THE latest autobiography in town: Babangida: A Journey in Service “is an important book in many respects” according to the reviewer, Yemi Osinbajo, a professor and former Vice President. Accordingly, it is not just a story of the remarkable journey of former military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida from childhood to the highest levels of public service, it is an account of a “journey of our Nation Nigeria, the Nigerian story, complex, sometimes unpredictable, sometimes stranger than fiction, but always fascinating”. Many of the key characters in the book who shaped the history of our country were there on Thursday, “demonstrating…
Author: Martins Oloja
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I WOULD like to kill two birds with only one stone today. In the last two weeks I wrote two inconclusive pieces on “federal universities without national character” and “Why Uni-Abuja needs more than firing VC”. And so I would like to round off the two related pieces without equivocations on the challenges since the Visitor to the federal universities has decisively intervened, especially through the one I have tagged our “federation university” (University of Abuja). I claimed here then that the University of Abuja is too important to be left to provincial irredentists who threatened to diminish its stature…
PRESIDENT Donlad Trump is yet to spend one month in office as the 47th President of the United States of America but his actions and pronouncements are being felt in all corners of the globe. From neigbouring Canada to Mexico, to Panama, Brazil, and even Africa, the last two weeks have not been the best for many world leaders who are still trying to work out how to deal with the man inside the White House. Many are afraid of him, some feel intimidated, and few are bewildered and flabbergasted. If there is one president that is set to impact…
WHILE it is expedient to hail the action of the Visitor to the University of Abuja who sacked its controversial Vice Chancellor and dissolved the university’s Council the other day, it is also important to draw the attention of the Visitor, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the mess that the unique University (of Abuja) has become. Don’t get it twisted, the intervention on Thursday 6th February has saved the 37-year old university from a crisis that had threatened its foundation. The nation and indeed the federal government should be grateful to the audacity of the G-44 led by Professor Olanrewaju…
ALL roads will lead to Abidjan Sofitel Hotel today where the President of African Development Bank (AfDB), fondly referred to as Africa’s ‘optimist-in-chief’, Akinwumi Adesina, PhD, will be celebrated by friends and relations. For the record, the African Development Bank (AfDB) cannot pick up any bills for the birthday celebration. No dime of the Bank can be used in any way to entertain anyone in the capital of Cote d’Ivoire for the celebration of unarguably the most consequential President in the Bank’s history. It is unthinkable, unethical and even illegal to do so to the AfDB President whose second and…
EARLY this week, the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB) Professor Ishaq Oloyede organised an interactive session with senior media executives at NICON Luxury, Abuja. It was during the interactive session that followed his presentation and announcement of datelines for 2025 UTME that he touched off some challenges facing the Nigerian universities at this time. For instance, in response to a question on some reported irregularities especially in admission of new students and administration of universities in the country today, Professor Oloyede specifically challenged the Nigerian press to deconstruct an incipient plague in the ivory towers: attempts…
THE return of Donald Trump to the US presidency has sparked a mix of reactions globally, with many wondering what this means for democracy and leadership. To understand the implications, let’s dive into some key takeaways from Trump’s victory. From the outset, Trump’s presidency has been so far defined by the mainstream media as what looks like chaos, controversy, and a relentless pace of news. But in just five days, Trump’s presidency has generated enough headlines and news cycles to fill a typical president’s entire first term. This breakneck pace has left many in the media and the public struggling…
IT is on record that the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyanhas accepted an invitation from the President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to visit the country this year. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was in the United Arab Emirates for the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) at the invitation of the President of the country. The sustainability forum aims to serve as a platform for policymakers, business leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss strategies for transitioning to a sustainable economy while fostering global prosperity. The President was accompanied by the Minister of…
TODAY, let us mourn the passing of a beloved destiny helper in Nigeria, our Nigeria, Comrade Meritocracy, who has been with us before our so-called independence. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in the labyrinthine state of our strange bureaucracy in our complex federation. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: The brightest and the best from schools shall be first employed; Recruitment can be by federal character but promotion is by merit; Performance metrics can’t be ignored in promotion; How long and how well…
IT is our shame we always gloss over. It isn’t discussed in our parliaments. Even the omnipresent social media influencers and activists don’t underline it as a social malaise. We all suffer it and smile thereafter. It has become a meretricious subject that aggravates our tribulation even in business. One legacy electronic media organ used to boast that: “you can’t beat the reach” but this reproach has turned around the brand equity slogan to: “you can’t reach the beat”. It is part of consequences of our reproach we can call ‘civic incompetence’. Yes civic incompetence: that reproach, that inability of…
THIS is a time of the year to choose ‘Persons of the Year’. Media organisations, which have editorial policy to name “Person Of The Year” would always choose who they believed had a stronger influence on history and who represented either the year or the century the most. The choice often features a person, group, idea or object that “for better of for worse…has done the most to influence events of the year or decade or century. But as I noted here in 2019 and 2022, when I characterised my choice then as a ‘Man of The Decade’ and later…
The case of Dele Farotimi, a lawyer and author, has raised concerns about the treatment of individuals by the police and courts in Nigeria, particularly in libel cases. Farotimi who has just been granted another bail was arrested and detained following a petition by Afe Babalola, a prominent lawyer, who alleged that Farotimi’s book, “Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System,” contained defamatory statements against him. The petition led to Farotimi’s arrest by the Ekiti State Police Command, who then arraigned him before a magistrate court. The court granted an order remanding Farotimi in prison custody. This curious case has sparked…
THERE is a sense in which we can claim that Morocco’s bid to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Portugal and Spain and Saudi Arabia’s 2034 have been remarkable for the Arab world and Africa. This opportunity presents numerous lessons for both regions, highlighting the importance of strategic partnerships, infrastructure development, and sports diplomacy. This is where Nigeria’s duty bearers who are so obsessed with politics, which often takes a lot of steam from their governance and fundamental objectives of state policies. Let us get our political leaders at all levels to note these deliverables and lessons immediately: #…
NOW that election campaign promises, shenanigans and peccadillos are over, it is a time to engage the Governor and Governor-elect of Ondo State on managing distractions from the so-called godfathers who would normally seek jobs for their people who ‘helped’ to secure victory the other day. In all modesty, I know our country enough to know how the greed of the elite has crippled the most populous black nation on earth, Nigeria. This may not be a time to talk about how the greed of the elite has also crippled the national electricity grid that is supposed to trigger industrial…
THE conclusion of the whole livestock matter here is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can get better rating without involving media blitz if he can harness the human capital and indeed the intellectual power in Nigeria to address the challenges people are agonising about. And here is the thing, the choice of a disciplined intellectual, Professor Attahiru M. Jega from inception of the Livestock Development Agenda till the present has enhanced credibility and knowledge development that is about to change the narrative about wealth and job creation in Africa’s most significant country, Nigeria. Having participated in all the deliberations, fact…
IN the first part of this piece I challenged the political leaders in the country to be technically ready too with a blueprint for solution to some of the challenges plaguing the country in a strategic manner a former Governor, Kano State Ganduje had done with the Livestock Sector. The Sector, which used to be a rejected stone in the old Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has become a cornerstone: It is now a purpose-driven Ministry. I hinted then at the quality of experts that have worked hard to ensure that the idea whose time has come isn’t…
PERMIT me to suspend my serial on Livestock Development, (though a significant, timeless policy shift in Abuja, to allow me comment on the outcome of the U.S 2024 election that will most likely change the media ecosystem and, of course, affect the new world order. Doubtless, the triumph of Donald Trump has been so extra-ordinary that no public affairs analyst would like to postpone a comment on it . We need to tell our politicians who have allowed bankrupt but powerful individuals to hijack political parties here how elite consensus elsewhere can defy powerful media propaganda and help regain political…
I HAVE been in the concourse of this unlocked potential called ‘Livestock Development’ for some time and it has been amazing learning, unlearning and relearning some aspect of science and financial journalism, we may have lost to our obsession with political journalism in our milieu. I mean here that the wind of time has since last year blown me to a conclave of public intellectuals who are unarguably some of the brightest and the best in the fields of animal science, veterinary medicine, extension services, agricultural economics and engineering. Which has made some of my friends and followers to be…
THERE are so many matters arising from the nation’s capital including the much trumpeted ‘cabinet shake-up’ that would have turned out to be a sad denouement but for the removal of the Education Minister, Professor Tahir Mamman and nomination of Minister-designate for the new Ministry of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar, a successful dairy farmer and former chief executive of Kaduna Refinery from Adamawa State. And so I would like to join in deconstructing what I have considered a conundrum: I mean we need to debate the involvement of a senior and respected citizen and senior Advocate of Nigeria, Olisa…
IN this second issue of this serial on “Five more tactical errors Tinubu must clear” that, I would like to focus on one of the most disturbing discoveries – that rather than being an asset to the nation, NNPC Limited has become a liability that has plunged the nation into deeper debt. As I was saying, Brazil’s Petrobras reported a net profit of $25 billion in 2023, Petronas in Malaysia reported $19 billion, Russia’s Gazprom reported $14 billion, while the NNPCL reported a paltry $2 billion at the current ₦1,600/$ exchange rate used by the NNPCL in December 2023.” ~…