STRATEGIC PARLOUR

“We come from Africa, and this is something that I don’t think we speak a lot about. When you make money, it’s not your money. You have all these relatives, cousins, and others asking for money. “Then your sisters get married to some guy who just wants to get married into John Obi Mikel’s family because then “my life is sorted”. You send money to your sister; the money goes to him, and he does whatever he does with it. This is something nobody knows about.” “So you get your salary, and you put some aside for this person; put this aside for that person; put this aside for mom and dad. Before you know it, where is it? You get nothing.” Speaking further, he stated that African footballers oftentimes cater for people beyond their immediate family. He said, “They keep having so many kids, and you look at it and ask the question, “You have this many kids; who is going to look after them?” Then you realise it’s you. They look out for you to look after the kids, the husband, and the husban...

Several years ago, at a conference on Coastal Piracy in Nigeria’s Territorial Waters, I admonished a senior member of the Nigeria Customs and Immigrations Department that the Customs was the most corrupt sector of the Nigerian public service. As a result, the Customs receive by far the largest number of job-applicants in the entire service. The reason, I maintained, was because it is widely understood that Customs officials are Nigeria’s richest public-servants, given the fact that they are well-positioned to extort and receive bribes. Big-man lawlessness: The unfortunate Customs official at whom my reprimand was directed was not particularly offended. Rather, he observed solemnly that the Customs receive mixed signals from Nigerian officialdom. These indicate that laws are to be honoured more in the breach than in the observance. Therefore, Customs officials have few qualms about being corrupt when, daily, they observe first-hand the corrupt practices of the powers-that-be.He not...

The former minister said this while speaking as a guest at the 2023 TheNiche Annual Lecture held at Lagos State on Friday, while condemning his fellow countrymen for being docile and tolerant of the malfeasance of politicians. Rotimi Amaechi, a former minister of transport in the Muhammadu Buhari-led regime and former governor of Rivers State, has lambasted Nigerians for tolerating corrupt politicians and shying away to fight bad governance which has hindered the growth and progress of the country. The former minister said this while speaking as a guest at the 2023 TheNiche Annual Lecture held at Lagos State on Friday, while condemning his fellow countrymen for being docile and tolerant of the malfeasance of politicians. “What is new to say? Nigerians don’t react to anything. Has any politician told you he is not a thief? Tell me one politician who says he is not a thief. Tell me one. Which politician told you he went to the university? Which politician told you he served in NYSC? Wh...

A person's school needs should be guided by the existing National trade and Services plan of a nation. This is because it is the policies of government that creates and sustains durability of economic careers. Any economic career opportunity that is not backed up by government policy is a disaster waiting to happen and would soon be shortlived and unsustainable for long-term. Where there is no defined National Trade and Service Plan, any education process and program engaged by individuals in such economy will eventually have no economic competence/relevance. This is the reason Nigeria is experiencing high rate of unemployment and after school poverty.

This month makes it two years since my mother died. As it often happens during some anniversaries, the mind wanders. And as it wanders from one incident to another, from one happenstance to another, the latent philosopher in us emerges. We ponder with hindsight on the insignificance of things which were seemingly very important ten, twenty years ago. For example, my mother had always wanted to build a housesolely in her name and probably would have felt unfulfilled in life had she not done so. The prayer of her time – and possibly beyond her time- in Yorubaland was that one would achieve enough in one’s lifetime to be able to build a house and buy a car (wako’le, wara moto).Along with having responsible children, it was the ultimate fulfillment of the time. The house which she moved into after her husband died gave her a new lease of life and was her home for almost four decades. Today, the house is forlorn and empty. The things she had kept and guarded so jealously over the years; so...

As the controversy over the cost of governance in Nigeria rages, findings of a study show how states squander funds on overhead costs to the detriment of capital projects. Case study is the 2019 fiscal year and study carried out by BudgIT. A statement on BudgIT website describes it as a civic organisation driven to make the Nigerian budget and public data more understandable and accessible across every literacy span. The statement adds: “BudgIT’s innovation within the public circle comes with a creative use of government data by either presenting these in simple tweets, interactive formats or infographic displays. Our primary goal is to use creative technology to intersect civic engagement and institutional reform”. Findings of study: Executive Summary The cumulative actual expenditure for all 36 states grew by 2.73% from N5.12 trillion to N5.26 trillion between 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. Actual recurrent expenditure and loan repayments grew by 4.75% from N3.17 trillion to N3.3...