Posts

Posted on

The Art of the Bureaucratic Shrug: Why Nigerian Public Officials Never Bring a Pen to an Interview by Lawson Akhigbe

he backdrop of the interview was heavy: a massive Senate investigation into the "Safe Schools Initiative," a program conceptualized to protect students after the harrowing 2014 Chibok girls tragedy. We are talking about tracking billions of naira and over $30 million in donor funding. It’s the kind of high-stakes scrutiny that should make any public servant sweat through their starch-pressed Agbada.

Posted on

Daytime TV Politics and the Social Care Abyss: Why Prime Minister Burnham’s Cross-Party Table Is Missing the Point by Lawson Akhigbe

When Prime Minister Andy Burnham called for a cross-party "consensus" on social care, you could practically hear the collective sigh of relief from Westminster’s pundit class. “Ah, marvelous,” they purred. “The grown-ups are finally taking their seats.”

Posted on

The Speaker as a Herald: How Edo’s Power of the Purse Got Turned Upside Down by Lawson Akhigbe

On the surface, it sounds like great news for infrastructure. But listen closely to the phrasing: "The Governor has told me that he’s going to construct so many roads… The Governor has even approved the construction… Another road that the Governor has said he will also do…"

Posted on

We went to Northwest Nigeria. We interviewed a Gang of Bandits. We left with more questions than answers by Eromo Egbejule

In the southern forests, priests and priestesses of the goddesses in the rivers that run through them, are known to demand bottles of Fanta to open consultations or before any water infrastructure project commences. In the northern forests, gangs of bandits - usually ethnic Fulani - who use them as operational bases, crave bottles of Fanta as well.

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com