Tag: government

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THE SUSPENSION HABIT: WHEN A GOVERNOR FORGETS WHAT A COMMISSIONER IS By Lawson Akhigbe

Suspension is a civil service instrument. It exists to protect an officer's rights while an allegation is tested, precisely because civil servants have due process protections built around tenure and pension. Commissioners have no such tenure to protect, because they were never promised any. Subjecting them to the ritual of suspension does not protect them it borrows the aesthetics of bureaucratic discipline and drapes them over an office that was never meant to carry that indignity.

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The Nigerian Police Force: A Colonial Machine That Never Changed by Lawson Akhigbe

To understand the modern Nigerian Police Force, one must first understand its origins. The uncomfortable truth is that the institution was never created to protect ordinary Nigerians. It was established to protect the interests of those who ruled Nigeria, first the British colonial administration and later the Nigerian political elite that inherited the colonial state.

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THE PRESSURE VALVE REPUBLIC: How South Africa’s Political Class Manufactures a Crisis to Conceal the One It Already Made By Lawson Akhigbe

Jacob Zuma, a former South African President, is being blamed for South Africa's economic downfall. A mob in Durban, South Africa, has protested against Zuma, accusing him of corruption. The Zondo Commission, established in 2018, investigated allegations of state capture, corruption, and fraud in the public sector. The commission found that Eskom, a state-owned energy company, entered into irregular contracts worth R14.7 billion with entities linked to the Gupta family, Zuma's friends. This led to the diversion of Eskom's assets to the Guptas' financial advantage. The commission also found that key loyalists to Zuma and his party were placed in top positions at state-owned enterprises and law enforcement, while competent, honest officials were marginalised or fired. The result was the erosion of critical infrastructural enterprises like Eskom, Transnet, Prasa, and South African Airways. Institutional decay led to a loss of experienced human capital, decline in services, unreliable electricity and water supply, erratic revenue collection, and the decline of local governments. President Ramaphosa estimates that more than R500 billion was stolen during his predecessor's administration.

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