My esteemed brother and companion of many years, Sikiru Akinola- affectionately known as SK or Oranmiyan- attained the milestone of 40 on Friday. To my profound regret, my family allowed the occasion to pass unobserved, an oversight for which we offer our most sincere apologies. I must acknowledge the immense debt of gratitude I owe to SK, a sentiment fully shared by my family. But you cannot blame me for the oversight as well. Since the unfortunate death of the publisher of Eagle Online, Dotun Oladipo, a man described by many as an unquantifiable asset, I simply retreated into my…
Author: Development Reporting
In June 2023, motorbike riders filled the streets of Garoua in northern Cameroon. Thousands of them. Angry. They were not angry with their own president. They were angry with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Let that sit for a moment. Foreigners rioting because Nigeria stopped paying for something. What had we been paying for? Their fuel. Before subsidy ended, a litre of petrol here cost about 189 naira. Across the border it cost the equivalent of 333 naira in Chad, 365 in Niger, 381 in Benin and 399 in Cameroon. Now put yourself in the shoes of those rioting young men.…
Chibuike Aguene left university with a computer science degree but lacked the practical skills needed for the industry. After gaining practical skills at NIIT and later struggling to find qualified employees, he built an AI-powered platform to bridge Nigeria’s education-to-work gap. By Vera Chidimma Okoh, bird story agency When it was time to fill out his Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) form, the official electronic application for Nigerians to gain admission for tertiary education, Chibuike Aguene chose to ignore the advice of family. Instead of pursuing medicine or engineering, he looked around the family and, identifying a computer scientist…
The Coalition for Whistleblower Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) has condemned the alleged assault of Sunday Ogwu, editor of Pinnacle Daily, and demanded an immediate investigation into the conduct of police operatives during a demolition exercise in Lugbe, Abuja. A statement issued on 20 August and signed by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) on behalf of the coalition, said Mr Ogwu was on Wednesday attacked by officers attached to the Lugbe Police Division and members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) and was allegedly harassed, flogged and had his mobile phone damaged while documenting the operation.…
Counter-terrorism financing is often described as a contest between governments attempting to restrict financial flows and terrorist organisations seeking new ways to survive. Experience from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) demonstrates that this contest is less a battle of financial resources than one of adaptation. Research conducted by Good Governance Africa reveals that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2022–2023-naira redesign – introduced to reduce excess cash circulation, address currency hoarding and combat illicit financial flows – created significant panic inside territories controlled by ISWAP. Yet, instead of triggering financial collapse, the organisation rapidly adjusted its practices and ultimately developed new…
By: Arsène Jonathan Mosseavo, Roger Kpeteka and Idelette Bissu’u [BANGUI, DAKAR, BAMAKO, SciDev.Net] “We often talk about care, medicines, medical equipment, but the issue of waste produced by these things is overlooked.” Medza Ndoye, president of the Senegal-based non-profit Citizen Reflection and Action Club (CRAC), believes this is a problem because a health system can’t be effective if the waste it generates is not properly managed. The issue of biomedical waste management, laments Ndoye, is seriously underestimated in Sub-Saharan Africa, where healthcare facilities generate tonnes of biomedical waste a day. This includes used syringes and infectious anatomical waste that are…
From the early morning queues at polling units to the quiet anticipation of voters waiting to cast their ballots, the 2026 Osun governorship election which took place on Saturday, 15 August, unfolded through a series of moments that captured the mood of a State deciding its next leader. Across communities, voters turned out to exercise their franchise amid varying scenes of excitement, anxiety and determination. By Sunday morning, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Accord Party winner with 511,067 votes, defeating his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji of the All Progressives Congress (APC),…
Rising from its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on 8 – 9 August, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned of fresh unrest across Nigerian public universities, saying it has authorised branches in more than 20 federal and state-owned institutions to begin varying levels of industrial action over unpaid entitlements and the alleged poor implementation of the 2025 FGN-ASUU agreement. The union said lecturers are still owed the balance of three-and-a-half months’ salaries withheld during its 2022 strike, despite the payment of four months by the Federal Government. It also cited delays in the payment of…
It is a few hours to the decisive governorship election in Osun, and telephone calls from far and near to families, friends, and particularly participants in the conduct of the poll have indicated fear and trepidation among distant onlookers and observers. While the deafening cacophony of gunshots in hotspots like Ijesha land and Osogbo has claimed lives and dominated headlines, a more silent, transactional drama is unfolding in the shadows. In the nascent urban and semi-rural areas, the atmosphere is deceptively calm, a silence bought by the free-flowing rain of the Naira. Transactional politics has reached a fever pitch. Across…
She once dreamed of becoming a doctor. Today, she diagnoses engines instead of patients and has become one of Nigeria’s few female senior automotive technicians. Meet Tokunbo Adegoju, the “Workshop Mom” whose journey from fixing things at home to fixing cars on the radio is inspiring a new generation of women to rethink what is possible in the automotive world. By Dorcas Sheffy Bello, bird story agency A caller’s Toyota had “developed a rattle, but only when it idles”. He could not explain it any better than that. He did not have to, however. On the other end of the…