Archive for Opinion

Some Concerns And Clarifications by Femi Adesina

August 28, 2019 Opinion No comments

Day two in Japan, and it was mainly for exhaling, catching our breath, receiving briefings and preparing for the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), which holds from August 28-31.

The program outline is rich, and holds much for Africa in different spheres like deepening sustainable and resilient society, building peace and stability, agriculture, climate change and disaster risk reduction, human resource development, education, blue economy, and many others.
From concerns and comments on the social media, one is compelled to make some clarifications. No, not in response to futile efforts by some shadowy group to convince Nigerians that their President was not in Japan, or that they were going to molest him. That does not really deserve any answer. To those who believe, no explanation is necessary, while to the cynics and septics, no explanation is possible. We leave them in their follies.
The first concern somebody raised was why President Buhari was in Japan, when the G7 was meeting in France. Funny, but let’s educate those who are of such minds. Is Nigeria part of G7? No. So, no Nigerian leader, or leader of any non-member country, can gatecrash into the meeting of the association. You need to be invited. Recall that in 2015, about a week after his inauguration, the first trip President Buhari made outside Africa was to attend the G7 meeting in Germany. He had been invited to brief the association on the security challenges in Nigeria, so that helping hand could be offered. Read more

THE WAY OUT: A Clarion Call For Coalition For Nigeria Movement by Olusegun Obasanjo

January 23, 2018 News, Nigeria Politics, Opinion No comments

Special Press Statement By President Olusegun Obasanjo

Since we are still in the month of January, it is appropriate to wish all Nigerians Happy 2018. I am constrained to issue this special statement at this time considering the situation of the country. Some of you may be asking, “What has brought about this special occasion of Obasanjo issuing a Special Statement?” You will be right to ask such a question. But there is a Yoruba saying that ‘when lice abound in your clothes, your fingernails will never be dried of blood’. When I was in the village, to make sure that lice die, you put them between two fingernails and press hard to ensure they die and they always leave blood stains on the fingernails. To ensure you do not have blood on your fingernails, you have to ensure that lice are not harboured anywhere within your vicinity.

The lice of poor performance in government – poverty, insecurity, poor economic management, nepotism, gross dereliction of duty, condonation of misdeed – if not outright encouragement of it, lack of progress and hope for the future, lack of national cohesion and poor management of internal political dynamics and widening inequality – are very much with us today.With such lice of general and specific poor performance and crying poverty with us, our fingers will not be dry of ‘blood’.

Four years ago when my PDP card was torn, I made it abundantly clear that I quit partisan politics for aye but my concern and interest in Nigeria, Africa and indeed in humanity would not wane. Ever since, I have adhered strictly to that position. Since that time, I have devoted quality time to the issue of zero hunger as contained in Goal No. 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. We have set the target that Nigeria with the participating States in the Zero Hunger Forum should reach Zero Hunger goal by 2025 – five years earlier than the UN target date. I am involved in the issue of education in some States and generally in the issue of youth empowerment and employment. I am involved in all these domestically and altruistically to give hope and future to the seemingly hopeless and those in despair. I believe strongly that God has endowed Nigeria so adequately that no Nigerian should be either in want or in despair. Read more

When Malaria Hits Home by Dr. Oluyemi Olawaiye

April 28, 2017 Children, Health, Opinion No comments

According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) figures in 2012, the top five killers in Africa were HIV/Aids, lower respiratory tract infections, diarrheal diseases, strokes, and Malaria.  In my role as founder and president of Yeloto African Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organization named for my own children, I have made raising awareness of the ills and needs of children in Africa a central aspect of the mission of my efforts.  As I have shared before in both public and private arenas.   When I reflect on what I have seen and continue to see day to day during my vacation’s and annual charity sojourn to Nigeria, it generates great sadness in my heart to see how our country’s most valuable resource, its children, are not all provided for in a manner that ensures their optimum development and success.  What I find even more disheartening is reminiscent of a quote by entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar, who is quoted as saying, “The world’s most deadly disease is “hardening of the attitudes.”  In too many arenas, from the average citizen to the highest echelons of government there is a sense of complacency about the needs of one of the most vulnerable populations in our midst. Our children need us and they need us now.  At the risk of sounding cliché, the truth remains; the children that we are passing by begging or hawking in the streets, or those that are dying as a result of preventable illnesses are our future.  I know that something as conceptually simple as paradigm shift in thinking as well as the synergism of individuals that choose to function as change agents hold the key to turning the tide and changing the present narrative for our African children. Read more

Buhari at 74: Peace shuttle in birthday week by Femi Adesina

December 17, 2016 News, Nigeria Politics, Opinion No comments

What a helluva week for a man who turns 74 today. In one day, in his birthday week, he flew from Abuja to Monrovia, from there to Freetown, and then to Banjul, in The Gambia. He held meetings lasting many hours, then flew to Freetown, again to Monrovia, and then returned to Abuja by 3.20 a.m. In the afternoon of that same day, when most of those who travelled with him would have given anything to be in slumberland, he presented the 2017 budget proposals to the National Assembly. If I am lucky to live to that age, I don’t wish to run such punishing schedule.

But for that reason was Muhammadu Buhari born on December 17, 1942, in Daura, present day Katsina State. For that reason he came to the world. To serve humanity, serve his country, and make a huge difference. He was sent here to show that it is possible to be squeaky clean, play according to the rules, and live for others, not for primitive accumulation.
The word came out on Monday, a public holiday. We were headed for Gambia the next morning, and we must set forth at dawn. For we were returning to Abuja the same day. By 6 a.m, we were on the way to the airport. A few minutes past 7 a.m, the great bird lifted into the sky. The peace shuttle had begun. Read more

Diarrhea: Causes and treatments by Dr. Oluyemi Olawaiye

December 7, 2016 Children, Health, Opinion No comments

Dr. Oluyemi Olawaiye

Diarrhea is the condition of having at least three loose or liquid bowel movements each day.  It can lasts for a few days with the most significant symptom been dehydration due to fluid loss. Parents should be aware that loose but non-watery stools in breast feeding babies does not necessarily constitute diarrhea.

 

It is most common in developing countries. Total deaths for diarrhea worldwide was about 1.26 million in 2013. In 2012, it was the second most common cause of deaths in children younger than five years of age.  Frequent episodes of diarrhea can lead to malnutrition, stunted growths and poor intellectual development. Read more

Nuhu Ribadu officially returns to APC

July 22, 2016 News, Nigeria Politics, Opinion No comments

The former EFCC Chairman has returned to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP…says “My decision to return to the APC was triggered by my believe that all politics are local.”

Nuhu Ribadu

His statement below:

I have finally heeded the calls on me to return to the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party of which I was a founding member.

I re-registered as a member of the APC on Thursday through the party’s online portal. After that, the leadership of the party in my Bako ward of Yola South Local Government Area visited me in my Yola residence to welcome me back to their fold. Read more

OPEN LETTER: Dear Honourable Minister for Power, You cannot put the Cart before the Horse Sir! by Sola Salako

December 16, 2015 Opinion No comments

Sola Salako
TO: Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN
Honourable Minister of Power, Works & Housing

I have dispassionately considered all the facts, figures arguments and justifications for the implementation of the MYTO 2 Electricity Tariff increase as proposed by the NERC, which you also advocated in your Agenda setting media briefing recently.
I have acted as a mediator between consumers and IKEDC at a few of its consumer engagement events on the imperative of another upward review of tariff as directed by the office of the Vice President.
There is no gain saying the fact that Nigerian consumers are weary of the Federal Government’s unending reforms in the power sector and majority no longer trust government’s sincerity of commitment to provide electricity to every nook and cranny of our plundered nation.
While many of us are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, considering your antecedents as the erstwhile Governor of Lagos State, your appeal to consumers to absorb yet another increase in tariff as a precursor to improved service is faulty sir.
As a consumer rights and protection advocate who believes in a free and equitable market, it is clear to me that the odds are stacked heavily against the consumer in this market.

Photo Credit: Lukesh photography

Photo Credit: Lukesh photography

 

Government seems to be in the service provider’s corner, contrary to its constitutional duty of protecting its citizens from exploitation while promoting a free and fair market.
The facts and issues that we are faced with are thus: Read more

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