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VERITATEM with Obadiah Mailafia
How Ghana bulldozes Nigeria
ABOUT a fortnight ago, we received the shocking news that the Nigerian embassy staff buildings in Accra were levelled to the ground by a Ghanaian businessman, claiming that the edifice had been erected on his own land. He brought papers…
Obafemi Awolowo and the struggle of the Middle Belt
A fortnight ago, a bill was proposed by Honourable Kpam Sokpo (PDP, Benue) for enshrining the Six Geopolitical Zones into law while renaming the North Central as “Middle Belt”. Knowing what we know, this bill is a rather tall order. But it…
The revenue crisis and the challenge of government
It has become a truth, universally acknowledged, that Nigeria currently faces an unprecedented revenue crisis.A report on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy (MTEF/FSP) recently released by the Federal Ministry of…
Democracy and the legacy of Bashorun Abiola
Friday 12 June was Democracy Day. It provided occasion for sober reflection on where we are as a country; whence we came and where we are heading. Aso Villa made all the right noises. The chattering classes did their part.I was part of…
I can’t breathe!
The brazen, daylight murder of the 46-year old African-American George Floyd by police in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, will bethe defining moment in American race relations. The riots and looting that followed the killing were on a…
Lynching Akinwumi Adesina
The culture of lynching and genocide is deeply embedded in the gestalt of American race relations. And this, despite the Civil Rights Act 1964.As late as the 1960s in the Jim Crow South, it was the norm for the Ku Klux Kan (KKK) to fish…
The looming fiscal crisis and the wisdom of Awolowo
In terms of financial wizardry and sheer genius in economic statecraft, the only master I bow to is the legendary sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. I believe he was an extraordinary statesman and an economic genius to boot.Former Head of…
The coming Anti-Christ and the Africans
This is an imaginary essay. But it fits in with the economic, geopolitical and spiritual realities of our world today.By a dream-vision, I was taken to the Infernal Kingdom where I beheld Satan sitting on his throne with glittering…
Managing the economy after the pandemic
Last week, a Citizen Dialogue event was hosted by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Budget to examine the fallouts from Covid-19 and the implications for the budget and management of the economy.The outcomes from that exercise seem…
Reflections on the post-coronavirus international economic order
THE novel coronavirus pandemic has been the biggest global economic shock since the 1929 Wall Street Crash. In fact, its ramifications might be even bigger, given that, unlike the 1929 crash, our world is today an integrated global…