France’s ongoing uprising is not simply a contest between demonstrators and police. It is a crisis of representation, revealing what happens when citizens believe that institutions hear their complaints only after streets become ungovernable.
The loss of 37 lives in state custody is a grave indictment of public safety standards. Setting up a panel is not an achievement. The measure of true leadership lies in unyielding structural reform, state level accountability, and uncompromising prosecution.
Two weeks ago, this column began by arguing that Nigeria’s policy conversation – especially in the subnational – must move closer to lived reality.
Nigeria has entered another season when politics acquires the grammar of salvation. Banners multiply, motorcades thicken, slogans become policy substitutes, and every candidate discovers that the country can be repaired overnight.
A multi-dimensional assessment of the governance, fiscal accountability, procurement systems and human rights compliance of the Ministry of Defence finds structural reform proceeding alongside persistent weaknesses in financial transparency, procurement integrity and personnel administration.
A bridge is only useful when it connects two sides of a river. If engineers complete one end while the other remains untouched, what exists is not infrastructure but symbolism.
We currently have no binding, AI-specific statute. While the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 exists, it governs what happens to data, not what complex AI systems do with it.
My vote will go to the candidate who commits to delivering at least 70 per cent of the following blueprint reform within a strict five-year tenure.
A nation’s tax system is like a long suspension bridge stretching across a turbulent river. The steel cables represent legislation, digital infrastructure, enforcement machinery and administrative reform.
Economic development theory has never been a neutral exercise in abstraction. It is an arena where ideas are shaped by institutional power, geopolitical interest, and the historical position of those issuing policy advice.
Pouring endless funds into an unoptimised framework is not a long-term strategy. It has become critically urgent to fundamentally restructure our security apparatus.
A state’s tax system is like the circulatory system of a body; it is not the quantity of blood that ensures vitality, but the efficiency of the vessels, the strength of the heart, and the coordination of every pulse.
For the Nigeria Police to truly fulfil its mandate, it is essential to create an environment in which merit and professionalism are consistently rewarded, rather than allowing patronage and favouritism to dictate advancement and responsibility.
History has rarely been kind to societies that avert their gaze from difficult questions, especially when those questions involve the disappearance of the young and vulnerable.
A public official should be legally and physically bound to the nation s/he is serving. The knowledge that one cannot simply escape to a second home in the event of legal scrutiny serves as a powerful deterrent against malpractice.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) stands at the very heart of Nigeria’s enduring system of corruption. It is not merely a referee that occasionally misses a foul; it has become the primary enabler of public sector corruption.
An open letter to the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission proposing a strategic agenda for the regulation and enforcement of political party finance as a means of curbing public sector corruption.
The Nigerian Local Government Integrity Index is not just a report; it is a call to conscience.
I started watching The Source of the River last month, seeking an evening of entertainment but finding an unexpected masterclass in human behavior, economics, and governance.
Beyond the numbers, the most compelling argument for electronic voting lies in its potential to transform the political culture and compel leaders to perform.
On June 26, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assented to four landmark laws that signal the boldest reconfiguration of Nigeria’s fiscal architecture since the return to democracy.
In a quietly assertive move, the Government of Kenya issued a directive on June 5, 2025, mandating all principal secretaries, heads of state corporations, and procuring entities to transition fully to an electronic procurement (e-GP) system by June 10.
The Nigeria Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), approved by the Federal Executive Council on July 5, 2017, for the initial period between 2017–2021 and extended to 2022–2026, is one of many reforms and efforts in Nigeria’s anti-corruption efforts.
It should be stated that while anti-corruption efforts should focus on entrenching preventive mechanism, Nigeria’s asset recovery efforts hold immense potential if recovered loot are properly channeled.
To break the cycle of insecurity that plagues our nation, we must depoliticise our security system and appoint people with the requisite expertise and skills, who citizens can trust, into crucial roles in the system.
In 1996, the World Bank issued a now-historic report titled “Nigeria – Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: The Challenge of Growth with Inclusion.” It was a stark paradox: a country blessed with vast oil wealth, fertile land, and youthful energy was…
The success of LG reform will not be determined in courtrooms or boardrooms — it will be won or lost in communities. Citizens must evolve from passive victims of misgovernance to active auditors of their local institutions.
Tax reform in Nigeria is no longer just overdue—it has become an urgent necessity. With persistent fiscal deficits, a narrow tax base, and growing economic pressures, the government’s proposed Tax Reform Bill aims to modernize the tax system, increase revenue, and stimulate economic growth.
The Northern political class must confront a stark and unavoidable reality: the economic road ahead will demand proactive efforts, strategic vision, and collective action.
In Nigeria, public policies frequently miss the mark, leaving their intended beneficiaries wondering where the promised benefits went.
The ethical dilemma centres on the expectation of achieving quality education when public officers are relocating their children and families abroad. This issue extends beyond education to encompass healthcare as well.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, is undergoing a troubling economic narrative that has taken an unexpected turn.
On February 26, 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR directed the implementation of the Stehpen Oronsaye report after 12 years.
Ladies and Gentlemen, may I start by welcoming every one of you on behalf of the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity.
So far in the year, states have received N379.41 billion, N366.950 billion, N398.689 billion and N403 billion as statutory allocations from FAAC for January, February, March and April respectively, amounting to a total of N1.548 trillion disbursement to…
In the aftermath of a well-attended power sector retreat organized by the Ministry of Power, the landscape of Nigeria’s electricity industry stands at a crucial crossroads.
Until the process of vying for political office is reformed by reducing the expenses involved, with the perquisites of public office sanitised, alongside the curbing of the other attractions of political office, every chairman of EFCC will be brought down…
The time has come to retire “security” in the image of the military and begin the construction of security in the image of civilian and civil rule in Nigeria.
With a debt profile of N77 trillion, Nigeria is the sixth largest recipient of Chinese loans in the continent.
Verse on the refineries that were never repaired, the maintenance funds that were never spent as intended, and the subsidy that was never what it seemed.
As I listened to all the speakers, one thing was clear, as usual: that all our problems are well documented and analysed. I also think that all the varieties of solutions are well documented.
The world renown political scientist and communications theorist Harold Lasswell referred to politics as “who gets what, when and how.” Politics for him, is a way of determining, without recourse to violence, who gets power or controls state’s resources, and how they get them.
Nigeria’s legislatures need to create legislation to supersede the 1999 Constitution’s provisions on security.
A popular maxim and doctrine in law states that “he who comes into equity must come with clean hands.” This loosely means that a court may deny equitable relief to a party who has violated good faith with respect to the subject of a particular claim being sought.
Across major cities, fuel queues continue to bite harder, and the multiplied effects on the ordinary citizen are better imagined, as quality manhour continue to be wasted.
On the 23rd of March, 2007, Honorable Justice Ibrahim Nyaure Buba delivered an unprecedented judgment in the history of the judiciary.
When Nigeria transited to democracy and embraced the presidential system of government in 1999, it marked the transfer of sovereignty from authoritarian leaders to the people.
When Nigerians see a contract signpost around their constituencies with the following inscription: “this project is sponsored by Senator A or Honourable B,” the conclusion for most citizens is that their National Assembly representative has graciously funded the project from his/her personal earning or allowances.
Nigeria has been grappling with what the executives and legislatures describe as “security challenges” since 1999.
The National Security Summit Report is Nigeria’s latest addition to its dearth of documents on “security” and/or “national security”.
The Special House Committee on National Security should not waste the time of Nigerians with their Deja Vu call for memoranda. They should withdraw the call and apologize to Nigerians.
The National Assembly owed Nigerians the debt of asking and answering the question: what is security, whose security, what is a security issue and how can security be achieved.