Taming inciters

…also published in Daily Trust

The recent widely circulated video clip in which Apostle Johnson Suleiman, Founder and President of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide is seen inciting his church congregation against Fulani Muslims, and indeed confirming that he had ordered his followers to kill and behead any Fulani man they see around them, is yet another real threat to Nigeria’s already increasingly fragile stability and social harmony, notwithstanding his subsequent and futile attempt to deny making the inciting remarks. 

Apostle Johnson Suleiman

Besides, some other religious clerics e.g. David Oyedepo, Bishop of the Living Faith Church Worldwide International and Ayo Oritsejafor, President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Bosun Emmanual among others made similar or even more inciting comments on different occasions.

Worries over Trump’s presidency

….also published in Daily Trust

Today the dramatic political developments that define the Donald Trump phenomenon in American politics culminate in his inauguration as the 45^th President of the United States of America. As arguably the most controversial President in the country’s more than 200-year old democracy, all eyes are on him to see how he will go about pursuing his many controversial campaign promises, or rather, threats, so to speak.

On the world stage, President Trump’s equally controversial foreign policy agenda, confrontational approach, principle-free pragmatism, inconsistency and unpredictability, represent new dynamics in the US foreign policy and indeed international politics and diplomacy. However, his inexperience, superficial perception of the intricacies of international politics, his simplistic and unrealistic solution proposals to many complex challenges in different parts of the world, his know-it-all attitude and tendency to disregard appropriate advice from the country’s various intelligence sources raise worries about the implications of some of his foreign policy actions on both the United States and the world at large.

Reflections on whistleblowing

….also published in Daily Trust 

Notwithstanding the controversy over the impartiality of the Buhari administration’s anti-corruption drive, the recent Federal Government’s adoption of whistleblowing as a tool to curb corrupt practices and promote transparency in Nigeria’s corruption-ridden system is a welcome development. Now, under this newly adopted anti-graft tool, a whistleblower is not only assured of protection against any form of victimisation, but is also entitled to 2.5 percent (minimum) or 5 percent (maximum) of the total amount of the stolen public funds recovered thanks to his whistleblowing.

Though, offering monetary incentive for whistleblowing is one of the most effective and indeed cost-effective anti-corruption tools, it was quite ironic that, its recent adoption in Nigeria did not elicit befitting public enthusiasm, which raised doubts over Nigerians’ supposed detestation of corruption, and indeed the extent of their collective commitment to fighting it.

My journey with Trust

...also published in Daily Trust

Though the emergence of the Daily Trust newspaper as the 2016 winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Awards (NNMA) is a remarkable milestone in its pursuit for unrivalled journalistic excellence, it isn’t unexpected. After all, since its establishment in 2001, its potential to grow more competitive at the national level was already quite evident, especially in view of the phenomenal popularity of its sister paper across northern Nigeria i.e. the Weekly Trust, which had been launched in 1998, albeit its title is now discarded in favour of the Daily Trust.

Also, though I am not in a position to shed light on the dynamics behind the Daily Trust ‘s attainment of this feat, yet, inasmuch as nothing good materializes in a vacuum, it’s obvious that its management and editorial team have conceived and pursued polices that enabled the paper to achieve its potential, earn and maintain this enviable level of credibility, which suggests that they are particularly committed to the ethical and professional values in journalism that also explains why the paper outdoes other major national dailies that had dominated the scene for decades in the past.

Groaning from afar

Also published in Daily Trust

In light of the elaborate myths woven around living abroad, there is a common, albeit erroneous, assumption among many home-based-Nigerians that their foreign-based countrymen living in some rich and efficiently managed countries are simply spared the “frustration” associated with being Nigerians.

This longstanding assumption further takes root as the country’s socio-economic crisis gets worse that explains why an increasing number of people subscribe to it as Nigerians go through, perhaps, the worst ever economic hardship in the country, which is rightly or wrongly nicknamed Buhariyya.

 President Buhari

Also, it’s quite easy to perceive this assumption particularly in conversations involving home-based-Nigerians and their foreign-based countrymen, where it’s often quite difficult for the latter to convince the former over the erroneousness of this assumption. After all, with the alarming rate at which poverty ravages lives and unleashes despair throughout the country, on the one hand, and the obvious disparity in the quality of life between Nigeria and elsewhere, on the other, one can understand why the largely poverty-stricken Nigerians cling to this assumption.