Of Gift and Graft

Also published in Daily Trust

Certainly the very few Nigerian public and civil servants who have restrained themselves and resisted temptation and pressure to plunder the country’s resources as most of their colleagues do deserve all respect and recognition. This is because under the current circumstances of impunity and the virtual absence of appropriate punitive measures to punish corrupt officials on one hand, and the absence of appropriate reward for honesty and integrity on the other, it is obvious that nothing motivates such honest civil and public servants to stick to their principles except their sincere belief that no matter how long they evade punishment in this world they shall one day give their full accounts of how they spend every single penny entrusted to them and of course be appropriately judged accordingly.

From Tents to Towers

Also published in Daily Trust

 

“And that you will behold the barefooted, barely-clothed and poverty-stricken shepherds rivaling one another in constructing high-rise buildings.” I am sure many readers would remember this excerpt from a very commonly known Prophetic Hadith narrated by Imam Muslim on the authority of Umar Ibn Khattab. I am also sure many readers would nostalgically remember those largely informal evening Islamiyya classes, where they were tutored by whip-wielding Yasayyadis i.e. tutors. Incidentally, the excerpt addresses some of the minor signs of the approach of the Last Day as given by the apostle of Allah, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him.

Poverty Indices versus Reality

Also published in Daily Trust

 

The controversy that trailed the recent poverty rating of Nigerian states was quite predictable in view of the issue of credibility that defines the process of generating figures and data, which are supposed to be of strategic importance to the country’s overall sustainable development. After all, there are hardly any official figures and statistics including the population of the country and that of the individual states, which are accepted by all or even the majority of the people of Nigeria.