The Many Gains Of Subsidy Removal

By Sunny Awhefeada,   Nigeria has over the years evolved the character of a country where things are perpetually in reverse gear. Our country is now largely defined by punishingly unenviable indices which are easily manifested in our perennial underdevelopment. The last forty years have been characterized by disruptive hiccups and deadly spasms and only God is able to explain why Nigeria has not tipped over. Each time the nation totters to the cusp, a deus ex machina often intervenes to redirect her affairs. But how much longer can this…

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A DELSU Valentine Experience

  By Sunny Awhefeada, For many years, until this year, St. Valentine’s Day represented for some of us a day set aside to observe a myth tied to Western tendency of indoctrination. It was never on the card for some of us. Our consciousness of it began from our secondary school days and it peaked during our university years. The day always came and went for us without any fuss. I recall the St. Valentine’s Day of 1996 fell into one of the two days we hosted the inimitable poet,…

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Unenurhie: A Kingdom Long Denied In Evwreni

By Young Erhiurhoro   Why is Unenurhie community in Evwreni kingdom in Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State agitating to be identifies as a distinct, independent and autonomous kingdom, separate from the present Evwreni kingdom that comprises the two communities. I stand to be corrected by any other person; the questions seeking immediate answers here are: Why Unenurhie as a community can’t be autonomous and independent. Which sections of the Nigerian Constitution prohibits Unenurhie people from seeking autonomy and independence from Evwreni kingdom? Also, what cultural taboos in…

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Analysis & Opinion: In Times Like This

By Sunny Awhefeada,   Nigeria must rank the highest in terms of paradoxical manifestations in all the indices of development ever known to humanity. Nigeria is big, but small. Yes, Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu who announced the nation’s first military coup one chilly harmattan dawn in January 1966 accused the political leaders of making Nigeria look “big for nothing”. Nigeria is rich, but poor. Nigeria has vast arable land, but her people are among the hungriest in the world. Nigeria has a brilliant populace, perhaps among the best endowed in the…

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Analysis & Opinion: Na True Say We Don See 99?

  By Sunny Awhefeada An encounter in a bus ride from Ughelli to Warri provided the title for today’s intervention. As usual, hardly had the rickety bus coughed, jerked and hit the road that lamentations about the present condition of our beloved Nigeria began. The occupants of the bus, packed sardine-like, wore disillusioned and angry looks. They appeared jaded, but aggressive and each word they uttered was indicative of their countenance which must have been bitterer than gall. Their words were vituperative. And if words could really act like missiles…

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Analysis & Opinion: Federal Republic of Oddities

By Sunny Awhefeada It never rains, but pours for Nigeria! Many have argued that the postcolonial state remains in constant flux until it is able to sort itself out and that the sorting out is the product of time and critical self-review and eventual pointing at the way forward. Nigeria is the handwork of British colonizers who deriving impetus from the Berlin Conference of 1884/85 seized the vast territories that were later amalgamated and christened Nigeria by the girlfriend of Lord Lugard who enjoyed the dubious ascription of subjugating the…

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Johnson Adjan, The Ogburine, @ 80

  By Sunny Awhefeada The usual end of year ritual of evaluation and resolutions preoccupied my mind as I tried to draw a connection between the dying year and the new one. My mind took to memory lane as it ambled between the year 2000 and the present moment. What assailed me were a huge void and then a stream of disillusionment in view of where we are as a nation. The killings in Plateau State and other parts of Nigeria, the deepening poverty and general ambience of hopelessness easily…

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In Search Of The Incorruptible Judge

By Sunny Awhefeada,   The title of this essay will resonate with my age mates and others before us as it invokes pleasant memories of the play, The Incorruptible Judge, by D. Olu Olagoke. The play excoriates corruption and privileges the judiciary as the agency to eradicate it. Readers of the play marveled at the refreshingly sound logic and verbal dexterity of the lawyer-characters. However, the character who stole the show was the trial judge, Justice Faderin, who resisted pressure and attempts to get bribed and compromise the case. His…

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Echoes From Ground Breaking Ceremony Of N78bn Effurun/Warri Flyovers

By DENNIS OTU   “Today, I will go to bed a happy man because of what I have witnessed today. Am so excited today. This is a historic day in our lives. If I am not mistaken, the last night Julius Berger Nigeria Plc worked in this our environment was over forty years ago. But today, Monday, November 27th, 2023, our dynamic Governor, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori has just performed the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of road expansion and improvement works between Effurun and DSC Roundabouts, PTI junction…

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Re-Addressing Public Housing In Nigeria

By Fred Edoreh   I stumbled on the keynote address by the former Minister for Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, at the 50th anniversary of the Federal Housing Authority, with theme, “The future of housing in Nigeria and 50 years of FHA: A call to action for political leaders and policymakers for decent and affordable housing.” The thrust of his presentation was an advocacy for federal and state governments to adopt the Rent-to-Own approach towards providing mass housing to address the pressure of housing needs on families.…

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