In 1969, the small Scandinavian nation of Norway discovered one of the largest offshore oil deposits in the world. The discovery of the Ekofisk changed everything. Almost overnight, Norway found itself sitting on extraordinary wealth beneath the waters of the North Sea. History, however, had already shown what usually happens when sudden natural resource wealth …
Continue reading "Norway and the Discipline of Wealth by Lawson Akhigbe"
There’s a difference between political ambition and political arithmetic. One inspires; the other must still add up. In Edo State, that distinction is currently being stretched to breaking point. The baseline facts are not in dispute. According to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Edo has 2,629,025 registered voters. Yet, in the 2023 presidential election, actual …
Continue reading "Edo State and National Presidential Elections 2027 by Lawson Akhigbe"
In the fevered theatre of the 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump delivered one of those lines that would be dismissed as parody if it were not uttered in earnest. At a presidential debate, he alleged that Haitians in Springfield were eating the pets—dogs and even swans—of local residents. It was the sort of …
Continue reading "When the Voter Becomes the Enemy: A Far-Right Habit by Lawson Akhigbe"
What gives you direction in life? Not today, move on.
IBB Nigeria’s military dictatorships from the mid-1980s to late 1990s entrenched grand corruption as a structural feature of governance, contributing to the country’s estimated $400 billion+ losses to graft since independence. General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB, ruled 1985–1993) and General Sani Abacha (ruled 1993–1998) exemplify distinct yet overlapping models of plunder. Babangida’s era is often …
Centre for Nigeria Progress 