Author: Kazeem Akintunde

THE management and staff of the University of Ibadan and the College of Medicine, UCH, rolled out the red-carpet on Thursday in honour of Professor Isaac Adewole on his retirement after over four decades of meritorious service to both institutions and his fatherland. The Vice Chancellor of the University, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Provost, College of Medicine and other senior eggheads in both institutions all came out to pay glowing tributes to a man many refer to as ‘IFA’. It was as if Isaac Folorunso Adewole should not retire. But at the age of 70, the Ilesa-born Medical Doctor, Administrator, Politician-cum…

YAHAYA Adoza Bello became the Governor of Kogi State at the young age of 40. He presently holds the record as the youngest person to preside over a state since the return of democratic governance in Nigeria in 1999. His emergence as Governor also has some form of divine intervention. The man that was actually elected Governor at the polls, Abubakar Audu, died before he could be sworn in. Bello was his replacement by his party, The All Progressive Congress (APC). His being from a minority group in the state also gave his people, the Ebira, who have never produced…

ABDULLAHI Ganduje, the National Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is presently battling one of the toughest battles in his political career. The two-time Governor of Kano State is facing political challenges from three different angles. One, from the incumbent Governor of the state, Abba Yusuf, who will stop at nothing in ensuring that he accounts for his eight-year stewardship while in office. Secondly, from his home front, where one of his children would be happy if he is disgraced, and lastly, from members of his political family, the APC, starting with those at his ward, who are…

THE Federal Government caught many Nigerians unawares days ago when it hiked tariff on electricity for customers in band A. The government told shocked Nigerians that there are some lucky ones among us that are enjoying up to 20 hours of electricity out of the 24 hours we have in a day, and in that wise, they are henceforth expected to pay more for such ‘luxuries’. The lucky few have now been asked to pay N225 per kilowatt of electricity consumed instead of the old rate of N65 per kilowatt. Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, said that the policy would…

THOUGH his real name is Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, he is better known and addressed as Ali Baba. For close to three decades, he has been in the entertainment industry where he is regarded as one of the leading comedians and entertainers that Nigeria has ever produced. On Monday April 1st, Ali Baba made a fool of some of us in the media industry when he announced that he and his wife recently gave birth to triplets. Writing on his verified Instagram page to his over one million followers, Atunyota wrote: “Mary and I are happy and overjoyed to welcome our…

TWO major events happened in Nigeria last week that ordinarily should give many Nigerians serious concern about the sordid state of affairs in the country but which did not shock many of our compatriots. Rather than for Nigerians to express outrage, many took to social media to ‘catch cruise’ and move on to await the next topic. Those issues have become more or less comic relief for many Nigerians. As they say now, nothing can shock us in Nigeria again. We are beyond ‘shockability’.Indeed, if the disappearance of Nadeem Anjarwalla, a top executive of Binance, who was in the custody…

THE dust raised by the gruesome murder of 17 Soldiers in Okuama Community in Delta State is yet to settle as the Federal Government has vowed to get to the root of the crisis with the assurance that the perpetrators of the heinous crime would be brought to justice. On March 14, troops allegedly responding to a communal crisis between Okuama and Okoloba communities were attacked by yet to be identified gunmen who murdered the soldiers following an ambush. They did not stop there but went ahead to dismember the bodies of many of those that they killed. Among the…

ONE of the etiquettes parents ingrain into the consciousness of their children is that they should not talk while eating or with their mouths full. Parents, particularly Yoruba mothers, are known to dish such an erring child a dirty slap or a knock on the head, to teach him/her to learn some manners and correct some wrongs. That was the training most people born in my generation received while we were young. I doubt if today’s mothers bother about such things as table manners and etiquettes anymore. However, according to medical experts, the real reason why it’s bad to talk…

THE Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and it’s twin sister, the Trade Union Congress (TUC), have begun another round of negotiations with the federal government and other stakeholders on the amount of money the least paid workers in Nigeria should earn going forward. The two trade unions believe that the N30,000 minimum wage fixed by the Muhammadu Buhari administration in April 2019, after series of negotiations with labour leaders, is no longer realistic in today’s Nigeria. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration seems to agree with the labour unions as it’s twin policies of removal of fuel subsidy as well as the…

LAST week, some residents of Aba in Abia State were in celebration mood after enjoying uninterrupted power supply for more than 48 hours. They could not hide their joy as they believed that epileptic power supply to their homes has now become a thing of the past. In fact, they took to social media to celebrate the feat, which was a dream come true for them. Earlier in the week, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu commissioned the 188 megawatts Abia Geometric Power Plant 20 years after the project was initiated by Professor Barth Nnaji. The Engineering Professor did all within his…

NIGERIA’s maternal and infant mortality rate is still among the highest in the world, with 540 babies out of 100,000 dying before the age of five. The giant of Africa only came second behind India, a report authored by the World Health Organisation (WHO) titled ‘Improving Maternal And Newborn Health And Survival And Reducing Stillbirth: Progress Report 2023’ stated. The report noted that in 2020, 788 women and children died out of 100,000 in India and 540 women and children out of 100,000 died in Nigeria. In the same year, India accounted for 17 per cent of global maternal, and…

THERE was an unusual kind of protest in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, few days ago. The protest was unusual because the protesters were young women in their prime who were fed up with what was happening in their marital life. The women, mainly from Mile 2 and Mile 3 areas of the densely populated Diobu settlement barricaded the office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), near the popular Isaac Boro Park, lamenting that their husbands no longer have sex with them at night and they put the blame at the door steps of the PHED, that…

THE nation has been in celebration mode in the last couple of days due to the superlative performance of the national team, the Super Eagles at the just concluded 2023 African Cup of Nation held in Cote D’Ivoire. Though we came back home with a silver, both young and old, men and women temporarily forgot about the biting economic hardship in the land to celebrate the performance of the team. For now, the whole nation is united – we have forgotten about tribe, religion and ethnicity. Nobody is asking of where the players come from. That is the power of…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu should be back in the country this week to take charge of governance. Our Commander-In-Chief left Nigeria few days back for France on a private visit. His penchant for travelling out of the country for sundry issues made former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to give him a new title – ‘Tourist-In-Chief’. In his absence, the nation’s economy swiftly headed south, with Nigerians complaining of the hardships they have to endure every day. Our Naira is taking a humiliating beating against major world currencies and many opine that this is not a period Mr. President to be out…

SOME Northern politicians have been huffing and puffing since it came to light that some departments in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), are to be moved to Lagos for administrative convenience and to cut down cost. First to react was Yarima Shettima, the spokesperson of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF). He told the world that the plan would jeopardize the growth and development of the North. I am still scratching my head for the correlation between the movement of those departments and the anticipated development that the…

MANY residents of Ibadan, the sprawling capital city of Oyo State, won’t forget in a hurry, what befell them on Tuesday, January 16, when dynamites stored in a residential area exploded and shattered the relative peace in the state. To those close to the epicenter of the explosion, it was like a scene in a horror movie. Many were left wondering if the rapture had finally taken place. The effect of the blast would stay with many for the rest of their lives. The people were about retiring to their homes when there was a loud explosion that shook the…

IT WAS Karl Marx who said that religion is the opium of the people. Marx was a German Philosopher and Economist who coined the phrase in 1843. In his opinion, religion is not only used by those in power to oppress the workers, (masses) but it also makes them feel better about being oppressed when they can’t afford real opium. He thought that if the comfort blanket of religion was taken away, the workers would have to do something about their terrible condition. In most developing countries, Nigerian included, religion has been turned into an instrument to oppress the poor.…

THE Federal Ministry of Education wielded the big stick last week, when it announced that it would no longer recognise certificates from some universities operating in Republics of Benin and Togo. The directive came on the heels of an investigative report in which a reporter allegedly enrolled for a four-year course but ‘graduated’ within six weeks after negotiating and paying for the certificate. The report literally set fire on the behind of Tahir Mamman, a Professor, Lawyer, and Education Minister, who has vowed fire and brimstone over the embarrassing revelation. But Oga Minister, certificate racketeering from Benin Republic and elsewhere…

FINALLY, the New Year is here. Congratulations to all my readers. We eventually made it to year 2024. I pray that the new year will favour us all. I also hope we have all made appraisal of 2023 to effectively plan for 2024. Today, we are looking back at how Nigeria, our dear country, fared in the outgone year, so that we can project how the New Year would treat us. The year 2023 will go down in the history of the country as one of the toughest for most Nigerians. This is due directly to the action that took…

IT’S Christmas. A time for merrymaking and holidaying. Whether you believe that December 25th is actually the birthday of Jesus Christ or not, Christmas has become a universal holiday and a money-spinner for most businesses. What is important is that we are alive and still kicking. Just last week, I lost a brother and friend, Abdul Imoyo. He was the Head of Media and Publicity at Access Bank. He was hale and hearty the last time we spoke, just last month. I never knew that would be our last conversation. Abdul was a jolly good fellow; a good man. He…