Okonjo-Iweala, WTO and Africa’s Chances, By Reuben Abati

The announcement of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Nigeria’s nominated candidate for the position of the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which would now be vacant by September 1, 2020, and not 2021, following the incumbent’s decision to take his exit a year earlier was received with great excitement among Nigerians. This enthusiasm […]

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Politics and Nigeria’s Electricity Sector, By Reuben Abati

While Nigerians are busy with the management of COVID-19 and its many fall-outs, fire has been burning in other aspects of national life which require equal attention both now and after COVID-19 – the increasing spate of insecurity in the country is one, the crisis in the country’s electricity sector is another, but COVID-19 is […]

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Akinwumi Adesina: Best Man for the AfDB, By Reuben Abati

The Board of Governors and the Ethics Committee of the African Development Bank (AfDB) have given Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the Bank’s President, a clean bill of health in a report dated May 5, wherein it is stated that Adesina has been “entirely exonerated of all allegations made against him.” The background to that development is […]

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Amala and the Coronavirus Patient: Matters Arising, By Reuben Abati

Of all the updates that have been given so far by the Lagos State authorities on the government’s efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus, and ensure proper care for the reported index case, and other possible cases (there is a second case now), the most intriguing update for me is the disclosure that the […]

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Nigeria’s Electricity Problem: FG vs. DISCOs, By Reuben Abati

Here is the main problem with Nigeria’s electricity sector: Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, but it has failed consistently to generate, transmit and distribute enough electricity to power its development process and accelerate economic growth. Between 1999 and 2007, President Olusegun Obasanjo focused on the reform of the electricity sector as one of the […]

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New Generation Kings and the ‘Mike Tyson’ of Iwo, By Reuben Abati

Over the weekend, the Yoruba community in the South Western part of Nigeria was treated to the shocking news of a fight that broke out between two traditional rulers at an arranged peace meeting in Osogbo, Osun State, with one traditional ruler punching another in the face and the neck, sending the beaten traditional ruler […]

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The Coronavirus Challenge, Nigeria and Other Responses, By Reuben Abati

The biggest threat to our collective humanity today is not the suspected threat of a Third World War, but a corrosive, debilitating, murderous pathogen known as new Corona Virus. The fear of a World War III was fuelled by tensions and differences among key super powers dictating contemporary geo-politics notably: the US, China, Iran, Iraq, […]

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Saraki vs. Abdulrazaq: O to ge, By Reuben Abati

On January 24, at the Federal High Court in Ilorin sitting over the matter of Asa Investment vs. Attorney General of Kwara State, counsel representing the plaintiff, in this case the Olusola Saraki family, informed the court that both the family and the state government have agreed to “an amicable out-of-court settlement.” At a previous […]

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Amotekun: The Politics of Protection, By Reuben Abati

Virtually everything in Nigeria no matter how well-meaning ends up getting ethnicized, or politicized, or religionized. So it is with Operation Amotekun: the Western Nigeria Security Network whose recent launch by the Governors of the South West, on January 9, has thrown up key questions at the heart of the Nigerian dilemma as well as […]

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