I am usually careful with words but what comes to me as I think about the power sector is uncomplimentary to say the least.  Put bluntly, I think the whole power sector is a scam to use the language of our youths. Otherwise, why has it been so difficult to solve the electricity problem all […]

In case some people haven’t noticed – and it is so difficult not to notice in a country as religious as we claim to be – that both Ramadan and Lent started this Wednesday. Which means the same day. The Lenten season for practicing Christians is a season characterized by penitence, humility and denials. The […]

One of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about dear our country by those in the diaspora is on insecurity. My general answer has always been that the state of our insecurity is not as bad as what it is being orchestrated to be. While it is a vague answer, deliberately so, it is not […]

There is a war story that is not told as often as I would like. Many call it a Christmas story because it happened on a Christmas eve. However it is called, an incident which showed our common humanity occurred on the Christmas eve of 1914 during World War 1. The German forces were arraigned against […]

I ‘grew up’ with the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way or is it the other way round? I was young, enjoying my first car around the time it was declared open to traffic in the 70s. Living in Lagos with parents in Ilesha meant I had to use the road quite often. Beyond that familial obligation however, was the […]

After several years of military rule and autocratic governance, Nigerians have become accustomed to uses and abuses of raw, naked power. We lived and worked under decrees that were at times vindictive, at times self-serving, at times confusing and often times oppressive. I remember a Military President declaring that he was not only in office, […]

To me, and to many like me, all babies are beautiful irrespective of the place, or the circumstances of their birth – they could be born in a palace or a hut; in a private hospital or a manger; through rich parents or vagrants; in chilly winter or steaming summer for all I care. These wonders of […]

The recently opened coastal highway also opened up a few more things than the road itself. It opened the eyes of many Nigerians to what is possible. A friend and professional colleague, who in the almost fifty years that we have known each other, has consistently been a sworn enemy of all that is bad in governance […]

Doctors would say that a heart attack results when a seizure probably caused by a blockage of blood flow to the heart occurs. They would also opine that the causes leading to a heart attack don’t just happen. There is a buildup – my doctor friends should be laughing as I venture into this uncomfortable medical territory […]

I go often to the theme of age and aging because it is one of the inescapable aspects of life. It is also an issue, for me at least, that is as fascinating as well as it is confounding. I find the subtle, almost imperceptible ease with which a body changes along the different stages […]

A couple of weeks ago, three people very close to me had their homes and therefore, privacy violated. The three of them live off Admiralty Way which is about the busiest street in highbrow Lekki Phase One. They live in gated areas. They live in gated homes. In addition, they have private securities. Yet, as easy as […]

The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), one of the self- appointed custodians of northern interests, marked its 25 years of existence a couple of weeks ago. But there could be no clinking of glasses to notch the occasion, or celebratory pats on the back for milestone achievements. Instead, the anniversary came at the most inopportune and the most […]

Theirs were the voices, faces and names of the past, made famous by their profession. If, as they say, that the pen is mightier than the sword, then these people were mighty men of the 60, 70s through 80s. In their prime, they swayed minds and shaped opinions. They were there gathered, from Buhari’s Decree 4 […]

Back in the day, one of the most pleasurable moments of a friend was the take-off of a plane. He loved the sensation of a plane taxing off at a great speed and then gently lifting itself up into the air. Included in that sensation for him, was the feeling that earth bound burdens and worries […]

Last September, I travelled far into the hinterland of Benue State from Abuja by road for the burial of Chief Audu Ogbeh. It was a journey which took us over ten hours of barely passable roads through several settlements and domains – Tiv, Idoma and yes, Igbo. Although we went in a fortified convoy like […]