It appears that the federal government of Nigeria is playing with fire with the sudden and ill-advisedly-timed removal of the fuel subsidy. The fact that there was a near consensus that subsidy should go, does not mean that it should be removed anyhow demonstrating lack of a comprehensive understanding of huge problem and more so with an insensitive price differential between the old price and the new one. The new amount being sold now is an economic joke taken too far. The amount N500 (plus-minus) depending where one is located, is by far beyond what majority of Nigerians can cope…
Author: Isaac N. Obasi
There are various ways to react to the announcement of the results of the presidential election held on Saturday, February 25, 2023 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). My own immediate reaction is to reflect on the ascendency of lying and deceit as directive principle of official actions in Nigeria. A well-coordinated political engineering of lying and deceit was at the driving seat of the electoral process that culminated into the elections of that particular day. What appears to be smart (but unintelligent) manipulation and allocation of votes across the country was meant to deceive the public. This, perhaps…
BOOK REVIEW Title: Nigerians…in Theory: Our Quirks, Habits and Idiosyncrasies Authors: Joe Abah & Yemi Adesanya Publisher: BOOKCRAFT Place of Publication: Ibadan Date of Publication: 2022 Number of Pages: 361 Name of Reviewer: Isaac N. Obasi, Introduction The writing and eventual publication of a book from various ideas systematically generated from the Twitter social media platform, within a short period…
Today Thursday, November 24, 2022 marks the 80th birthday anniversary of a foremost Pharmacist Prof. Cletus Nze Aguwa, who distinguished himself as Nigeria’s first academic clinical pharmacist and the first professor of clinical pharmacy in black Africa. Part of the title of this piece: pathfinder to clinical pharmacy, is a borrowed phrase from Prof. (Mrs) Chinwe Victoria Ukwe in her Inaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2015. A proud student of Prof. Aguwa, she used the phrase to give a well-deserved tribute to her mentor in the field of Clinical Pharmacy generally seen as the youngest…
Today July 20, 2022, marks the 80th birthday anniversary of Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun, one of Nigeria’s and Africa’s outstanding scholars who is still standing strongly and reverberating with great ideas. Thanks to the almighty God that made this possible by sustaining him over the years. Prof. Adamolekun is an ideas man par excellence who is not tired of writing and publishing great ideas to make Nigeria assume its rightful position as the giant of Africa. An ideas man is “a person who is particularly good at thinking of new or original ideas.” (See Oxford Lexico via http://www.lexico.com/definition/ideas_man). As a man…
The twin virtues of meekness and humility of heart (Mathew 11:29) are rare attributes of human beings generally known to be self-assertive and protective of their interests while dealing with others. This is hardly surprising because for many, these twin virtues are only aspirational in nature. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ (most authentic embodiment of these virtues) enjoins us to possess them when he invites us saying ‘come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart…’…
Title: THE WEALTHCODE OF THE IGBOS: (Revealed: How the Igbos Build thriving Businesses from Nothing) Author: ‘DunsinOluwasuji Publisher: The Extra Company Place of Publication: Lagos Date of Publication: 2021 Number of Pages: 149 Name of Reviewer: Prof. Isaac N. Obasi Department of Public Administration University of Abuja Introduction Creativity was at its best whenOluwadunsinOluwasuji put his pen on paper to produce an excitingly captivating book titled The Wealthcode of the Igbos in which he splendidly ‘revealed how the Igbos build thriving businesses from nothing’. Both the writer’s creativity and the creativity drivingthe Igbos’spirit of industry(his subject matter) were dazzlingly displayed.…
In our last article, this column celebrated the ranking of Nigeria’s COVID-19 response as the fourth most successful in the world by the World Health Organization (WHO). In that article, this column agreed totally with WHO’s very high ranking of Nigeria’s COVID-19 policy response as consistent with what the column had documented since the emergence of Nigeria’s war against COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (now turned Presidential Steering Committee on COVID19) was specially commended for its courageous fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. The article also recognized the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control…
Andy Lee’s piece in 2018 titled You are a shining light in a dark world, fittingly describes the person of the Most Rev. Dr. Felix Alaba Job, Emeritus Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan. A shining light figuratively speaking is someone ‘who is excellent or inspirational’ (See English-Spanish Dictionary via http://www.wordreference.com). As Lee rightly observes, ‘light represents goodness, purity, and life while darkness represents sin and disobedience’. His Grace Alaba Job has lived an outstanding and admirable spiritual life that inspired and still continues to inspire generations of Christians in and around the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan. This has in…
Tuesday, July 20, 2021 marked the 79th Birthday anniversary of Prof. Ladipo Adamolekun (NNOM) – one of Nigeria’s most distinguished intellectual giants of our time. As a shining light in the discipline of Public Administration, Prof. Adamolekun was awarded the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) in December 2005. So far, he is the only academic in the discipline of Public Administration in Nigeria, to receive this most prestigious award. NNOM as we know is the ‘highest national prize for academic and intellectual attainment’ given to ‘distinguished Nigerians who have been adjudged to have made outstanding contributions to the academic,…
The University of Abuja community was thrown into a bewildering state of an uncontrollable painful mourning on Saturday, May 29, 2021, following the news of the sudden and tragic death of Prof. & Mrs. Peter B. Maidoki. This heartbreaking fatal motor accident occurred along the Abuja-Kaduna highway. The news was received among his colleagues with disbelieving ears, loud shouts and with other expressive reactions such as the devil is a liar, Oh my God, shame unto the devil, etc. Again, these spontaneous reactions were followed by squeezed, clutched and angry countenances among his colleagues in the Department of Public Administration, Faculty…
