled, until he got to Senior Secondary 3 grade, had one trouble or the other in what was clearly a process of becoming and self-discovery. One Week, One Trouble made it to the Nigerian school curriculum, and has further become a ready reference for the reckless manner in which Nigerian politicians are drawn to controversies like flees to nectar. Accordingly, we have had…

Chief Obinna Oriaku with all due respect sir, it is not that your well researched and well ventilated and expert analysis was being ignored or given less attention, you should understand that a lot of people read budgetary perspectives from divergent interests myself included. Whereas you are more more inclined to attach more value to human capital development as against infrastructure for very obvious reasons, some of us are getting to like the budgetary thematic that anchors so strongly on developing infrastructure across the state. For an organization like Abia Infrastructure Mandate, the Alex Otti budget that devotes 84 percent…

By Farooq A. Kperogi Twitter: @farooqkperogi It should be made clear from the outset that I am overwrought with immense grief by the heartbreaking but unintentional killing of 126 innocent men, women, and children celebrating Maulud at Tudun Biri village in Kaduna State on December 3. Nothing can compensate for this. No excuse can rationalize it. And the outrage that this issue has generated against the Tinubu government is richly justified. But it’s oddly hypocritical that there are suddenly vocal elements from the North—particularly the Muslim North, which went into a dreamless slumber during Buhari’s reign of bloodshed—carrying on as…

By: Michael Odigbe Edo-born Chief Patrick Eholor is a person one can call a Nostradamus in a way because for over a decade ago he accurately predicted the mess in which Nigeria has found itself today. Fortunately, unlike his peers who sat idly back doing nòthing, he has steadfastly plunged himself into the titanic to salvsge the country from the precipice. Of course; he has encontered several challenges in the process. As our Nostradaus, he foresaw that communities who depend on rogue politician in Nigeria's fumbling, sick democracy are doomed. So, what did he do? Before the 2015 general election…

Nigeria-Biafra War: Empowering Local Innovation; Senator Orji Uzor Kalu's Vision for Economic Resilience By Bernard Ogbe (Abuja)   Central to any nation's economic vigor is the cultivation of local production and consumption—a truth, particularly resonant in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The country's heavy reliance on imports for almost all its needs has led to a reverse inflation of its economy due to the escalating costs of importation. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, a political leader who has served as the two-time governor of Abia state, Chief Whip of the 9th Senate, and currently chairs the Committee on Privatization in the…

By Farooq A. Kperogi In a predictable, premeditated, and carefully choreographed judicial charade, the Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the verdict of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that reversed the electoral triumph of NNPP’s Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State. I sincerely hope this assault on justice isn’t the spark that ignites an inferno in Kano—and in the country. The signs had been evident since early October that a predetermination had been made that irrespective of the facts, the flawed, preplanned judgment of the election petition tribunal must be preserved at all costs. For example, on October…