The year 2018 is on its death knell. That knelling relentlessly brings Nigerians closer to the 2019 General Elections at a pace quicker and faster than we all imagine. Therefore, one question Nigerians are already preoccupied with has to do with the choice of president for the next four years. And of course there is valid reason to be either […]
In June 2018, the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria announced that with the repatriation of the sum of $322.5million, the Swiss government had concluded the return of about $1billion stolen and hidden in Switzerland by Sani Abacha. The Ambassador said that prior to this, Switzerland had returned close to $800million as part of the monies which Sani Abacha stole and hid […]
In October 2017, the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, announced that the Nigerian Government had reached an agreement with the United Kingdom for the repatriation of $85 million from the Malabu oil deal. The sum was later revised to $73 million which both the United Kingdom and Nigerian authorities confirm has since been returned to Nigeria. There […]
During the timeline allocated for Nigerians to get PVCs, venues for the exercises were usually packed out. About 90% of these prospective voters were Nigerians within the 20-30 age-brackets. This perhaps conveyed the idea that the most productive arm of the Nigerian economy, the youth, were ready to execute the will behind the Not-Too-Young-to-Run idea. This supposition had not come […]
The Economist Magazine of February 17 2018, https://www.magzter.com/GB/The-Economist/The-Economist/Business/266421, carried what readers often regard as a commonplace advert. That advert, on the top right hand corner on page 79, had details of a detached 6-bedroom chalet with ‘stunning views’ over the Meribel valley in France. The Chalet is close to the Rond Point des Pistes, with slopes and amenities. It would […]
It has been over two months since Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari issued Executive Order 6 of 2018. The stated purpose of the Executive Order was the “preservation of suspicious assets connected with corruption and other relevant offences”. In furtherance of this, the Order empowers the Attorney-General, in collaboration with other named law enforcement agencies, to apply all available lawful and […]
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 […]