Hypocrisy over Almajirci

….also published in Daily Trust

Though the ongoing process to come up with marriage-related reforms in Kano state isn't the first of its kind, the momentum it has gathered is obviously unprecedented, thanks to the particular interest in the issue demonstrated by Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi ll. Besides, in view of the sheer socio-cultural influence of Kano state among other affected states in northern Nigeria, this process is expected to inspire similar reforms across the region.

Also, the intense yet interesting jurisprudential, scientific and sociological debates the issue has generated are expected to culminate in the adoption of some reform measures that, without prejudice to the relevant religious teachings, would check the persistent negative marriage-related practices in the society.

Triumph of savagery

….also published in Daily Trust 

Now that in Nigeria the incidents of ethno-religiously motivated murderous rampage, lynching and other forms of mob actions against communities and individuals have become too common to trigger public shock relative to their severity, as they have also become too frequent to prompt appropriate government measures to prevent a recurrence, one wonders how on earth the country fits in with the civilized world. 

Besides, apparently due to the sheer frequency of the recurrence of such incidents in the country, they attract relatively little global media attention, which is admittedly rather understandable, because even the enthusiasm of the local media organizations to cover such incidents is determined by the ethnic identity and religious affiliations of the victims and the perpetrators as well as the region where a particular incident breaks out, which of course affects their professionalism and coverage impartiality.

Lest we relapse

….also published in Daily Trust

In an attempt to check the hitherto persistently dwindling value of the Naira and curb the unprecedented foreign exchange scarcity-induced inflation in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recently relaxed access to Forex. As expected, many Nigerians breathed a sigh of relief hoping that the inflation would soon begin to ease up.

 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

The Buhari administration had tightened access to the CBN-sourced Forex as a strategy aimed at weaning the country off its practically total dependence on imported goods that obviously require much stronger Forex to import. The strategy was also intended to facilitate the creation of a viable environment for local economic enterprises to not only thrive, but to actually dominate the local market share and indeed flourish well enough to compete elsewhere as well, in terms of the quality, attractiveness and prices of their  products and services.