Author: Kazeem Akintunde

WHEN oil was discovered in Oloibiri, a small fishing community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, in 1956, those living in the community believed that their community and personal life would witness a 360-degree turn around for good. Their joy knew no bounds as the community soon became a tourist attraction site, hosting visitors from every part of the country. Soon enough, commercial activities picked up within the community. Crude oil, the new gold, was in the bowel of their land, and they hoped, it would soon translate into money in their pockets and development of their community.…

“Hunger is the cry of a god and two gods do the humans worship – the head and the stomach …We know the body will survive without head Sustenance, but the Stomach, the god that rumbles and thunders when sacrifice is late, this God cannot be slighted” – Wole Soyinka GRACE Udeme Emmanuel, at 22 years of age, is already a mother of four children. She got pregnant at the age of 16 while in SS1 and typical of most angry parents, she was sent away. She took up residence with the man that got her pregnant. Inadvertently, she became…

MANY Nigerians were aghast when a Chinese company seized three Presidential Jets belonging to the Federal Government of Nigeria in France while on a routine maintenance in their bid to enforcing a court judgment against the Ogun State Government. Among the three jets seized by the company was a 15-year-old newly purchased Airbus A330-243 with registration number 5N-FGA bought at the cost of $100 million. However, in order for President Bola Tinubu not to miss a scheduled trip to France and take a night bus to Paris, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Company Limited, as a measure of goodwill, decided to release…

FACEBOOK, a popular social media networking site in Nigeria, now known as Meta, on July 1st, announced that it would start paying money to skit makers, content creators and social media influencers with more than 5,000 followers. Mark Zukerberg is the owner of Facebook, which he renamed Meta, after he bought the company in 2021. Instagram and WhatsApp, two other social media networking sites are also owned by him. Zukerberg makes huge amount of money from the three media platforms through advertisements, and he gives back part of the money to those with large followers who create content that get…

IT was Abdullahi Sule, Governor of Nasarawa State, that called out his fellow governors few days ago on the need for them to start accounting for the humongous amounts of money they have been receiving from the federation account every month and using the funds to impact positively on the life of their citizens. Sule, while appearing on a Channels Television programme during the #EndBadGovernance protests that crippled the country for several days earlier this month, noted that Nigerians should start asking hard and critical questions from their governors as regards what they have been doing with the huge sums…

IT was meant to be a peaceful nationwide protest with the slogan ‘EndBadGovernance’ in Nigeria, but in most of the states in Northern Nigeria, it was more like an opportunity for the poor to show their grievances against the state through the only way they are familiar – looting and destruction. The #EndBadGovernance protest provided an opportunity for the Almajiris, colloquially referring to any young person who begs on the streets and does not attend secular school, to vent their anger on the state and the rich amongst society. Anger and hunger are a deadly combination that should not be…

NIGERIA is presently a nation on the edge. The reason is quite glaring for all to see. The masses, especially the youths, have vowed to organize protests across the country to call government’s attention to the hardship in the land. The government, headed by President Bola Tinubu, has told the youths that he is aware of their sufferings and that he is doing all within his power to provide succour. However, this doesn’t appear to placate the organisers, who seem set on going ahead with their protests starting August 1st till 10th Nigeria’s security agencies have pleaded with those behind…

NIGERIA is gradually becoming a sorry case due to the level of corruption and mind-blowing graft in the system. This is a country where the corrupt and those termed to be ‘fantastically corrupt’ according to David Cameron are so powerful that they can take on the government. The oil and gas sector is one of those sectors that harbors a good number of powerful Nigerians who seem to be bigger than the state. Sane and patriotic Nigerians should not be sad if some of our compatriots are now referring to our dear country as a Banana Republic. One of God’s…

Let us Pray! Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy Will be done; on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not unto temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is The Kingdom, The Power and Glory, for ever and ever. Amen. WE all need to pray in Nigeria now as the ship of state is dangerously tottering on the precipice. This is due to the fact that majority of…

ON Saturday July 13th, Nobel Laureate, Professor Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka will be 90 years on earth. God has indeed endowed him with good health and a sound mind. At his age, he is still agile and full of life. Although Soyinka does not celebrate his birthday, months before he actually turned 90, several events have been lined up by friends and well-wishers to celebrate him. The celebration kicked off with the Providus Bank, in association with the Culture Advocates Caucus, which used this year’s edition of the World Poetry Day on March 21th to celebrate Wole Soyinka. The event…

YAHAYA Bello, former Governor of Kogi State, was a 10-year lad when former military Head of State, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), came to power through a palace coup in 1985. Babangida, known by several aliases such as IBB, the ‘Evil Genius’ and ‘Maradona’, loved power and coveted it. He was not only in power during the eight years that he spent in the saddle, but he was effectively in charge of the country. Armed with a sweet mouth and a disarming smile, Babangida promised Nigerians heaven on earth. It was John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, (1834-1902), who observed in a…

IN the part of Nigeria where I came from, an Oba is highly revered. In fact, he is addressed as Iku Baba yeye, Alase Ikeji Orisa (the one who has control over death and the second in command to the gods). The King (Oba), is regarded as the representatives of the gods and fore-fathers here on Earth. In the days of yore, there were some traditional rulers that you could not directly look into their eyes. Before you can have a one-on-one meeting with such traditional rulers, there are several layers of screening you must undergo before you can stand…

THERE are several powerful men in world history who have been humbled due to their illegal dalliance with the opposite sex. These are powerful men who have held high offices but who lost their charm after being brought down from their noble height due to their inability to control their libido. Bill Clinton, former President of the United States of America, USA, was almost impeached after his illicit sex scandal with an intern, Monica Lewinsky, became public. In December 1998, Clinton, from the Rose Graden of the White House, had to apologize to his countrymen and women for his conduct.…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has never hidden his love for Nigeria’s old National Anthem, ‘Nigeria Will Hail Thee’. Long before he was elected President, he has granted several interviews where he spoke of his desire to return the old Anthem whenever he has the power to do so. To him, the old anthem strikes a chord in him and believes (rightly or wrongly) that many Nigerians share his view. Luck smile on him May 29, 2023 as he was sworn in as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To mark one year in office, Tinubu sent an…

IF there is one leader in Nigeria that actually fought for power, grabbed it, snatched it and ran with it, that individual is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Long before he completed his eight-year tenure as Governor of Lagos State in 2007, he had set his eyes on the number one job in the land. As a former Senator before he was elected Governor in 1999, the Senate, where most of his Governor colleagues considered as their retirement homes, was of no interest to him. He instead sent his wife there. In order to realise his presidential ambition, most of his…

‘Our administration shall govern on your behalf but never rule over you. We shall consult and dialogue but never dictate. We shall reach out to all but never put down a single person for holding views contrary to our own. We are here to further mend and heal this nation, not tear and injure it’- Bola Tinubu, May 29th, 2023. ABOVE is a quote from the inaugural address of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, 2023, when he assumed office as the 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In two-days’ time, his administration would clock one year…

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on January 30, 2024, through Vice President Kashim Shettima, inaugurated a 37-member tripartite Committee charged with the task of coming up with a new minimum wage for the country. The Committee, chaired by a former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mr. Goni Aji, was also given a May 31st deadline for the submission of its report. With membership cutting across federal and state governments, the private sector and organized labour, Shettima, during the Committee’s inauguration, urged its members to speedily arrive at a resolution and submit their report before the end of the…

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) added to the worries of many Nigerians May 6th when it issued a circular directing banks to put structures in place for the implementation of cybersecurity levy. The circular, with reference number PSM/DIR/PUB/LAB/017/004 addressed to all commercial merchants, non-interest and payment service banks, other financial institutions, mobile money operators and payment service providers was titled: Re-Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc, Amendment Act 2024)- Implementation Guidance On The Collection And Remittance Of The Cybersecurity Levy. It was signed by two of its Directors, Chibuzo Efeobi, Director, Payment System Management Department, and Haruna Mustapha, Director, Financial Policy…

THE management and staff of the University of Ibadan and the College of Medicine, UCH, rolled out the red-carpet on Thursday in honour of Professor Isaac Adewole on his retirement after over four decades of meritorious service to both institutions and his fatherland. The Vice Chancellor of the University, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Provost, College of Medicine and other senior eggheads in both institutions all came out to pay glowing tributes to a man many refer to as ‘IFA’. It was as if Isaac Folorunso Adewole should not retire. But at the age of 70, the Ilesa-born Medical Doctor, Administrator, Politician-cum…

YAHAYA Adoza Bello became the Governor of Kogi State at the young age of 40. He presently holds the record as the youngest person to preside over a state since the return of democratic governance in Nigeria in 1999. His emergence as Governor also has some form of divine intervention. The man that was actually elected Governor at the polls, Abubakar Audu, died before he could be sworn in. Bello was his replacement by his party, The All Progressive Congress (APC). His being from a minority group in the state also gave his people, the Ebira, who have never produced…