by Suraj Oyewale Tolu is, to me, the greatest under-35 newspaper columnist in Nigeria at the moment. In the first part of this edition [READ HERE], I reckoned that based on the limited information available to me, it appears that the late Alade “Allah De” Odunewu of the defunct Daily Times (called “Dele Tans” by... Read More
by Isi Esene We kick off the 2014 YNaija.com Power List with those who hold the levers in the media – all, as usual, under the age of 40. They have gone beyond their own careers and their own empires, and they are influencing trends, leading on success, and driving people to action. From OAPs... Read More
by Isi Esene Popular comedian, Basketmouth has been known to cross uncomfortable subject boundaries when it comes to making jokes but it appears the likable funny has taken it a bit too far when he posted a joke on Facebook about rape. On the post which he has since deleted, the comedian attempted to make... Read More
What: The Future Awards Africa Best 100 Alumni. Where: State House, Abuja. When: December 15, 2013. Photos by Hycinth Iyereosa
100 Best TFAA, 15-12-13, adebola williams, Adesuwa Onyenokwe, Chude Jideonwo, Derele Edun, Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, Gedion Okeke, Ibukun Awosika, Joseph Benjamin, Julie Odia, Namadi Sambo, OC Ukeje, Okonjo-Iweala, State House Abuja, Stephanie Okereke-Linus, TFAA Best 100, tolu ogunlesi, Tony Elumelu, Uche Jombo Rodriguez, Ufuoma Ejenobor McDermott
It’s a serious matter. Nigerian goats are really taking the piss, and taking laws into their own horns. Two weeks ago the papers have been awash with the news of five goats arrested in Osun State, for contravening environmental sanitation laws. It’s a serious matter. Nigerian goats are really taking the piss, and taking laws into their... Read More
If this country will change for the better, it will be because there are people who are prepared to act as though no alternative exists. Because, left to the ‘system’, the most appealing alternative is the road to destruction. 1. Things don’t have to get better I’ve been doing some catching up with Nigerian history,... Read More
Read my most recent YNaija piece for details. For the masses of Nigeria, every squabble between the members of an oppressive elite is good news. What better way to end the year than on a note of good news. I get accused all the time, by deeply and genuinely patriotic Nigerians, of not being positive... Read More
by Femke van Zeijl My voluntary curfew makes me realise I respond the Nigerian way: by adjusting. Knowing my rage against the institutionalised lawlessness, impunity and inequality that provides the breeding ground to these crimes is futile, I cut my losses and try to survive. At first I think I hear a car back firing... Read More
They buy jets and fund projects from the sweat of the bottom-billion, who know that one day Jehovah Lojiji, the God of Suddenly, will make an Expressway where bushpaths used to be. Calm down, it’s not a curse. It’s a prayer. A prayer for the good of the country that we all love dearly but... Read More
by Tolu Ogunlesi He has also promised to reveal, in due time, the roster of aides whose pronouncements on his behalf will be publicly denied, and the presumed dates of denial. Faced with a repeat of the Manitoba saga which forced the President to throw his chief spokesperson beneath a metaphorical SURE-P bus, the Presidency... Read More
We licked our wounds, swapped stories, stewed in our numbness, picked spent bullet shells as though we were harvesting grain. Around midnight on Saturday 11 November (make that Sunday 12 November), I drove into a band of armed robbers somewhere in Lekki. Before then I, Otunba of the Lagos Night, had never – not in... Read More
From another perspective it is super-depressing news. President come president go, fuel scarcity remain, corruption remain. Nigeria’s problems seem destined to outlive every Nigerian, and certainly every government. I’m currently reading The Supreme Commander, Olufemi Ogunsanwo’s 2009 biography of former Head of State Yakubu Gowon. I don’t need to tell you it’s a fascinating read.... Read More
In spite of the fact that #ThisOurCountryIsNot(Really)ACountry, there remain strong pieces of evidence for the belief that real change is possible. We are far from where we ought to be, but also far more capable of making inspiring leaps forward than we like to think. I think it is safe to assume that the average... Read More
How can you have a National Honours ceremony in which there are no medals to be given out? And then to crown it all, this year it has emerged that the government will not be providing any hotel beds for the distinguished necks to rest in preparation for the ceremony. The government has indeed gone mad!... Read More
We are in the hands of a government painfully and tragically oblivious to history. This inability to ‘remember’ (without memory there can be no appreciation of irony, no?) may end up being their greatest undoing. My plan today was to write a piece titled: In defence of Goodluck Jonathan. Now that will have to wait... Read More
The world is full of stupid people, let’s face it, and mobile phones and social media have unfortunately empowered them and magnified their power to cause confusion In the opening lines of that now-famous fascinating insider’s view of the presidential kitchen / dinner-table, spokesperson Reuben Abati descends hard on all who criticise the president –... Read More
Now how does one blame Nigerians for being unruly in an environment in which the administrators have themselves refused to create any incentive for order? Now the Olympics are over. The Ghana-Must-Go bags we shipped to London for the purpose of ferrying medals back home will... Read More
To qualify for greatness we have to get used to doing things in a greatness-compatible manner. It isn’t impossible, by the way. Last week I promised we’d talk about greatness – in relations to Nigeria, a country that has everything it takes to be great but... Read More
The Nigerian Government this morning announced that it was now “very close” to discovering the elusive “GAWD! Particle.” In an exclusive chat with this reporter Presidential spokesperson Rubu Bati said that this discovery “would be the most significant government achievement ever” in the history of Nigeria. According to Dr. Bati ‘G-A-W-D’ stands for the four... Read More
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