Last week, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama engaged in an unusual vilification of the government of Switzerland for their role in money laundering and asset recovery processes. In a speech delivered at the opening of the 2nd International Conference on Combatting Illicit Financial Flows organized by the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) on Tuesday, 11 September 2018, the Minister […]
CONTEXT Over the last week or so, there has been heightened interest amongst Nigerians about the use of the most recently repatriated $322.5 million Abacha loot. The questions raised around the issue include the choice of using the money for the conditional cash transfer programme of the Federal Government, the fairness of the choice of states benefitting from the programme, […]
FOR THE RECORDS Dear Editor, I write to request the authorities to declare a week’s holiday to enable Nigerians go get their Permanent Voter Cards. Many Nigerians are still unable to get their PVCs mostly because the process takes place on work days and hardly at weekends. Events in governance and the speed at which the world is moving […]
A fundamental question which arose from the breakthrough of the internet was the expediency of giving everybody access. That question came at time in the early 80s after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the break-up of Communist USSR and the fall of the Cold War era, where state official and unofficial secrecy was the lifeblood running right through […]
On a certain day in January this year, I left home for work as usual. The lingering fuel scarcity had not completely abated, and therefore what most residents of the Benin City metropolis did to avoid the cut-throat fares that commercial taxi and bus drivers ask, for long and short distances is a resort to the popular Comrade buses. In […]
The Economist Magazine of February 17th 2018 carried what readers of the magazine often regard as a commonplace advert. Yes, right there on the top right hand corner on page 79, it says that a detached 6-bedroom chalet with ‘stunning views’ over the Meribel valley in France, and close to the Rond Point des Pistes, with slopes and amenities will […]
In the past, it was very difficult to steal the huge amounts of money we hear being stolen and swallowed today. Looting of public funds was minimal, and my guess is that this was because technology had not advanced to the extent that it has today. I remember back then that a notable politician once said that if he were […]
Nigeria signed on to the open government partnership (OGP) as the 70th member in July 2016 with the commitment to deepen institutional and policy reforms. Access to information and citizen engagement are two of the four thematic areas of focus, these thematic areas speak directly to the basis and growth of transparency and accountability in government and public institutions in […]
