InspireGrow

           Since I was a little lad pulling little girls’ braids in Sunday School and making them cry, I’ve always wanted one thing, and one thing only: to be the wickedest man in Nigeria. Other children wanted to be doctors and pilots and teachers. Not I. I wanted to burn things down and deface posters. I wanted people to curse and revile me as I passed by. I wanted them to spit at the mention of my name. It has always been my purpose to be wicked, as I’ve said. So as soon as I was done with school and finished my NYSC, I set about looking for the most nefarious things and person to be. This was not easy, I assure you. All around me, the competition was stiff. There were more wicked people than I had imagined, all living in one country. I realized that in order to set myself out as truly wicked, truly mind horrifyingly ghastly, I would have to excel above my peers in a manner never before seen. I immediately set about my plan. At the ba...

Dear Proudly Nigerians, NOW THAT THEY HAVE CHOSEN TO STRIKE US HARD, NECESSITY LEFT US NO CHOICE THAN TO STRIKE BACK COME 2015. Do we need a soothsayer to tell us that the governing bodies so-called government are our future barricades? Having series of conference to make sure our tomorrow is a blatant blackout. It’s now obvious to all and sundry, old and young, tribes and individual that they really don’t give a damn about the lives to come of Nigerian youths. What we’ve so far experience is an expectancy of when the selfish, self-centred reigns. I’m glad they save us the need for group-thinking and campaign on our stance as they have characteristically offer us the choice to choose for ourselves and generations yet unborn but reluctantly, which are to come. Obviously, they are telling us that ‘’Look Youths, if truly you yearn for true and fair-share of democracy and leadership, the path you’ve been turning away from, the hard choices you’ve been shunning all years long,...

Anti-corruption crusaders believe, and perhaps justifiably so, that corruption is an official language in Nigeria. The frequency of financial scandals as well as their dimensions in government circles, baffle even the most sanguine of citizens. Every sector of the economy reeks of stench from the rot that is official sleaze, and as it persists, it manifests itself in acute underdevelopment of the state, decayed infrastructure and avoidable loss of lives. The current administration, at inception, vowed to wage a war against the societal cancer, just like the administration before it and others before them. From the first military coup in 1966, every successive government had identified corruption as, not just an issue, but the major issue in Nigeria. And with such identification came with a few times serious, but most often feeble – attempts to curb the monster. Fifty three years after independence, ours has emerged a country overran by official corruption, so much so that many ...

The Archbishop emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, His Eminence, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to shun any idea of running for a second term in office in 2015. Okojie who answering to questions asked in an in an   interview   stated that if he were Jonathan, he would not run in 2015 “because the writing on the wall does not favour it. Making direct reference to the alleged “third-term bid” of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Archbishop, who decried flattery and sycophancy ‘in high places,’ stressed the need to keep political agreement, if any. According to Okogie, by 20015, the incumbent President would have served the country in that capacity for, at least, six years, the number of service years, which, he said, is enough for modest contribution to national development. “If I were Jonathan, I will not try it (running for a second term), because the writing on the wall does not favour it....

When people gather to discuss the future of   Nigeria , the consensus is usually 2-pronged. The first is that the brand of   democracy   we have now clearly is working. The second is that we are probably screwed if we don’t address our fundamental deficiencies. The third (yes, I know I said two) is that we need a benevolent dictator to set us right. The mind that proposes a benevolent dictator has probably considered that even returning to military rule would not be a bad option, giving how slowly we have moved since 1999. However, that is not a thought that we are allowed to entertain, as constitutional law jingoists insist on drumming it into our heads that “the worst civilian regime is better than the best military rule”. I think we can agree that the evidence suggests to the contrary. The world’s oldest democracies are in the middle of economic decline (yes, there is the argument that boom and bust are cyclical) and oligarchies like China and the Sultan...

Move over Oprah, Nigerian oil tycoon Folorunsho Alakija is now the richest black woman in the world with an estimated fortune of $7.3 billion. Africa boasts of 55 billionaires – far more than previously thought – and they’re worth a staggering $143.88 billion in total, according to pan-African magazine Ventures Africa. Starting her career as a secretary in a bank in the mid 1970s, Alakija, 62, then studied fashion in London and returned to Nigeria to start a label, Supreme Stitches. But her biggest break came in oil. In 1993, her company, Famfa Oil, was awarded an oil prospecting license, which later became OML 127, one of the country’s most prolific oil blocks, by then-president Ibrahim Babangida. The company owned a 60 per cent stake in the block until 2000 when the Nigerian government unconstitutionally acquired a 50 per cent interest without duly compensating Alakija or Famda Oil. In May 2012, Alakija, a married mother-of-four, challenged the acquisition and the Nige...

To YOU who deem it fit to celebrate Amidst the days sorrow becloud us so When blood of rain run the street of Yobe Why Levantine snore the corridors in Aso Rock  To WE who deem it fit we celebrate Amidst the roads that lead us West While fear abduct us en-route to East As our children and aged among the flooded South I wouldn’t hold this great grudge against you To THEM who deem it fit we celebrate Amidst the mortgage our destine future has taken In line with this traffic call our identity Words has no leverage of dreams some had offcos many of these you know my dear patriots To US who deem it fit to celebrate Amidst the wickedness inbound once day light All in the name of a sacred creed So now we chart a course for mediocrity Hope you know the man call change To THOSE who deem it fit we celebrate Amidst the great courage and commitment you portray Although our deeds many not part their logs Still time dove her hat in memory of age Because of you...