Boko Haram:
Failed leadership and a conflict waiting to happen

No matter how we look at the question on the rise of Boko Haram or its seeming ability to galvanize followers in the north of the country, we would always reach the conclusive answer that Boko Haram owes its existence to the failure of leadership. Not an entirely new conclusion in itself. For those familiar with Nigeria’s post independence history of some 50 hurting years, lack of true leadership or progressive or if you like, developmental leadership at every strata of political and social existence has left open a wide vacuum, that has been readily occupied by bigots and dangerous fundamentalists who ordinarily should have no podium to sell their skewed and retrogressive ideas if progressive leadership had existed...

 

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Boko Haram and the dynamics of exclusion

Nigeria is not easily reversible
By Col ABUBAKAR UMAR (rtd)

‘We must allow innovation to come into government’

What’s Suswamnomics?

And the birds come to roost

 

 

 

‘We must allow innovation to come into government’ - In this interaction with Baobab Media team SEGUN ORUAME and JOE ANUGA in Makurdi, Honourable Commissioner for Finance & Economic Planning, Benue State, Oklobia Omadachi, says Nigeria has entered a unique time to leapfrog its economic processes...

Critical Essay ‘How oil underdeveloped Nigeria’ By Richard Dowden
Many Nigerians like to criticize their country with brutal honesty. That is a good thing. But I think many people, Nigerians and non-Nigerians overlook some of the very substantial successes. The most important one is Nigeria’s very survival as a territory. As a nation state it is 51 in four days time and will have been a united territory for 100 years in two years time. That in itself is an extraordinary achievement.

 

Analysis What does Gaddafi's fall mean for Africa?
Written by Professor MAHMOOD MAMDANI
Both in the longevity of his rule and in his style of governance, Gaddafi may have been extreme. But he was not exceptional. The longer they stay in power, the more African presidents seek to personalise power. Their success erodes the institutional basis of the state. The Carribean thinker C L R James once remarked on the contrast between Nyerere and Nkrumah, analysing why the former survived until he resigned but the latter did not: "Dr Julius Nyerere in theory and practice laid the basis of an African state, which Nkrumah failed to do."

 

Troubling awards and failed leadership By SEGUN OHIMEH ORUAME If awards could improve national security, wipe off mass poverty and reduce massive unemployment, writers would probably become happy recipients of the Nigerian National Award particularly if they were writers with Chinua Achebe’s reputation... The Famished Road - CHINWEOKE OBI writes that Gombe offers a paradox of how government policy on poverty alleviation runs outside the circle of the people’s expectations.   Helpers of the poor Civil society and all the missed points Prof. BALA DOGO raises questions on how to tell the chaff from the grain among civil society organizations purportedly set up to help the poor...   When life is brutish and dreams fade away HALIMA MUSA sieves the arguments on ending the almajiri problem, one of the worst forms of child destitution in Nigeria.   In the Name of God ... the commoditization of faith By Samuel Zalanga The need for African Liberation Theology...   A business called Education - Private sector education is a get-rich scheme in Nigeria. By By Halima Hamidu Musa

Creative Uncle’s rod of vengeance (a true story).  The year was 1996. Daddy had lost his job several years earlier, and had been unable to secure another one ever since. Mom was a government civil servant, and at this pre-minimum wage era... Theatre reflects the deepness of a people Professor Jenkeri Zakari Okwori is Head of Department, Theatre and Performing Arts, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. An experienced actor, director, and producer, Professor Jenkeri Zakari Okwori has been teaching Participatory / Development Communication at the ABU since 1984. A short story 8-8-8: The journey to Prayer City By I. D Ogbekene   Sex and the City: A city finds peace in its night clubs despite years of political turbulence - By Chinweoke Obis   Critical Essays: Muslim Hausa hegemony and the Jos crisis Many in the media have severally commented on the recent Jos mayhem, but in the spirit of political correctness virtually none has broached the touchy issue of real and perceived fears of Muslim Hausa domination by the Jos indigenes...

 

Science & Technology:                          

Going bananas for sustainable research - scientists create fuel from African crop waste	Male circumcision reduces HIV risk: No further evidence needed
‘Barcoding’ DNA to identify menacing mosquitoes	Kenya's Orange says to invest $99 million
ZTE’s stake in Congo Chine Telecom up for grabs	Burkina Faso’s Onatel Raises US$60 million in IPO
Defeating drug counterfeiters with SMS in Ghana	West African Cable System signs financing agreement
Yahsat to launch satellites in Africa for cheaper broadband - The United Arab Emirates is increasing its stake in Africa's telecommunications market with Al Yah Satellite Communications' move, to launch two satellites dedicated to providing cheap bandwidth...Read on   African girls

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