(Text of an address delivered by Professor M J Balogun at #OccupyNASS Event, Abuja, 26 April 2016) Let me begin by thanking God Almighty for giving each and every one of us here present an opportunity to be part of history in the making. Were it not for the Almighty’s unparalleled wisdom and loving kindness, we would not have been inspired to leave whatever we were doing or planning to do to come here and participate in the struggle for our country’s emancipation. I must also express my … [Read more...]
Archives for 2016
“All Of A Sudden Nothing Is Working”. Really, Remi? A rebuttal to Remi Oyeyemi
When I started reading Remi Oyeyemi’s rejoinder to Tunde Fagbenle's earlier article in SaharaReporters, I eagerly looked forward to a critical but objective assessment of the challenges facing Nigeria since the attainment of independence. Alas, and if truth be told, his piece in the 13th March edition of SaharaReporters did not measure up to my expectation. Instead of taking a holistic or systemic view of the Nigerian state construction quandary, Mr Oyeyemi heaped the blame for all the country’s … [Read more...]
Oil Glut and Nigeria’s Economic Recovery: New Contagion, Wrong and Expired Vaccines
In April 2015, the Nigerian electorate took a bold and unprecedented decision: it sent a ruling party packing. The voters ended the Peoples Democratic Party’s/PDP’s sixteen-year reign, and cast their lot with an untested and cash-strapped opposition known as the All Progressives Congress/APC. Though comprising individuals with divergent interests and worldviews, the APC had promised the electorate what the later craved most—change. Change, in this sense, meant combatting corruption and impunity, … [Read more...]
Nigeria’s looming political appointments’ stampede: Need for order via screening
Introduction If reports filtering out of Abuja are anything to go by, no less than 600 top-level posts would fall vacant in the coming weeks. This is not surprising. A new party is in power. A change of guard comes with the territory. As has been the practice over the years, and considering the role that technical 'know-who" plays in the selection process relative to technical "know-how", those interested in the soon to be vacant jobs have started to line up the support of powerful individuals … [Read more...]
Private Time, Public Space: Highway Theory of Anarchy
“Time has gone when some people were above the law. This time around nobody, not even me, will be above the law." President Muhammadu Buhari Abstract The inspiration for this article came gradually—specifically, in the course of several visits to Lagos, Nigeria. In ordinary circumstances, making it through any urban jungle’s traffic unperturbed is no mean achievement. Extricating oneself from Lagos’s perpetual gridlock is a spectacular, albeit, … [Read more...]