A coalition of non-governmental organisations in Rivers state styling itself as the Niger Delta Citizens and Budget Platform (NDCBP), has expressed concern over a recent approval by the state House of Assembly for a $280 million concessionary loan to be taken from the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank (AFDB). According to the group,... Read More
by Isi Esene Fighting for your right in Nigeria is never an easy task and taking on about 50 fully armed policemen in the centre of Abuja is no less a daunting one. Yesterday, former Education Minister, Oby Ezekwesili, stood (sat) her ground refusing to leave the Unity Fountain where she and a host of... Read More
by Abigail Anaba Even NOI’s ‘enemies’ will acknowledge that she is an uncommonly brilliant and intelligent woman whose economic weight cannot be taken for granted. She definitely understands the world’s economic terrain, having at a point in her career contested to be president of the world bank; she has brought her deep understanding to play... Read More
by Ifeanyi Uddin First, governments could opt to build the roads cheaply, deploying tax revenues for this purpose. In this case, tolling will be part of a cost-recovery scheme. Another option is to allow private developers to bear the demand risk from the roads without a revenue guarantee. This scenario does allow government to offer... Read More
by Akan Ido Obiageli ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s former Minister of Solid Minerals, and former World Bank Vice President spoke with the Sun Newspapers on the occasion of her 50th birthday. She spoke passionately about the state of the nation and what needs to be done to change the fortune of the nation for the better.... Read More
by Cheta Nwanze “An attack on the King’s soldier is an attack on the King himself.” The above statement was made by an unnamed English magistrate sent by Edward I (1239 – 1307) to pacify the Scots when they dared rebel against English rule. As a King, Edward (nicknamed Longshanks because of his height) was... Read More
by Charles Soludo How do we know if the states are ‘performing’ or not? We are constantly inundated with self-advertisements and propaganda by various states on what they term “unprecedented” accomplishments. Nigeria operates a peculiar kind of federation (unitary federalism) with overwhelming concentration of powers on the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN). Its fiscal federalism... Read More
by Tunji Andrews Nigeria no longer stands on the that top ten list of “fastest growing countries”. Our 6.5% GDP fell way short of our African brothers like Libya (12.2%), Mozambique (8.2%), Rwanda (7.8%) and Ghana (7.6%), who all managed to make the top ten listings in 2012. For me this places a giant ‘F’... Read More
by Wale Bakare Oil became the new Agriculture of my generation. Owning an oil block was more worthy than tilling the land. As far back as the early 80s – Nigerias post colonial Agricultural revolution recorded some remarkable feat in the global world. Farming became the imported old bride for the previously stone-aged dwellers having... Read More
by Isi Esene Oby Ezekwesili, former Vice President (Africa) of the World Bank and federal minister during the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration yesterday alleged that about $67bn had, in the last five years, been squandered by the two successive governments of Umar Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. She reportedly said the money was left in... Read More
by Akan Ido The Senate yesterday approved the sum of $7.109billion for federal and state governments under the 2012-2014 Medium Term External Borrowing Plan. Of this amount, the sum of $4.846billion was approved for the federal government while 23 states got approval for $2.263billion as their share of the borrowing plan. The money will be... Read More
I don’t envy the men paid to defend the image of the Nigerian government, and wish them the very best with their impressive imitation of Joseph Goebbels. Edward Bernays will not ring any bells, and is one of those men you are likely to hear about in a Pub Quiz but forget about after consuming... Read More
by Akan Ido Along with other notable personalities like the German chancellor, Angela Merkel and Chinese Communist Party leader, Xi Jinping, The Economist presents Ngozi Okojo-Iweala, Nigeria’s minister of finance and coordinator of the economy to be one of the movers and shakers of the world in 2013. The magazine has never hidden its admiration... Read More
by Isi Esene Oby Ezekwesili, the former World Bank vice-president for Africa, over the weekend said she prays for Nigeria’s oil and gas resources to dry up soon so that the government can stop its over-reliance on petroleum. She urged the federal government to do something urgent about the spate of unemployment in the country... Read More
by Stanley Azuakola In a year’s time, the head of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy will step down. Already there are speculations on who will succeed him. while two people have declared interest in the job. They are New Zealand’s trade minister Tim Groser and Ghana’s former trade minister Alan Kyerematen, whose candidacy has... Read More
It has been an exciting couple of months for Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-iweala. She has spent the time traversing the globe and chasing history, hoping—and failing—to be the first ever non-American to head up the World Bank Group. The Economist assesses the mounting hurdles Okonjo-Iweala still faces as she returns... Read More
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