By ANDERSON (ANDY) CLIFF IN an age when strongmen tighten their grip and democracy teeters under the weight of repression, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize could hardly have found a more fitting recipient. The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to honour Maria Corina Machado, Venezuela’s opposition leader and relentless advocate for democracy, is more than an […]
By HAUWA MAGANA NIGERIA’S latest ranking as the country with the lowest life expectancy in the world is not just another statistic — it is a national indictment. The 2025 United Nations global health report places the nation’s average life expectancy at 54.9 years, a figure that underscores decades of policy failure, systemic neglect, and […]
By TAYO TAIWO (T.T.) OLUWOLE FOR Nigerian football fans, the countdown to 2026 isn’t just about the next World Cup — it’s about a season of action, transformation, and opportunity. From the NPFL’s renewed energy to a reinvented Champions League and the much-anticipated AFCON in Morocco, the coming months promise to be a rare convergence […]
By TIMOTHY HAGGERTY-NWOKOLO IN international politics, nothing ever “just happens.” Every conflict, coup, and crisis often fits into a well-worn pattern — one that begins with a problem, escalates into chaos, and ends with a “solution” that benefits everyone except the people on the ground. Across Africa, that script appears to be replaying itself once […]
By DAVID JOHN-FLUKE ON a breezy Saturday in Abuja, Nkechi’s gold lace shimmered under the wedding lights as she watched her childhood friend walk down the aisle. But behind her forced smile lay heartbreak — her own fiancé had ended their long-distance engagement from Canada just a week earlier. “Life is moving fast here. I’ve […]
By MELVIN KOFFA ACROSS Nigeria, governors are facing growing public anger and scrutiny — not because of a lack of funds, but because of what analysts describe as a lack of vision, accountability, and willpower to translate the ongoing revenue windfall into real progress. Over the past year, allocations to states from the Federation Account […]
By STELLA JOHNSON OGBOVOVEH WHEN the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, announced that commercial sex workers — popularly called “runs girls” — would be taxed under Nigeria’s new fiscal regime taking effect in January 2026, it sounded like satire. But it wasn’t. “If somebody is doing runs […]
By TINA TOLUTOPE, Investigations Desk AS Nigeria inches closer to the 2027 general elections, a familiar drama is unfolding across the political landscape — and, once again, it could play directly into President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s hands. From Abuja to Awka, and Port Harcourt to Kano, opposition figures are plotting their comeback. Yet, beneath the surface […]
By AUGUSTINA McSOLOMON-OGHAKPERUO AT first glance, the Makurdi Ultra Modern International Market still bears traces of its former life—a grid of empty stalls, fading signboards, and abandoned trading spaces. But inside what was once a bustling commercial hub now thrives a different kind of economy—one of survival. The market has become Benue’s largest camp for […]
By AUGUSTUS ISICHEI AT 65, Nigeria’s sporting landscape tells a troubling story. Once the pride of Africa, the nation’s stadia now stand as decaying relics of past glory, symptomatic of a broader culture of neglect and short-term thinking. From Surulere to Abuja, the decline of facilities paints a grim picture of wasted opportunities and shrinking […]