Author: Dakuku Peterside

WE are witnessing some of the worst anti-government protests in our recent democratic history, fuelled by economic hardship, hunger and a general feeling of disillusionment among many Nigerians. Whatever the arguments are for or against the protests, it suffices that some Nigerians are making public their anger against the system and resolute to demand change. The protest, after Day 4, showcased the massive dichotomy in the various regions’ interpretation of their stake in the Nigerian project and the impact of the economic realities and peoples’ feelings about them. Understanding Nigeria’s fault lines is not just crucial, but it’s also enlightening…

ANY government can easily undermine its credibility if it sends mixed signals on essential policy issues or initiatives, flip-flop from one policy or strategic direction to another, and turn essential socioeconomic frameworks into a yo-yo game. The outcome and resultant consequences have been consistent: a total erosion of integrity and trust in the government. This has been more glaring in the critical decision on Nigeria’s government size and its twin, cost of governance. In government, size matters! But what matters most is the ideological underpinning of what determines size, relative to goals and objectives. The size of the government in…

NIGERIA is a complex and multifaceted country that elicits various thoughts and viewpoints. Yet, there is some order in disorder. My recent journey through books about contemporary Nigeria or autobiographies of Nigerians brought this reality to light. I have read many books, and in the spirit of Barbara Tuchman, I feel that “books are the carriers of civilisation and without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.” Of the many books on Nigeria’s nature and essence I have read recently, four stood out as rich in insights into what makes Nigeria and Nigerians…

LAST week, Nigeria’s Supreme Court took a fundamental step towards dismantling the grip of state governors on the local government(LG) system and local government funds. The Supreme Court ruling on a suit filed by the attorney general of the federation,Lateef Fagbemi SAN, pointedly said the governors were undermining the functionality and operations of the LG system. They stretched it further by inferring that the governors were hell-bent on destroying democracy. In this landmark judgement, the Supreme Court made it clear that it is unconstitutional for state governments to control, withhold or tamper with funds meant for local governments and prohibited…

IN the past ten years, the South-East and North-East geopolitical zones, more than other geopolitical zones, have been sites of experiments on insecurity and militia reign. Either terrorists, kidnappers, or militias were testing the will of the government to see how long it would take for a determined state to take charge, or it was just a playground of absurdity. The result is known. Political leadership and the elite failed the people irredeemably. Admittedly, insecurity on a national scale abhors partitioning. The factors at play in a place may owe their origins to factors emanating from a totally different region,…

YEMEN, a West Asian country in the Arabian Peninsula, reported one million cases of cholera in March 2018. The world shook. At that time, Yemen was in civil war, leading to the Stockholm Agreement between feuding parties. The cholera outbreak in Yemen was linked to conflict, lack of access to clean water, extreme poverty, and the collapse of the health system. An unholy marriage of a conflict and an infectious disease outbreak can render people and health systems powerless and defenseless. Compared to Yemen, Nigeria was recovering from COVID-19 in 2021 when it experienced cholera outbreaks in 29 out of…

JONATHAN Tepperman’s book, “The Fix”, is about how some nations fixed significant social challenges like inequality, corruption, and civil wars using innovative leadership and policies. No one has yet written a book about how nations fix profligacy. Therefore, it is justifiable that Nigerian leaders have not bothered to read a book that does not exist. When such a book is eventually written, Nigeria’s chronicle of shameless profligacy will qualify as a unique case study. It is perceived as a culture our elite have come to embrace or tolerate as an acceptable national social habit. Profligacy, defined as reckless or wasteful…

NIGERIA is probably in the worst economic crisis of a generation, screamed The New York Times on June 11th, 2024. Two other influential global publications, Foreign Affairs and The Economist, had earlier said the same thing under different headlines. Although Nigeria’s economy is not yet in a recession, all other economic indicators have gone south, and the curve is not bending in the short run. Statistics on inflation (above 33%), youth unemployment (above 50%), poverty levels (over 133 million multidimensionally poor), the value of the Naira (over 200% decline against dollar in the past year), education (18.3 million out of…

THERE is currently no evidence to support the claim that democracy is a perfect system of governance. However, humans still need to figure out a better means to guarantee the freedom and consent of the governed. Democracy remains the most practical choice available. We must keep working on it until it accurately reflects our goals because it’s an evolving idea even after many years. Because Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy, is fashioned after the United States (US) model of liberal presidential democracy, whatever threatens democracy in that land becomes of interest to us. Recent unsavoury developments around the candidature of Donald…

SOUTH Africans voted in national and local elections on May 29, exactly one year after Nigeria inaugurated its current president. Since 1994, this election has been the most significant post-apartheid election and the most unpredictable in the country’s 30 years of democratic rule. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) lost its parliament majority for the first time, possibly paving the way for the country’s first coalition government. With voter discontent , leading opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), and newcomer umKhonto we Sizwe (MK), put pressure on the ANC through uninterrupted mass campaigns and…

AMIDST the initial fanfare, good feelings, and high expectations, a new era began on May 29, 2023, as a new president, vice president, and governors took oaths of office. However, as we approach the one-year mark, it’s clear that for many Nigerians, the end of the Buhari era was not the relief they had hoped for. The Buhari administration appeared rudderless and in need of more vigour. This sentiment was echoed in various states, where citizens felt betrayed by the lacklustre performance of their then-outgoing governors. This column in a piece written in March 2023, captioned Governors: Right versus Wrong…

AN increasing number of Nigerians are being driven into poverty, not by choice, but by the current political and economic climate, shaped by stringent macroeconomic policies. These policies, such as subsidy removal, devaluation of Naira, and increase in electricity tariff, have had unintended consequences. For instance, removing subsidies has led to a significant increase in the cost of living, while the devaluation of Naira has made imported goods more expensive. These factors, combined with the high level of insecurity, have affected food security in Nigeria, and created a perfect storm of economic hardship. The signs of this unavoidable reality are…

A FEW weeks ago, Nigerians were startled by a legislation that had largely escaped public awareness. This legislation, which has since undergone substantial amendment carries profound implications for the financial health of every Nigerian, sparking widespread controversy. The law raises several concerns regarding our legislators’ rigour, effort, and dedication to enacting laws. The legislation, which is known as the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) (Amendment] 2024 Act. Section 44 (2] (a] of the Act, mandated a levy of 0.5% of all electronic transactions value by businesses specified in the second schedule of the Act, which includes GSM service providers and telecommunication…

THE issue of minimum wage or salary increase or by whatever nomenclature is a complicated policy issue. The wage increase is neither good nor bad, but as a policy choice, it must be tied to some ultimate objective and benchmarked on the projected cost of living and inflationary trends over a given period. A pay rise can improve employees’ motivation while giving them more purchasing power and disposable income. It may result in businesses being shut down, hyperinflation, joblessness, and a decline in the value of the national currency. At face value, salary increases are a tool to address inequality,…

THERE has been no remarkable uproar on the public-school collapse in Nigeria, affecting primary, secondary, and university education. Our leaders do not view it as a crisis. The reason is evident: there is a widespread trend among the garrulous upper class and middle class to send their wards and children to pricey private schools in Nigeria, with most of them sending their kids abroad. This dislocation between the elite class and public schools means that they are not only unmoved by its decay, but sometimes they are not even aware of the extent of the problem. Increasingly, public school is…

THERE is no disputation that Naira abuse or more specifically the act of spraying money at social events has become an acceptable norm or cultural practice in Nigeria. Nigerians have a cultural affinity for lavish social gatherings. Many people regard these occasions as a means of displaying social status and wealth. Spraying Naira notes, and other currency notes, at events progressively appear to be the ultimate way to flaunt your social standing. Even burials that are supposed to be sober moments have been turned into considerable fanfare. This has created a new industry of mint note trading and events management.…

NIGERIAN corporate influence and that of the West continue to collide. The rationale is straightforward: whereas corporate activity in Europe and America is part of their larger local and foreign policy engagement, privately owned enterprises in Nigeria or commercial interests are not part of Nigeria’s foreign policy ecosystem, neither is there a strong culture of government support for privately owned enterprises’ expansion locally and internationally. Nigerian firms’ competitiveness on a global scale can only be enhanced by the support of the Nigerian government. It is evident that relationship between Nigerian businesses and foreign policy is important to the national interest.…

IN Nigeria, many policies that are supposed to catalyse economic growth end up making things worse and complicate matters for the citizen for whom these policies are designed to enhance their quality of life. Recently, two significant policies typify this: The Petroleum Subsidy Removal Policy and the floating of the Naira. Both policies are good and well-intentioned and would bring about substantial progress for people in the medium to long term. However, the reality is that the policies ended up having a devastating effect on the populace. Removing the subsidy brought untold hardship due to sequencing and implementation issues rather…

THE debate over which system of government is most appropriate for a multi-ethnic and geographically diverse Nigeria has suddenly resurfaced. This time, it is pushing the fundamental issues of good governance, bread and butter, security, and inclusiveness that Nigeria is grappling with to the back burner. At the centre of the debate is the agitation for a return to the parliamentary system of government as the structural panacea to Nigeria’s myriads of problems, although Nigeria has long consigned this system of government to history. Agitating the minds of critical observers of Nigerian politics is whether this renewed debate is political…

THERE is unarguably a progressive value erosion in our country. This is happening increasingly, and there is no hope of it abating soon. This cankerworm is significantly influenced by westernisation and globalisation but with the shared responsibility of local catalysts like collapsed family systems, near extinction of communal oversight and accountability, abdication of moral reinforcement by religious centres, failure of governmental institutions and a skewed education curriculum that pays little attention to proper moral education and developing cultural personality identity. The social-moral code which governs how individuals behave in a community setting has literarily collapsed in most of our communities.…