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, [...]

One advantage of shopping on-line is the sheer convenience of it all. It used to be something one did from a straight-backed chair across from a personal computer. And that on its own was sufficient to challenge so many shopping paradigms. Shopping trolley? Gone. Rough-hewn personnel at the checkout counter? Gone too. Even the conflicting odour from so many shoppers [...]

“Mr Shekau said his group had done no wrong and so an amnesty would not be applicable to them. It was the Nigerian government that was committing atrocities against Muslims, he said. “Surprisingly, the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you [a] pardon,” AFP [...]

At exactly three o’clock in the morning, a locally assembled generator rumbled into life, spewing thick, noxious fumes into the air and jarring everyone within range wide awake. A few minutes later, the mechanical sounds of an engine could be heard in the growing din: the local ‘pure water’ factory was cranking into life to begin that day’s production. Any [...]

Of late, bank customers in the country have had cause to smile on their way to the banks. Courtesy of recent central bank directives to the banks, they are being spared a couple of additional charges on their transactions. Having gently been shunted away from main branches into ATM sidings, most bank customers had laboured under the weight of the [...]

“Between that generation and mine is littered so many such equally talented writers” by Sylva Nze Ifedigbo The tributes that have poured in since Achebe’s passing makes this sound like cliché however, I cannot help but restate how large a figure he was for me growing up that I never thought it possible that such a being superhuman as his reputation [...]

“Every word any Nigerian author writes about him is in some manner self-serving.” by A. Igoni Barrett Chinua Achebe is dead. I’m putting finishing touches to my first novel. Nigerian roads scare me—they’ve killed and crippled too many—but Nigerian airlines scare me more. If you have nothing to say, say nothing. Mathematics was the subject I dreaded most in school. Who’s [...]

“to ensure that we do not let shut the window he opened to the world of our shared humanity.” by Ayodele Morocco-Clarke When the news broke on the 22nd of March 2013 that Chinua Achebe had died the day before, many were thrown into a state of mourning. All over Nigeria, Africa and in other parts of the world, people [...]

“Does Achebe’s death change anything for me as a Nigerian ‘writer’? No” by Ayodele Olofintuade Frankly I used to read more of foreign writers than Nigerian writers, so I must admit that I didn’t notice when Nigeria’s literature began its slow and determined plunge into the abyss of mediocrity. I didn’t notice when the relatives of people in the ministry [...]

“He indicts us, and not even in the more obvious ways.” by Richard Ali I was walking down the streets of Wuse Zone 5, Abuja when I received a call from The Guardian’s Anote—he wanted a response for the Press. I am Publicity Secretary [North] of the Association of Nigerian Authors. I stopped still—shocked. I could only mutter that I [...]