IN JULY 1986, Nigeria’s military president, General Ibrahim Babangida, launched a public policy initiative hailed as the silver bullet for Nigeria’s distressed economy: the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). A local adaptation of an IMF/World Bank initiative, SAP was intended to stabilise the economy. However, within a year of its implementation, the programme had left a trail of hunger, industry closures, unemployment, and acute poverty. Instead of achieving its objectives, SAP exacerbated the economic crisis, leaving Nigerians groaning under economic hardship. SAP was part of a broader World Bank/IMF global economic policy framework. While SAP failed from a broad perspective, certain…
Author: Dakuku Peterside
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GOOD governance is universally acknowledged as a critical factor in the progress and development of any nation. In Nigeria, both the elite and the common people share this profound understanding of governance’s impact on the country’s trajectory. However, despite this shared understanding, these groups have a significant divide in their conception of what constitutes “good governance.” For the masses, good governance is primarily about tangible improvements in living conditions—such as access to necessities, healthcare, education, and security. The elite, however, view good governance through a broader lens, encompassing systematic approaches to resolving public policy challenges. Meanwhile, technocrats and academics emphasize…
NIGERIANS’ profound interest in US elections is no mere coincidence. The roots of this fascination lie deep in the historical and structural connections between the two countries’ political systems. Nigeria’s democracy, modelled closely after the US presidential-style system, naturally invites comparisons and draws parallels with American political practices. This connection is further deepened by the increasingly globalised nature of our world, where political developments in one nation can reverberate across continents, influencing governance, policies, and even public opinion in far-flung regions. In Nigeria, this is particularly evident as US political dynamics, especially in the current digital age where social media…
EVERY story has two sides, but when a country’s reputation as a sovereign and an investment destination comes under threat, it calls for immediate concern and action from its citizens and leaders. The recent unfolding of a concerning development has significant implications for Nigeria’s global standing as an investment hub. A Chinese company, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd, secured a court order in France following an arbitration award initiated in 2017, with the Ogun State Government over a contractual relationship that dates to 2010. The arbitration panel ruled in favour of Zhongshan, stating that “It is clear that Zhongshan…
NATIONS, diplomacy, and sports are interwoven. Sports persons and sports teams are, in a sense, representatives of and mirrors of their countries. It is no coincidence that most great nations are also leading sporting countries because it is a significant tool of soft power projection. Nations demonstrate their might either through ‘Fight’ or ‘play’. The latter is the province of international sporting events like the Olympics. Sporting competitions, particularly at the elite level, have often been likened to modern-day wars. This metaphor draws on the intense rivalry, nationalistic fervour, and strategic and physical battles that characterize sports and warfare. However,…
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…