Author: Centre for Nigeria Progress

Nyesom Ezenwo Wike exemplifies patronage politics (also called clientelism or godfatherism) in contemporary Nigeria. This system involves asymmetric exchanges where a powerful patron provides resources, opportunities, protection, or access in return for loyalty, political support, and control. In Nigeria’s context, it blends traditional African big-man politics with the realities of weak institutions, oil wealth, and …

Continue reading "Wike’s Patronage Politics: A Deep Dive into Power, Loyalty, and Governance in Nigeria by Lawson Akhigbe"

Firing Squad In a moment of pure, unadulterated political adrenaline, Edo State’s Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, went full Game of Thrones. Standing before a frustrated public, he announced a "brilliant" new security strategy: convicted kidnappers will be publicly executed right in King’s Square. Cue the dramatic music. Cue the applause from a terrified populace tired …

Continue reading "Medieval Musings in King’s Square: Why Governor Okpebholo’s Bloodlust Won’t Stop Kidnapping"

Gilbert Ramez Chagoury Gilbert Ramez Chagoury (born January 8, 1946, in Lagos, Nigeria, to Lebanese immigrant parents) is a Nigerian-Lebanese billionaire, diplomat, and philanthropist whose business network exemplifies the fusion of diaspora entrepreneurship, political access, infrastructure delivery, and transnational diplomacy in emerging markets. Co-founding the Chagoury Group in 1971 with his younger brother Ronald, he …

Continue reading "Gilbert Chagoury’s Global Business Network: A Deep Dive into Structure, Reach, Interconnections, and Implications"

The alliance between Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Gilbert Ramez Chagoury is not a conventional business relationship. It represents something far more structured and consequential: a deeply embedded nexus where private capital and state authority intersect. What has emerged over time is not merely patronage in the traditional political sense, but a durable framework through which …

Continue reading "The Lagos Pipeline: How Power, Patronage, and Private Capital Converged into a State System by Lawson Akhigbe"