A Nigerian Political And Lifestyle Blog

  Dino Melaye is a senator of the federal republic of Nigeria under the current 8th assembly, headed by Senate President Abubakar Bukola  Saraki. He is the incumbent senator representing Kogi west senatorial district and Chairman Senate Committee on FCT. Dino, as he is popularly called, has never shied away from controversy. From his days of partying with semi-nude women on his yachts during his holidays to him having a banter with senator Oluremi Tinubu, the wife of the APC  stalwart, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and now to his recent controversy; authentication of his numerous degrees and his coming out with 3rd class from ABU Zaria. My aim today is not to vilify the man upon his recent controversy, but to seriously as ask; Why always Dino Melaye?   With his rugged looking appearance, no matter the number of native suits he wears, his audible voice in the senate is never mistaken for another. He has built up a strong persona over there that he seems to be unch...

Just recently, a mandate w as placed on the South-East geo-political zone of the APC, to deliver the whole of that zone to the ruling APC lead government headed by President Muhammadu Buhari, when the 2019 elections kicks - off . If we can recall, during the 2015 elections, the incumbent President lost woefully in the said zone. In states like Imo, Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu, Abia States. In fact, it was a landslide victory for the ousted former President Ebele Goodluck Jonathan. While it is not mission impossible for the ruling government, it is a herculean task to achieve. The first thing about convincing people to vote for you in politics is to give them a mindset to adopt if they are not necessarily changing theirs. The average easterner has a strong disdain for the political party called "APC." While much of it can be attributed to the stronghold of PDP in that region, it did the Apc no good that a bulk of its members and BOT are from the north and the South-West. A c...

Around 500,000 Nigerians have been furnished with computerized knowledge by Google in its Digital Skills for Africa (DSA) program.In the DSA program, Google really prepared one million young people crosswise over Africa, with Nigeria having the biggest learners. The one million point of reference was accomplished inside 11 months for the age section of 18 to 35 years. The ramifications of the preparation would see the 500,000 Nigerian students utilize the learning of the web to engage themselves and make various employments. In the meantime, the Federal Government has said that it is excited about digitizing the economy by broadening more into Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Extraordinary Assistant, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, Office of the Vice President, Ife Adebayo, said the government is focused on guaranteeing ICT assumes its legitimate position in the plan of things to the extent administration is a concern. As indicated by him, the change mantra would just...

Looking at the behavior of Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd), the comptroller-gen eral of Nigeria customs towards the senate of Nigeria, one cannot help but discern his brazen behavior towards his invitation to the National assembly to defend the new customs duty being proposed by the CG of customs. It has also being reported that he was asked to appear before the house of assembly on his customs uniform. But he has bluntly refused to put on the uniform, for the singular reason of being a colonel in the Nigerian Army, therefore he does not need to wear his current appointment uniform. That singular response can be bad to Nigeria, coming from a public officer. It is like saying the Nigerian Army is superior to the Nigerian customs, and the Nigerian constitution. If he cannot defend his proposed policies, what else is he doing? If he thinks the office is beneath his military status as a colonel, why did he take the job then, considering the fact that, he is retired, he could have ea...

As the Central Bank of Nigeria injects  $370 million into the Nigerian economy to strengthen the Naira, experts are not quite sure of the direction of such policy. A lot of them see this move by the Apex body, as a temporary solution, because none of it is geared towards the productive sector of the economy. The only people that have been affected the most in this current CBN policy has being manufacturers. But the most people getting these dollars are importers, those on medical tourism and students schooling abroad. All of which contributes nothing tangible to the economy. So much have being said about us coming out of recession in 2017, one of which is coming from the minister for budget and national planning Udo Udoma. But I don't see where that optimism is coming from. Yes, we have started exporting oil at our optimum again, since the calming of the Niger Delta Militants. But oil prices haven't risen in the past 6months. The only reason why our reserve grew was...

Recently I saw a post on one of Nigeria's popular website, about a young man who was almost naked, jumped into a nearby drainage close to him in celebration of Barcelona's victory in the UEFA Champions league against Paris Saint Germain. I have always known the average Nigerian football lover to fanatic but not to the extent which the guy took it. Yes, we have Had instances where fans die of football related activities, but that has been over a loss and not over a victory. Am not against celebrating football or sport related victories, but Nigerians can go to the extreme. I remember when Manchester United lost the UCL in 2009, against Barcelona in the final, a Nigerian fan out of anger, crushed some Barcelona fans with his car in Port-Harcourt.   If you have been at the receiving end of their antics during football matches at the viewing center, you will understand better.  Some of this fan do not understand what sportsmanship is all about. To them, it is a do or die af...

  The federal Government of Nigeria just recently placed a ban on the importation of cars through the Seme border with the Benin Republic, amidst cry from car importers in the country, on the possibility of a hike in the prices of vehicles sold in the country. To put it aptly, the ban was engineered to curb the serious corruption going on in the importation of cars, from the Nigerian customs, freight forwarder, to clearing agent and to the owners themselves. Also, it was implemented after series of meetings with their Benin counterpart of which non yielded fruit. In the meeting, the BENIN counterparts were asked to always follow cars imported through its countries port, and being transported to Nigeria, in other to present the appropriate papers, and curb the heavy fraud and incessant fees importers pay in other to cut corners to bring the vehicles to Nigeria. With the ban, the FG have been able to increase the level of patronage to our major ports in Apapa Lagos, as well as ...

Recently I read an article by a foremost writer in the Nigerian sphere, an environmentalist, who was talking about the need for the Nation to have an environmental police. Not only did I support the call for this, I want to use this medium to clearly state my concerns.   National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) is the body charged with taking care of our environmental needs, together with States environmental laws and agencies. So far the degradation faced by most of our roads and street with waste is nothing but appalling. It has gotten so bad to the extent that nobody cares anymore. Refuse are dumped nonchalantly on our roads day in day out with nobody doing anything about it. Using Lagos under Governor Ambode as an example, the situation has gotten worst. LAWMA and the public-private partnership have not yielded any tangible result. we are back to where we were under Bola Ahmed Tinubu.  I usually ply the Apapa-Oshodi expressw...

Some time ago, someone sent me an audio message via whatsapp, in the course of listening to the message, I became enraged in my spirit because of the message. The message was not thought provoking neither was it informing, rather it was a blatant display of ignorance, and a very wrong proposal to Christians. The conveyor of the message was asking Christians to take up arms, and respond to the various assaults on them. He called on Christians to harm the Muslims, and by so doing, there will be peace. He said that true christianity is synonymous to that of the Jews there by should resemble it in the aggressiveness towards our enemies. Although he was right in his analogies of what Christianity represents, however, he was blind to the underlying truth in those analogies. Yes, Christians are spiritual jews, and we are meant to fight our enemies, but these enemies are not physical enemies, rather they are principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places. The scripture...

The political landscape of Nigeria is always changing but the players remain the same. 2019 presidential election is going to be based on a lot of scenarios. 1. If Buhari continues as President after his vacation. 2. If PDP form a formidable Opposition If these scenarios play out, we might get to see 6 fancied politicians for the Presidential seat. 1. President Buhari     If the Kastina born politician can overcome his frail health, he is the best bet to retain his seat in 2019. But it still remains to be seen if he will continue to that time.   2. Atiku Abubakar       He has never hidden his desire to run for the presidential seat. Many have asked that he allows younger generations to via for this seat, but the Adamawa born politician is not showing any signs of slowing down. After all, the current president is 70+ 3. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan        No matter how much the current Government has ridiculed the past...

Nigeria is a country with endless possibilities. With its population, resources, and infrastructure, they should have as much as 500 billion dollars in their foreign reserve and a trillion dollars as their yearly budget, but that is me been presumptuous. But in reality, we are just a country with multiple facets. Poverty, ignorance, arrogance, lack of integrity Is what is spelled on our names as Nigerians. Infrastructural decay and mindless looting by politicians and those in key positions have marred our development. As a means of hope for Nigerians comes Ponzi schemes with a mantra to change the poverty level of the average Nigerian to financial freedom. How will they do that, nobody dared to ask because of greed. Who doesn't want financial freedom? Thousands of people bought the idea, took action and reaped rewards at first, millions joined later and were scammed. Nobody taught them to do their research on before jumping to get rich quick schemes. Today, since the demi...

  Nigerian State by Landmass, Population and Population Density Rank States Population 2006 Landmass Km 2 Population Density (Km 2 ) 1 Kano State 9,383,682 20,680.00 454 2 Lagos State 9,013,534 3,345.00 2,695 3 Kaduna State 6,066,562 43,460.00 140 4 Katsina State 5,792,578 26,785.00 216 5 Oyo State 5,591,589 27,460.00 204 6 Rivers State 5,185,400 11,077.00 468 7 Bauchi State 4,676,465 64,605.00 72 8 Jigawa State 4,348,649 22,605.00 192 9 Benue State 4,219,244 34,059.00 124 10 Anambra State 4,182,032 4,844.00 863 11 Borno State 4,151,193 71,130.00 58 12 Delta State 4,098,391 18,050.00 22...