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Opinion

Monday, 14 June 2021 05:45

The upside of population decline - Adair Turner

China’s recently published census, showing that its population has almost stopped growing, brought warnings of severe problems for the country. “Such numbers make grim reading for the party,” reported The Economist. This “could have a disastrous impact on the country,” wrote Huang Wenzheng, a fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing, in the Financial Times. But a comment posted on China’s Weibo was more insightful. “The declining fertility rate actually reflects the progress in the thinking of Chinese people – women are no longer a fertility tool.” China’s fertility rate of 1.3 children per woman in 2020…

Sunday, 13 June 2021 05:56

Buhari’s dot-In-a-circle and Makinde’s AK-47 - Festus Adedayo

Was it better that President Muhammadu Buhari remained unapologetically deaf to all entreaties to address Nigerians or open a window into his mind and reveal a cesspit of foul-smelling hate? Peradventure there were still nationalistic remnants among his coterie of admirers, after last Thursday’s interview the president granted Arise TV, they would be at the crossroads. Their dilemma may jolly well be addressed by a famous Maurice Switzer quote whose authorship had before now been a subject of controversies. Was it authored by Abraham Lincoln or celebrated humourist, Mark Twain? Anyway, Switzer, in a book written in 1907, had said,…

Sunday, 13 June 2021 05:55

Herdsmen invasion: Stop panicking, ready to fight your assailants - Michael West

It annoys me whenever I see screaming headlines and fearful posts regarding the appearance of Fulani herdsmen in large number in any part of the southern states. It is always presented as an omen of imminent war which it may actually be. But will you fold your arms to be slaughtered by invaders and terrorists who prowl your space in an audacious and offensive manner? Until the invaders themselves begin to nurture fears about their own destruction and death, there won't be peace. I'm of the opinion that the appearance of herders does not necessarily indicate onslaughts on their host…

Sunday, 13 June 2021 05:53

Total deliverance on Mount Zion (1) - Taiwo Akinola

And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed ~ Acts 16:26. Introduction: The realities which surround living in this world make deliverance from all forms of bondage a quintessential part of the gospel program. This truth must be allowed to settle down well with our theology and our belief systems. ‘Bondage’ describes a spiritual state of confinement or involuntary servitude, but deliverance is a process of liberating a person who is captured, kept in spiritual confinement and dominated upon…

Sunday, 13 June 2021 05:52

By His stripes we are healed (2) - Femi Aribisala

The Lord laid the iniquity of us all on Jesus Christ. Then He said: “by His stripes, we are healed.” This is quite simply ridiculous and unfair from a human point of view. But it is the wisdom of God. Healing With Stripes Let us understand two principles of the kingdom of God here. The first one says: God does not heal with medicine. He heals with stripes. What does this mean? The principal thing that God heals is sin. He heals sin with the cane. He heals sin with the rod. David understands kingdom dynamics. So, he says: “Your…

Saturday, 12 June 2021 05:42

Nigeria is ours to make - Abimbola Adelakun, Farooq Kperogi, Biko Agozino, Asonzeh Ukah, Rita Kiki Edozie, Jibrin Ibrahim, & 34 others

The immediate trigger for the Twitter ban was the platform’s deletion of a tweet posted on President Muhammadu Buhari’s handle, the site having judged the tweet as not abiding by its policy. However, long before this incident, on which the dust is yet to settle, the government had exhibited a willingness to censor public debate, especially on social media. The proposed but defeated Social Media Bill of 2019 was an early signal of this position. In the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests of October 2020, the Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed, publicly declared that social media must be “regulated” in…

Saturday, 12 June 2021 05:41

Nigeria’s school kidnapping crisis is even worse than you think - Bulama Bukarti

There has never been a more trying time to be Nigerian. That sounds cliched, but there are simply no words to convey Nigerians’ horror at the endless cycle of national grief. Our country has so far been spared the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but extremist violence, communal clashes and rising criminality are producing an epidemic of insecurity. The latest alarming trend is a wave of mass kidnappings of students, endangering millions of children’s futures. At the end of May, dozens of kidnappers on motorcycles stormed a school in north-central Nigeria and whisked away 136 children aged 5 to 14…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:38

Birthday greetings: In lieu of responses - Edwin Madunagu

When Gani Fawehinmi died in September 2009, I put together an extended tribute for distribution in Calabar, Lagos and wherever the funeral would be. The centres of distribution in Calabar included our home and my office. Comrades, compatriots and friends were asked to come to any of these centres to collect copies for themselves and for others. A young lady with whom I had worked in Calabar chose to come to the house. I did not see her but I heard her say something like this to a member of the household: “Oga is always writing tributes for his comrades.…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:36

What Twitter ban teaches the world about Nigeria - Azu Ishiekwene

The Nigerian government thinks Twitter is the greatest source of its misery. After straining at the leash for months, it couldn’t resist swatting the microblogging platform with a ban last week. But what does the ban mean, really? It means that about 40 million users in Nigeria who are mostly young people would be unable to access the service through local service providers. This figure is more than the total number that voted for President Muhammadu Buhari in the last two elections combined, over half the total number of those who voted in the general elections of 2019, and nearly…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:35

FG’s Twitter ban: Another view - Olalekan Adigun

I first heard about Twitter during my final year at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 2011. I neither knew how it worked nor how to even be a part at the time. I only knew of Facebook which I rarely used since Twitter users made themselves appear like an elitist, members-only club. I couldn’t open a Twitter account until three years later. This is how I became, like most users, addicted to the network ever since largely running political commentaries and advocating social change. Like many people, I was affected by the sudden, and rather harsh decision, of the Nigerian…

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Friday, 11 June 2021 05:33

The burden of the first lady - Dare Babarinsa

Mrs Ajoke Muhammed may be one of the least known First Ladies in Nigerian history. When her husband became Nigerian third military ruler, she was just a young woman of 33, looking forward to a lifetime of conjugal felicity with her husband. She became a widow at less than 34 years of age when her husband was killed during the coup of February 13, 1976. Then she began a lifelong journey of widowhood. Her husband was just 36 and even at that young age, he had been at the epicenter of Nigerian politics for at least a decade. Ten years…

Friday, 11 June 2021 05:32

A rash decision that keeps single women hostage - Michael West

"Had I known, I would have listened to my mom. I didn't know it would be this difficult to get marry." This lamentation came from a caller Wednesday evening while sharing her story with me. I have her types on my counseling list. I have been reluctant to write about this topic because some of those who are close to me may think I intentionally wrote about them whereas almost on daily basis I encounter women who are victims of their rash decisions and wrong reasoning. The caller, in her early 50s, is not pleased with the calibre of men…

Thursday, 10 June 2021 05:47

Restructuring: An idea whose time is gone - Bola Bolawole

Today I am yielding this space to a friend and professional colleague who is a veteran journalist, relationships expert, music aficionado (of the “Sound Judgment” fame) and political affairs commentator. His name is Michael Awe aka Michael West. Enjoy it! “Whoever is still campaigning for restructuring to happen under this Fulanised government is short-sighted and not coming to terms with the reality in Nigeria of today. For obvious reasons, restructuring cannot happen under the retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led government. The anchor reason is that restructuring is believed to be inimical to the interests and agenda of the Fulani imperialists. The…

Wednesday, 09 June 2021 05:47

These incendiary video clips! - Femi Mimiko

It is indeed scary the speed with which our country is cascading into cataclysm! Some of the video clips making the Internet rounds - of deadly attacks on the sleepy Igangan community in Oyo State; of burning of individuals and animals in the Southeast; assassinations and killings in Imo; kidnappings in Ondo; and massacres in Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Borno and elsewhere - are unspeakable! I have argued consistently, standing on the observatory of history, that when things are moving in this direction and with this speed, the onus is on GOVERNMENT to re-strategise, climb down from its Olympian heights, make…

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