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.
When floods swallow roads in Lagos, food prices jump in Kano, classrooms overflow in Niger Delta communities, or young graduates queue for scarce jobs in Abuja, government is expected to respond.
Two weeks ago, this column began by arguing that Nigeria’s policy conversation – especially in the subnational – must move closer to lived reality.
In modern statecraft, health security is national security. Professor Adeyeye’s courageous exposure of these internal bottlenecks must serve as a turning point. She needs all the support and for the country to stand behind her in her quest to bring sanity.
Last week, this column began with a simple proposition: Nigeria’s public policy conversation is often conducted at the wrong altitude.
Nigeria’s policy conversation has long been conducted at the wrong altitude. We speak of federal programmes, presidential initiatives and national plans as though Abuja is the decisive theatre of development.
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 driver who insists on using a 1960 road map to navigate a twenty-first century city is not necessarily lost because the map is inaccurate.
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.
A tax system without data is like a pilot navigating through thick cloud cover without instruments.
Pouring endless funds into an unoptimised framework is not a long-term strategy. It has become critically urgent to fundamentally restructure our security apparatus.
Imagine a farmer who painstakingly installs the most sophisticated irrigation system, yet never plants a single seed.
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.
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.
When Aliko Dangote recently declared that Ajaokuta Steel Complex will never work, his words provoked anger across the country, particularly in Kogi where the plant sits like an abandoned monument.
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.
Two years into the administration of Governor Uba Sani, Kaduna State presents a portrait both hopeful and troubling, one marked by flashes of progress and deep, systemic voids.
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.
Nigeria’s economy today feels like a bike with a good rider, a decent engine, but a cracked and muddy road. The rider – our entrepreneurs and businesses – is full of energy and resolve.
There is a growing murmur in Nigeria’s business corridors – an air of restrained optimism, captured in the April 2025 edition of the NESG-Stanbic IBTC Business Confidence Monitor (BCM).
It is often said that institutions reflect the values and visions of those who design and manage them.
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.
Nigeria’s economy is at a crossroads. The past year has been a whirlwind of policy adjustments, market turbulence, and shifting investor sentiment.
Simplifying bureaucratic procedures, and boosting operational efficiency could make a Nigerian adaptation of DOGE highly impactful. Such an approach could revolutionise security, bolster the economy, and improve governance.
Africa has no shortage of ambition when it comes to infrastructure development, and the demand for financing is substantial.
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.
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.
Until the impact of corruption outweighs concerns around national interest, countries are unlikely to take serious measures on it. So what do we do?
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…
The consolidation effort laid out should be actively pursued to bolster national security, but its execution must be efficient and strategic.
A critical aspect that appears to elude the administration’s grasp is the imperative of waste reduction and relentless battle against corruption.
With a debt profile of N77 trillion, Nigeria is the sixth largest recipient of Chinese loans in the continent.
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.
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.
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.