Opinion

COMPASSION. It simply means the willingness to be kind to others, to feel their pains and have the burning desire to help. Yes, it is about relating to what others experience and being there to assist them to remove the barriers or burden. One of the driving forces of exemplary …

2019 has been one of the best years for both human and cargo transportation in the past 30 years. Only a few accidents have been reported on air, at sea and on rails; and even the few mishaps recorded hardly claimed human lives. Road transport is always the sore thumb, …

In a new year, everyone expects everything to be different. This may not always be the case. One thing is clear, however, while 2019 may have passed it would cast a shadow over 2020. The information communications technology (ICT) sector in Nigeria remains, perhaps, the most vibrant sector in the …

In this reflection I am using the phrase welcoming a ‘new decade’ very cautiously as I am mindful of the controversy over whether January 1 2020 should be regarded as the beginning of a new decade or the end of the last decade.  For those who argue that 2020 is …

A crucial phase for Lagos State in the past year was the change in political leadership that ushered in Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat as governor and deputy governor respectively. Central in the mission of the dynamic duo is the vision to achieve a ‘Greater Lagos’. …

Narendra Modi, the current Prime Minister of India, once described the hallmark of government as good governance with good intentions. He also said that the core passion of any government is to implement policies and decisions with integrity. In democracy, one of the ways to keep a government on the …

My Dear Compatriots, NIGERIA’S DECADE Today marks a new decade. It is a time of hope, optimism and fresh possibilities. We look forward as a nation to the 2020s as the opportunity to build on the foundations we have laid together on security, diversification of our economy and taking on …

His Excellency, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, presumably or purportedly, Governor of Abia State, can be likened best to a king without his crown. Without exaggeration, Ikpeazu, can be correctly tagged and plainly labeled a fancied surrogate masquerading as the authentic and real Governor. These descriptions may sound strange, puzzling and even …

The Tuesday December 24 2019 release from detention of both the former National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and publisher of Sahara Reporters Omoyele Sowore came unexpectedly.  A terse press release from the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami said the decision to release both …

  Recently, former President Goodluck Jonathan was in Enugu, to deliver a lecture at the 10th anniversary celebration of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu. The former President’s visit to Enugu reechoed a fundamental aspect of governance structure of the state, where Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi holds sway as the governor. The …

  Dear Mr. President, Travelling from Lagos to Anambra State on November 9, 2019, I counted 67 “checkpoints” mostly manned by armed men of the Police Mobile Force along the 371 kilometre stretch from Sagamu to Asaba. Travelling the same route again on Thursday November 28, 2019, I counted 64 …

BEING A KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY TONY ATTAH, MD/CEO NIGERIA LNG LIMITED AT NIGERIA LPGA & LPG SUMMIT 2019, ON 27TH NOV, 2019 AT FEDERAL PALACE HOTEL, LAGOS Protocol, PREAMBLES Captains of industry, eminent Nigerians, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I feel privileged to speak to this outstanding industry group about the …

  The contest for emancipation of any group is inevitably fraught with activities of saboteurs. In fact, conspiracy, sabotage and treachery are some of the tendencies perpetuated on any society in the struggle for their survival. One common thread with saboteurs, traitors,or betrayers is their sad ending. Throughout history, we …

  OKEZUE OGBUU ALAA📌  RE: 2019 AHIAJOKU LECTURE SERIES!   It is good and commendable that the 2019 Ahiajoku Lecture was recently held in Owerri.  The intellectual and non-intellectual benefits of Ahiajoku lectures are legendary and innumerable no doubt.  However, some fallouts from the 2019 Ahiajoku Lecture suggest that the solemn …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 The saying, usually, is: Who bells the cat? The story is told that rats met one day and the agenda was how to put a halt to the havoc the cat was wreaking in the rats’ midst. Suggestions after suggestions were considered before the rats, in …

dispossessed by James Eze; Fasihi (Daraja Press); 2019; 121 pp Ever since I got a signed copy of James Eze’s debut collection of poetry, dispossessed, I’ve been possessed! Poetry can be overwhelming at the best of times such that it becomes a benumbing challenge getting the aesthetic distance to engage …

turnpot@gmail.com 0807 552 5533 If a writer does not generate hostility, he is dead – Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, Nobel Laureate in Literature (2001). In any man that keeps silent in the face of tyranny, the man dies – Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate in Literature (1986). Those who vote (in …

The new word I put in the Dictionary recurs: Buharigging. It simply means deploying every apparatus of state – military, police, the secret service and the electoral commission – to manipulate an election. It is a word for an “anything goes” election where the figures of the agents of the …

The rise of Air Peace coy took everyone by surprise. The attitude was that the company belonged to Mrs Patience Jonathan, also known as Mama Peace. The subsequent investigation into the affairs of the company was thorough. Now fast forward to 2019 when the company decided to establish itself as …

turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 Recent events must have Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders thinking which of Ali Modu Sherriff (aka PDP’s undertaker), and the incumbent, Uche Secondus (aka “Se ko dun”: Cook PDP well and let it taste well in APC’s mouth), is more of a pain in the ass. …

The results of the Saturday November 16 2019 off-season polls in Kogi and Bayelsa States, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, have, as expected, been mired in controversy. The two elections were marred by violence as projected by many analysts in the run-up to the elections. According …

In recent years, some of my friends have relocated to Europe or North America along with their family members. When another longstanding friend hinted he would be migrating to America soon, I tried to discourage him as I did other friends. “You’re making a mistake,” I told Udinny, a university …

  turnpot@gmail.com 0705 263 1058 Just like the prodding of a respected younger professional colleague moved me to take a look at the Ibadan house of horror, so also has the intervention of a senior professional colleague that I owe a lot of respect moved me to re-visit the issue. …

Many Nigerians were taken aback on Tuesday, November 12 2019, when news filtered that the Hate Speech Bill, first introduced in March last year under the eighth Senate,  passed the first hearing at the plenary. The Bill, entitled, “National Commission for the Prohibition of Hate Speeches (etc) Bill 2019, was …

  Now, my introduction to Professor Tam David-West was on this wise: I was brought up by a very strict, educationist father, who would not allow his seven children travel during holidays, particularly the long vacation at the end of the session. He had his own way of keeping us …