The inspiration for this article came from a contribution that I posted on Facebook last month, February 2017. Noting that President Muhammadu Buhari had heeded the popular call for the resubmission of Ibrahim Magu’s name to the Senate, I weighed in … [Continue reading]
When the Servant Becomes the Master: A Cautionary Tale for the Nigerian National Assembly’s Political Adventurists
(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 … [Continue reading]
“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 … [Continue reading]
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 … [Continue reading]
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 … [Continue reading]
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 … [Continue reading]
Random thoughts on the anti-corruption campaign
By the way, what is the outcome of the EFCC investigation into the fuel subsidy scam? Were we not led to believe that those implicated in the scam (mostly sons/daughters of PDP chieftains) would soon face the music? Forgive me for asking if the music … [Continue reading]
Getting government back on track: focus on agency governance
How can a government be sure that the goods and services produced by the career public service are the same as those promised the electorate? The honest answer is it can’t. Were all the beans to be counted and duly accounted for, the government would … [Continue reading]
Reconstructing Nigeria: Putting the Citizen First
In a previous article, I argued that the time spent wondering how to rebrand or restructure Nigeria ought to be devoted to transforming the state from the lord and master that it currently is to the service provider that the citizen expects it to be. … [Continue reading]
Reconstructing the post-2015 Nigeria: the Priorities
My esteemed readers deserve an explanation for my long silence. It isn't as if my pen ran short of ink, or that there aren't topics worth writing about. I had to take a 'sabbatical' to meet an urgent publishing deadline, and at the same time, … [Continue reading]