The federal and state government administrations ushered in via the recently held elections have been having their 100-day anniversaries. While the Lagos State government has tried to celebrate its controversial reelection with the launching of a Lagos Metro that took almost two decades to get done but has electric trains being pulled by a diesel…

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of Nigeria underwent a revision of its unemployment rate calculation methodology in 2023. The new approach aligns with the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) guidelines, recognised as the international standard for unemployment measurement. This substantially decreased the reported unemployment rate, dropping from 33% in Q4 2020 to the current 4.1%.…

Renowned for products such as Panadol, Lucozade, Ribena, Macleans and Sensodyne that a lot of Nigerians have grown fond of, the British pharmaceutical giant - GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) - has called off its operations in Nigeria after about 52 years. The GSK UK Group has halted commercialising its prescription medicines and vaccines in Nigeria through…

Given the current economic troubles in the country, it is not out of place to say that we could face social unrest in the near future. But what would be the spark? On 17 July, there were a series of anti police brutality protests in Aguleri, Anambra state, following the killing of Mr Chidubem Ezenwa.…

Every year, hundreds of Sub-Saharan Africans, Middle-Easterners and Central Asians lose their lives by crossing dangerous waters into Europe on the promise of a better life while escaping climate change, poverty and conflict, some of which were caused by European funding and in some instances, sanctions. Even the bloc’s decision to do nothing and stay…

Nigerian doctors take the Hippocratic Oath. In April 2019, Nigeria’s labour and employment minister, Dr Chris Ngige, was asked about Nigeria losing healthcare professionals to economic migration that took them to better-paying jobs in other continents, and he brushed it aside, saying that Nigeria had a surplus that made the migration a non-issue. A year…

On 18 January 2015, Nigeria's Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke announced a fuel price reduction that took the retail cost from ₦97 to ₦87 and explained that the price drop was occasioned by the drop in crude oil prices in the international market. An incensed Nigerian public that had set high standards for itself…

“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.’” - Minnie Louise Haskins We could say that the pandemic of 2020…

In the modern nation-state, the police typically handle internal security concerns while the military are responsible for protecting a country's territory, citizens, and interests from attacks from hostile foreign parties. However, the security challenges in many African countries have evolved in quite complex ways for their current police to be able to handle. Traditionally, an…

I had a discussion with someone yesterday that brings to my mind the nature, to some extent, of the damage that the current Japa wave is doing. This time, not to the body-corporate Nigeria, I've discussed that in some form here, and I've done a Twitter thread on the effects on the middle class, who…

It has been well acknowledged that primary school education is the foundation of individual and national development. The skills learned at that level are the base on which the capacity for future economic productivity is built.

During one of my many discussions of Igbo politics with Chinenye Mba-Uzoukwu, one of those people I look up to a lot, he said something poignant. He said, “Cheta, you speak of these things like you are expecting an ideal. You cannot have an impact among your people until you accept them as what they…