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Nigeria’s Teachers Deserve Better Treatment. By Victor E. Dike There are many problems facing Nigeria today but that which involves the non-payment (or delay in payment) of teachers salaries and other benefits are incomprehensible. Despite being abused (including non-payment of basic salaries) and working without teaching resources the teachers are expected to perform magic and improve the standards of education, nurture the youths and work for the development of Nigeria. Is there any greater social injustice than what the teachers are getting? The shabby treatment of teachers has subjected their children to the ills of poverty. Details
Parks, Alcohol and the Right to Revel. By Garba Deen Muhammad In its editorial of last Friday, 13/03/09, the Daily Trust took what may be termed the summary of those who choose the sober, middle-course view of the FCTA decision. The paper accepted the exigencies that had compelled the FCTA to take the decision it took, but then added: “The development of a new capital city in a developing country such as Nigeria, where 70 percent of the population is poor, should be made to accommodate the socio-economic realities of her citizens. It is not everyone who lives in the city who can afford to eat at the restaurants of the five-star hotels available within the metropolis. Even modern cities in the developed world have designated places where residents of the city who cannot afford the expensive services in exclusive restaurants and night-clubs, may wish to go and take their meals regularly. Details
Is Nigeria a Nation of Whiners? By Mustapha Shet Shehu What we the educated elite should do rather than complain, is to ensure that our leaders at the different tiers of government invest to uplift the quality of lives of our compatriots from grassroots upwards. We must ensure that government invests heavily on education, primary health, potable water, agricultural infrastructures and services. We must ensure that primary and secondary educations are free and compulsory. We must ensure that no Nigerian, wherever he lives, is denied access to affordable or free medical care. We must ensure that farmers are provided fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides at subsidized rates and improved seeds varieties in good time to increase yield. Details
It is time to tackle this issue of why I keep reading and writing about Nigeria. Having left Nigeria for all these donkey years, one should not look back you say! You have also expressed the fact that I have a good job, my children are all in good schools, Health and Dental care are not issues I even think twice about. My life is secure as I can worship unhindered at anytime anywhere, keep my front door unlocked and travel anytime of the night without fear of being attacked by robbers. Details
Reasons Why Maurice Iwu Must Stay. By Aloy Ejimakor It is therefore a truism that the spate of litigations that trailed the 2007 elections in Nigeria was fed more by a rising level of desperation on the part of some politicians and less by any institutional flaws in the conduct of the elections. Add the fact that, for the first time in Nigeria, we saw a quantum leap in the number of political parties and contestants for power. More parties and contestants meant many more sour losers who headed to court with the singsong that it was Professor Iwu that robbed them of victory. Details
Adamu Adamu and Democracy by Force. By Abdullah Musa The second part of Adamu Adamu’s article on sharing the cake of corruption carried similar sign of frustration with the way things are in respect of governance and Nigeria’s democracy. In deep-seated frustration he said that it is better for some within the military who may not be prompted by an outside power to seize power in order to instill in us the democratic norms. He said the hope was that Chief Obasanjo was going to do that in 1999 but he failed. Adamu Adamu does not agree that the worst form of democracy is better than the best of the military. Details
Who Will Save Our Generation? By Olufemi Nelson Fajolu Sometimes ago, I got into an argument with a man who happened to be one of the people that enjoyed some of the benefits provided to Nigerians in those years. His excuse for the failure of Nigerian government today was population explosion – “people are too many today” he said. “How do you expect government to continue do everything government was doing in those days?” he queried me. Details
Between Me and My Laptop. By Sylva Nze Ifedigbo About how unfair it is for the Government to be playing hide and seek with teachers as regards the meager 27% increase in their salaries while political office holders, some of them motor park touts in nice clothing, smile home with amounts that can make the devil grin in envy. Details
A Rebuttal to Jonathan Ishaku’s Right of Reply. By Sani Lawan Addu Our predicament in Nigeria today is that, we are living with a religiously confused society that perceived Christianity to be nothing beyond fighting Hausa-Fulani. The task before us is to help people like Ishaku to have a better understanding of their religion and trace their exact locus in the global religious divide in order to know weather they are really what they called themselves - Christians. Details The FEC And The Electoral Reforms Report: The People’s Expectations. By Benedict Okereke The most important of the recommendations of the Electoral Reforms Commission is that which stipulated that the electoral commission’s chairman be nominated by a panel of the judicial arm of government. That singular recommendation is for the good of Nigeria. It is no use making any imputation of rivalry between the executive and the judicial arms of government regarding this recommendation. The commission’s men and women are altruistic and patriotic. Details Sports: Another Panacea for Poverty Eradication (A Lesson From KADA Games 2009. By Abbas A. Dikko If not for KADA games, how can a girl of Nancy Mathew background be discovered and known nationally? A girl from one certain village in Kaduna State that in all honesty, supposed to be one among the beneficiaries of NAPEP but, never opportune, ran a distance race of 10,000meters bare-footed and won glory for self/family by winning a gold medal. Details
Namadi Sambo: Time to Change Gear (I). By Ishaq Alhassan Qauranmata Kada 2009 has already become part of history and, as with all epochal events; it has left behind it a trail of very sweet taste for some and very sour taste for others. For the ordinary man on Kaduna streets, Kada was a confirmation of Namadi Sambo’s claim to running a Talakawa government. Details
Nigeria On-Going Rebranding Project: The Reality. By Segun Imohiosen Going by some criticism levied against the authority of the country, as pointed out in the part 2, some refer to Nigeria as failed, hopeless and genocidal, it further brought to fore an extraneous case that could help unravel some nonsense being peddled against Nigeria. Details
Nigerian Documents Invalid in Hungary. By Hakeem Babalola The situation has no regards to an appeal from Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, that Nigerians deserve special consideration. Chief Maduekwe once told journalists in Abuja: "It is time for European countries to grant amnesty to Nigerians living in Europe without travel documents." Details
Tackling Nigeria’s Dwindling Literacy Rate. By Victor E. Dike One of the major challenges facing Nigeria today is how to reform its education sector and train enough high quality manpower to develop the nation. A lot has been said about revamping the nation’s falling standard of education but the leaders have not taken appropriate actions to improve the situation. One of the problems caused by the neglect of education is the overcrowded and chaotic classrooms and Nigeria’s dwindling literacy rate. This article argues that because of the obstacles to effective teaching and learning many students today lack the literacy skills to succeed in life after schooling; and this has affected their productivity and national development. Details
Few years ago the Obasanjo’s led government announced and declared that two prestigious polytechnics in the country should be change into university as degree awarding institution and their name should be named ‘City Universities’ and the polytechnics are Yaba College of Technology (Yaba Tech), Lagos and Kaduna Polytechnic (Kadpoly), Kaduna. But the change of government does its worse; the Yar’adua government came and revised the proposed planned. Yar’adua government is not a government that can add blocks to a foundation lay or build upon instead put an ice water and petrol to destroy it. Details
Lassa Fever and Criminal Denials. By Garba Deen Muhammad Top government officials at local, state and federal levels in Nigeria are generally glib liars. They may not be good at their jobs, they may not be good at finding solutions to societal problems; but put them in a corner and ask them how they spent the last budget and you would be surprised how smoothly they will role out bogus figures and non-existent structures. Details
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