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Showing posts from November, 2015

How We Help Governments to Fail: A Rejoinder to "Nigerians are to be Blamed for the Fuel Crisis"

It is shocking that a fellow Nigerian who goes through the pains of this fuel crisis will wake up and write a piece which says that Nigerians are to be blamed for the shortage in fuel supply. As I read that article, I was speechless especially given the examples the writer proffered to support the claim. For me, this is taking freedom of expression too far. It is like seeing a child in her mother's lap wailing at the top of its voice and then a passerby goes to blame the child for crying while condoling with the mother. A mother may not know what is wrong with her child but it is solely her responsibility to make sure the child stops crying. As such, she must do all she can to ensure the child is at peace. I recently spoke with a friend who duly absolved this government of blame. His own response is that the marketers stopped lifting fuel because the President is insisting that their vessels must be sighted before subsidy payment is made. He claimed that under the previous governme

Comparing the tragedies of Paris and that of Yola

Before we start blaming others, let's compare the Paris shooting and tyesterday's bomb explosion in Yola.  (1) The press is allowed full access to the sites of the the tragedy in Paris but in Yola, we are yet to see actual pictures in the Nigerian media. Of course, the army would have cordoned off the entire area. (2) Within 24 hours, the Chief Prosecutor has addressed the world to give a timeline of the Paris shooting in a press statement. In 9ja, enh? Did you say Chief what? Did you say press statement? (3) Under 24 hours, suspects names started emerging in the Paris shooting. Here, respect yourself if you want to blame a specific religion or tribe. In fact, yesterday, I saw a "John" in the names of BH kingpins. We are watching to see where that will lead. (4) President Hollande canceled his G20 trip, addressed the nation and within 48 hours addressed a joint session of their legislature. As if these weren't enough, they picked up an EU charter that has never be