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The purported ranking of states by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), based on their performance in the 2023 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), is the focus of this piece. In the said publication, ‘Lagos State, which hosts many private schools and home to virtually all Nigerians, is in the 6th position. The next […]
Continue ReadingIn the course of the week, I had cause to be at the Akure, Ondo State-home of the Afenifere Leader, Reuben Fasoranti, and I saw modesty in its raw form. From Fasoranti’s symbolic bungalow which has played host to presidents, governors and other crème-de-la-crème of the society in their monstrous agbada or Babarigas, to the […]
Continue ReadingWhen sometime in 2008, the late Yinka Odumakin invited me to his 23, Sylvia Crescent, Anthony Village-office in Lagos, little did I know that a big surprise was waiting for me. A fine gentleman with a consistent commitment to the progressive bent, Odumakin had offered to pay me a visit but since it was unYoruba […]
Continue ReadingOndo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu is dead! May God repose his soul! Since nature abhors a vacuum, his Deputy, Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa has now been sworn-in as the substantive governor of the state. May God order his steps in the onerous tasks ahead! By the way, if Aiyedatiwa could become the governor despite the […]
Continue ReadingIt is a glorious thing to have a tested leader as the president of a country. It is also a blessing when the president means what he says and when what he says is not just believable but also approved by the people. Such a society is bound to swim in an environment of enormous […]
Continue ReadingLast week, I had the honour of visiting Dr. Amos Akingba, a chieftain of Afenifere and National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), in his Ode-Irele, Ondo State country home. Akingba, who turned 85 last March, relocated to his hometown about two years ago. Since home is for rest, the elder statesman is back home to savour the […]
Continue ReadingTalking seriously, Democracy as a concept was alien to Africa, and by implication, Nigeria. Largely, right from inception, democratic norms and values were never assimilated and internalised by Africans. At best, its definition and perception were conveniently based on assumptions. So, it meant different things to different people who thought differently! Needless to repeat that […]
Continue ReadingBy nature, development ‘belongs to those who know it, not those who have it or can buy it.’ It is like a picture, which one keeps working on. Parochialism, on the other hand, is a cultural entrapment. It is evil! With it at work, extant philosophies are laced with the cultural sentiment that a people […]
Continue ReadingOne of the greatest shortcomings of Nigeria’s existence is that she has never evolved into a nation. The amalgamation of territories, imposition of the colonial masters, the unfortunate intervention of the military and its attendant maladministration of the civil-society, and the corruption-infested politicians have not actually given the country that opportunity to realize her potentials. […]
Continue ReadingLet me start this rather short Tribute by stating that the story of my contact with Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah and my eventual employment at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) are already well-documented in the manuscripts of my future book. Let me also confess that this event-filled connection was the culmination of the timely […]
Continue ReadingPolitics, ultimately, is about the people. Policymakers always allude to the interest of the masses as the raison dètre of their policy contents. It therefore goes without saying that all policies appear to be people-friendly until their implementation, when the real and intended beneficiaries are exposed. At the outset, every administrator tells the people that […]
Continue ReadingBoth time and moments are separate but distinct realities. They are both real but, at a point, one ceases from the realm of conscious reality. Whereas time is a reoccurring phenomenon, moments are recorded in time. Still, it lives on in the inner recesses of our minds. The important thing to note here is that […]
Continue ReadingNigeria’s former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, will not stop amazing Nigerians! In yet another in the series of what could be described as ‘speaking truth to power’, Obasanjo recently berated the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration for mismanaging the country’s diversity. According to him, “old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses […]
Continue Reading“What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller Next Friday, September 11, 2020, the mortal remains of my late father, Pa Sunday Alaba Komolafe, will be committed to Mother Earth. The event, which will take place at Ijebu-Jesa, his Osun State-ancestral hometown, will no doubt […]
Continue ReadingThe race to the Year 2023 general elections in Nigeria has already begun and all eyes can see it. Ancient prejudices, myths and biases are gradually gathering momentum with ferocious swiftness; and it is as if those with the notion that Nigeria’s next major political battle is still centuries away have missed it. Again, while the cumulative effects of the forthcoming Edo and Ondo States’ governorship elections will be sufficient enough to foretell the […]
Continue ReadingExperts have predicted that COVID-19 may remain a crisis much longer than 2022, with “up to 70% of world’s population” becoming infected. Amid this mess, elections are billed to hold in Nigeria in 2023, in line with constitutional provisions. If, in the worst-case scenario, COVID-19 subsists beyond 2022, what then does the future hold for dear country? The more reason Nigeria’s politicians, as at today, should worry about how to ensure that we have a country […]
Continue Reading“We must make sure about two things, namely: that our principles are just and that are methods are practical; for nothing destroys her own ends as unjust principles and impractical methods and approach.” – Obafemi Awolowo. Twenty three years ago, yours sincerely authored an article on one of Nigeria’s never-endingDevelopment Plans. The intervention, entitled, ‘Vision 2010 Hath No Fury’ (Nigerian […]
Continue ReadingRumours are rumours! But, if, indeed, there is any substance or element of truth in the rumoured presidential ambition of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then, he will have to take some serious steps for it to become a reality. Charity, they say, begins at home! For him to be sellable to the majority of Nigerians, Tinubu must metamorphose into that […]
Continue ReadingHave you watched the video clips of the gruesome execution of Lawan Andimi and Roypvil Dalyep by Boko Haram? Have you ever imagined what it feels like to take one’s loved ones away with hopes of reuniting with them waning with each passing day? Have you for once paused to ponder the pains and the trauma of Nigerians who have become widows, widowers and orphans as well as those whose means of livelihood […]
Continue ReadingIt bears repeating that Nigeria’s continued existence will be at risk if the rich and the wealthy are not receptive to the clear warning of anger and poverty-induced disillusionments in the land. First, Aisha Buhari’s warning that most of Nigeria’s leaders, “as a result of a long time of injustice done to” the mass of the people, “cannot […]
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