ONE: While CNN celebrates opulent, colourful and wealthy weddings in Lagos State, over in Kano State, a hundred couples were married in local government sponsored mass ceremony aimed at targeted at dealing with a variety of identified social problems. The aim of this initiative is to tackled the high divorce rates in Kano State, provide a stable home for divorced [...]

There are more fun ways to spend one’s afternoon than in the company of four egg-heads, eachwith very strong views on the direction in which the Nigerian economy ought to be headed. Thursday last week was one such day – it was not so much that the respective directions favoured by each of my interlocutors were mutually exclusive, it was [...]

On Tuesday 15th May, Nigeria witnessed its first mass wedding in the Northern city of Kano when 100 couples were married off by the Kano state government under a programme to address the high rate of divorces in the state. Mass weddings around the world are nothing new; with the earliest recorded in 324 BC during Alexander the Great’s wedding to [...]

“Organized crime threatens peace and human security, violates human rights and undermines economic, social, cultural, political and civil development of societies around the world.” ~ UNODC In the last century, organised crime has drawn a lot of attention globally, with its transnational dimension as the main focus. According to Howard Abadinsky, an American professor of criminal justice and legal studies, [...]

It goes without saying that Nigerians love to talk. We are known for vivaciousness and our noise making is legendary in African circles. Wherever two or more Nigerians are gathered, rarely will you hear them talking in soft tones, except, of course, if it is a really private conversation. And we talk about anything and everything. Name it: from football [...]

I am in no doubt that general conditions in the country today are worse than they were several years ago. It is not just that governments across the three tiers are more louche. Even though this in itself is simply unacceptable. It is just as much a matter of roads going so bad that travelling on them becomes an act [...]

Issues is a new NT series in which academics and policy experts write on their areas of expertise. If you would like to contribute to the series send an email to Olumide (his email address is on the page under the link).  The columnist this week is medical doctor and health policy analyst Seye Abimbola. The primary health care (PHC) facility is often [...]

Health is a prerequisite for development and the current state of the Nigerian health care system does not give any indication that the country’s renaissance is coming anytime soon.  Nigeria boasts the dubious honor of one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, child mortality does not fare any better either. Malaria, Polio, HIV/Aids rates are still far [...]

By Tayo O To answer the opening question, YES! People still die of malaria in 2012. A few weeks ago, someone’s response to a certain news about a malaria related death was akin to ‘people still die of malaria in 2012?’ That got me thinking about how Malaria has been with us for so long that we have accepted it [...]

By Temie Giwa The culture has changed and those who refuse to do the right thing and protect children should be punished accordingly. Soft power is no longer enough; the imperative to protect children calls for hard power and swift consequences.   All children have the right to life and health and this is a fundamental human right. Nigeria is [...]