Author: Tahir Ibrahim Tahir

DR. Dikko Radda of Katsina State was recently awarded the Governor of the year at the Leadership Conference and Awards 2023 themed, An Economy in distress, which way forward? By pioneering community policing in Katsina, while building a robust intelligence gathering network between security agencies and the communities in his State, Dr. Dikko has been able to make a turn around of the insecurity narrative of his State. Dr. Dikko has always expressed his resolve not to negotiate with bandits, and has successfully waged a war on the terrorists, taking the war to their enclaves and hideouts in the forests.…

THERE is not an iota of doubt that the Federal Government is over bloated to put it lightly. Quite a number of parastatals not only bear about the same nomenclature, but share practically the same missions and have not so dis-similar functions. The level of duplicity in the aims and objectives of the agencies sometimes makes you wonder, if government is aware of the name and functions of a particular agency, as it creates and christens yet another similar government body. More than half of those agencies were created under democratically elected governments, and the government of the day usually…

IN Nigeria, The rise in the exchange rate affects virtually everything. If the naira value of the dollar increases overnight, we wake up to a morning where the price of garden egg increases, and so does the price of mangoes! So the fall in the value of the naira against the dollar has caused for a huge price increase of food items in the country. It is important to differentiate or clearly define our food situation in the country. Nigeria doesn’t have a food scarcity crisis, but rather, an escalation in the prices of food items which has made them…

WE all found jest in fPMB’s question, laced in his hausa/ fulani accent, “where is the power?” 16 billion dollars dedicated to providing adequate electricity supply for Nigeria during the OBJ administration, and 4 administrations after, our power supply is as epileptic or even worse than when the billion dollar investment was made. Another 12 billion dollars went away to the Paris Club as debt re-payment by Nigeria, further drowning our foreign reserves, in a world where super power countries like Russia and China are offering debt rebates, rescheduling, and forgiveness, to third world countries. The Paris Club refunds that…

WITH the invectives thrown between different tribes and religions on a daily, magnifying the inter-tribal and inter-religious wars, brewing so much enmity and discord across the country, one often wonders, is this a country? – resonating with Chinua Achebe’s ‘There was a country’! In the east, IPOB is killing Ibos, in the North, Hausas are fighting fulanis, and the Hausas and Beroms are perpetually on a turf war. Don’t forget the annual Ife/ Modakeke intra-ethnic wars. There’s also the legendary Southern Kaduna religious conflicts that occur more than bi-annually. If you look at the Nigerian landscape as a whole, it…

THE naira is the worst performing currency at the moment, with the Zimbabwean dollar standing at 3 Naira to 1 Zimbabwean dollar. Today, one cannot safely quote the value of the American dollar to the naira, because of the very high volatility of the rate. FX inflow into the country is at its lowest, and it is not a mystery how we got here. It is also important to remember that we did not get here today, or in the last 8 months! It has been a long time coming, and we haven’t even arrived yet, if we are not…

I AM one of your most ardent supporters, an APCist to the core, as hard as nails believer of the renewed hope agenda of your administration, and a dyed in the wool official and leader of one of the Asiwaju support groups that toiled with our own resources, to contribute towards  making the Asiwaju Presidency a reality. My support for you was firmly grounded on the belief that you are a leadership maverick, dexterous in building human capital, infrastructure, and ofcourse the economy. The Lagos example is no doubt one of the finest blueprints for economic development, and today Lagos…

AS a progressive, the more I follow the activities of Dr. Dikko Radda, the more my hopes are renewed, that there is indeed a generation of emerging leadership in Northern Nigeria; rigorous in its pursuits, robust in its approach to onerous challenges, sincere in its endeavors, and competent enough with the dynamism to multi-tasking, providing able leadership, and technical know-how, to reaching solutions to the very demanding problems that our populace are faced with on a daily basis. Combating Insecurity is always number one in the North West, with Katsina at the heart of it. No doubt Dr. Dikko came…

IT was delightful, reading the President’s Birthday Wishes to you sir. Parts of the statement read, “President Tinubu congratulates the foremost lawyer and one of Nigeria’s leading advocates of good governance and citizens’ rights, on this anniversary of his birth, and commends him for being an irrepressible proponent of justice, truth and national unity. The President also commends The Honorable Minister for his devotion to duty and passion for service demonstrated by his efforts to strengthen the aviation sector to consistently deliver world class service, safety and performance. President Tinubu wishes Olorogun Keyamo good health, wisdom, and strength in the…

IN what was a thinly veiled move at vanquishing arewa, Islamic extremism engulfed the entire North Eastern part of the country under the guise of Boko Haram and Iswap, waging the most deadly war Nigeria has ever witnessed, successfully annihilating thousands of lives in the region, defying all military and non military approaches to the war. No pogrom in the entirety of Africa, has seen to the massacre of lives and destruction of villages and property, the way Boko Haram and Iswap have done. This spread vociferously to the North West as banditry and kidnapping, practically turning arewa into a…

THE present APC Administration is in a catch-22 situation as far as fighting corruption is concerned. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has since declared that he had inherited fPMB’s assets and liabilities, signaling that he is ready to embrace both the good and the bad from his predecessors government. The lofty projects including the AKK gas pipelines, the railway rejuvenation, both narrow gauge and standard gauge, the refurbished refineries, increase in Nigeria’s maritime borders, equipping the Nigerian Army especially the Nigerian Airforce, decimating boko haram etc are some of the laurels that have been passed on. Like any other administration ofcourse…

IN my first article on Dikko Radda, titled, ‘Dikko Radda on my radar’, which was in November of 2022, when he was APC’s gubernatorial candidate in Katsina State, I stated that not only was Dr. Dikko the most qualified candidate in terms of academic laurels, and experience in public service, I predicated my support for him, based on his unique experience with banditry. He had lost one of his brothers to the killings by the bandits, and another brother of his had to be rescued from the bandits after paying a ransom. Katsina has been ravaged by the worst of…

IN the 2007 former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration’s constitutional conference, which was generally perceived as a thinly veiled attempt at a third term, Dr. Ibrahim Tahir Talban Bauchi late, was one of the delegates that vehemently stood against that agenda, and prevented a monarchical style of governance, where a dictator, under whatever pseudo-nomenclature, would hold onto power endlessly, till thy kingdom come. That type of phenomenon has continued to haunt our democracy where those exiting power, indulge in a primitive attempt at governance from the sidelines, which has almost always derailed government policy and implementation. Dr. Tahir represented the Islamic…

THE tragedy of the Tudun Biri 126 brings to our doorsteps and window panes, the images of human carnage, brought by the ‘mistaken’ bombardment of the people of Tudun Biri, by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle of the Nigerian Army, as it did a reconnaissance of terrorist movements and hideouts at Igabi Local government area of Kaduna State. Effortlessly reminiscent of the bombings of innocent civilians in Gaza, it was a national tragedy of immense proportion, with well over a 100 people confirmed dead, and a similarly huge number injured, and hospitalised. Put at between 300 to 500, since 2017, the…

IT is indeed a tragedy, the bombing of maulud celebrators in the village of Tudun Biri, in Igabi Local government area of Kaduna, as is the deliberate bombing of innocent Palestinians in Gaza; babies roasted in hospitals, with innocent civilians mostly; killed and maimed, and not the militant hamas or any other violent group. Ordinary people killed in their thousands by intended weapons, meant to annihilate human life without remorse, be that human life violent or not, young or old, militant or not. Humanity has lost its face, its meaning, and it definitely is demeaning these days to be called…

BANDITRY as a form of terrorism had surreptitiously infiltrated, and ravaged North Western Nigeria, almost morphing into a way of life of its people, co-habiting with governance itself, crippling all the development agenda of the change government, with so many developmental strides going unnoticed and unappreciated. Security agencies and all other kinds of para-military organisations had become more like military formations, battling terrorism, with much to be desired from their core-mandates of providing the services that served as democratic deliverables in our societies. The collection of revenue via import/ excise duties and other taxes/ levies as well as anti-smuggling activities…

AIR Peace was on air to tell Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, my President, winner of the 2023 Presidential elections as well as the triumphant party in the recent Supreme Court judgement/ ruling over the elections, who is all in for growing indigenous businesses and who has inherited Baba Buhari’s assets and liabilities: to dump Nigeria Air, arguing that IbomAir is bringing in 10 new airbuses and he, ‘Airpeace’, is also bringing 33 new airplanes; and there is no need for Nigeria Air. Well, Air Peace is one of those business entities that benefitted immensely from huge tax waivers and import…

PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of two new Chief Executive Officers of agencies under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. This was disclosed in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, late Friday. While Dr. Muyi Aina serves as the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Kelechi Ohiri becomes the Director-General/CEO, National Health Insurance Authority. “President Bola Tinubu urges the new leadership of these two critical agencies in the sector to prioritize quality, fairness, and accountability in the provision of world-class…

BARRING any last minutes change President Bola Tinubu will be presiding over the second Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting of his administration. Recall that President Tinubu took over from Muhammadu Buhari on May 29 and the new Ministers were sworn-in on August 21 at the Conference Hall, State House, Abuja. The FEC, is the decision making body of the government which comprises the President, the Vice President, who presides over the council meeting in the absence of the President and the Ministers. Others that attend cabinet meetings are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, the Head of…

IT’S been a while since our last correspondence, titled, ‘Dear Max Air’, where I had observed that, “It is without any doubt, that Max Air has done considerably well, in plying northern routes mostly abandoned by other airlines. It is a no brainer to appreciate the fact that those routes are low revenue routes, compared to heavier and more consistent passenger traffic routes coming or going to the South. Basing your flights up North was not only a decision borne out of a business or revenue drive, but an ‘arewite’ attempt to ameliorate the plight of Northern Nigeria Air Travellers.…