A rejoined is necessary I have not written for NigeriansTalk in quite a while but after reading Salisu Suleiman’s piece titled Private universities in Nigeria: Where are the ‘big’ men? I could not resist the need to comment on a particular part of his article. By the time I finished writing my comment, I realised I might well have broken [...]

When, about 20 years ago, signboards announcing Heritage University sprang up around Kaduna, many thought the founders were setting the stage for the emergence of private university education in Nigeria, especially in the disadvantaged areas. Today, even the faded remnants of those signboards cannot be found. The much heralded Heritage University never took off. Nigeria’s 170 million people have a [...]

On Saturday morning, last week, in a conversation with friends on Facebook, I was reminded of Reverend Martin Niemoller’s famous 1937 statement – more about this later. Over the week leading up to this conversation, I had had problems with the (lack of) quality of after-sales service for my car (from one of the country’s leading car retailers). I complain [...]

Over 30 years after leaving office, former US president Jimmy Carter remains one of the most visible and respected international figures. By contrast, George W. Bush, who left office just four years ago, remains generally hidden from the public. While President Barack Obama called on former president Bill Clinton to help him campaign, neither John McCain nor Mitt Romney called [...]

There is a variety of Nigerian patriots for whom the mantra “my country, good or bad” is a creed of some sorts. Not, though, in the manner of a self-evident truth, existing alongside other such axioms. But a fundamental dictum of conduct that must be observed, as it were, in “every field of national endeavour” regardless of the specific issues [...]

If you have ever listened to Professor Chukwuma Soludo bring abstract economic concepts to life with PowerPoint slides extravagantly peppered with charts and projections, you’d understand how he managed to get himself appointed Chief Economic Adviser to former President Obasanjo, and later governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).   Those who knew him cautioned that beneath his stylish [...]

The emergence of the online retail business in Nigeria was always going to upset a few established practices. One big question centered on how online retailing would play in the face-off between traditional retail outlets (our not so “supermarkets”, and corner shops) and the discount shopping malls that are increasingly a central feature of our large urban centres. Whereas the [...]

It is said that when you notice a neighbour’s beard on fire, sprinkle water on yours; in other words, when you detect trouble from afar, try to resolve it even if it doesn’t affect you directly, because left to spread, it may engulf everyone. When reports of disturbances between an obscure sect and the police first came to light a [...]

There is this local quirk which never ceases to amuse (and amaze) me. A robust capacity for mimesis ensures that no sooner is the sod turned on some groundbreaking activity, than several copycat versions make their debut. One explanation for this is the serial failure of our criminal justice system. A key consequence of which is a shameful disregard (or, [...]

“All glass fitted to a vehicle shall be clear and transparent to enable persons outside the vehicle to see whoever is inside the vehicle and the glass shall in no way be tinted except as may be approved by the Inspector-General of Police for security reasons”, – Section 66(2) of the National Road Traffic Regulations (1997) In carrying out this [...]