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Different opinions do not diminish qualifications. Nigerian football needs competent leadership, transparent selection, and accountability—not compulsory agreement. 𝐁𝐲 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐋𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐲 𝐎𝐤𝐨𝐤𝐮 Somewhere along the way, we began confusing disagreement among former footballers with an inability to lead Nigerian football. But since when did speaking with one voice become evidence of competence? Whenever former internationals express different preferences for the leadership…
The US government has announced a temporary sanctions waiver on the Russian fuel trade amid skyrocketing global prices. The move allows the sale, delivery, offloading, and import of Russian diesel, including to the United States, until at least April 7, 2027. The announcement by the US Treasury department came after President Donald Trump announced a major agreement with Moscow, following…
The Federal Government has welcomed the decision by Fitch Ratings on October 9, 2026 to revise the Outlook on Nigeria's Long-Term Issuer Default Ratings to Positive from Stable, while affirming the ratings at 'B'. Fitch said the action reflects ongoing reform of Nigeria's policy framework and its increased confidence that reform momentum will be sustained. The organisation attributed the improved…
By Ayodeji KOLAWOLE “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake!”). Widely attributed to Marie Antoinette, the phrase came to mind when the NorthEast Governors’ Forum (NEGF) announced at its October 3, 2026, meeting in Maiduguri that it planned to establish a regional airline. The governors said they had secured N10.8 billion of the N15.8 billion in funding needed for the proposed North-East Air Shuttle North-east governors announce plan to establish regional airline | TheCable. The announcement should outrage everyone concerned about the North - East region and Nigeria in general. Marie Antoinette, wife of the French monarch, Louis XVI was reported to have wondered why the masses were protesting another bread shortage during the reign of her husband when they could simply eat cake! Bread was a staple for France’s peasantry and working class, while brioche, bread enriched with butter and eggs, was for the upper class. It was insensitive and out of touch for the Queen, who the French referred to as Madame Déficit due to the impact of her extravagant spending on French finances, to think that people who could not afford ordinary bread would magically afford the luxury of brioche. Both her and her husband later lost their heads to the guillotine during the French revolution. The remark came to symbolise how disconnected the ruling class could be from ordinary people. Like Marie Antoinette, the NorthEast governors seem disconnected from their region’s realities and the daily struggles of the people they claim to govern. In a region ravaged by terrorism and underdevelopment, is a new airline really a priority? The governors must answer a few questions: What is the fate of the children whose education was disrupted by the Boko Haram insurgency, are they enrolled in education or skills programmes today? What psychosocial and economic support is available for the millions of victims of terrorism? How many local government areas, not to talk of wards have functioning healthcare centres? Can farmers safely return to their farms today? What is the state of roads and public transport? These pertinent issues seem to be flying over the heads of the governors for them to think a regional airline is priority now. Given the region’s profound development challenges, spending N15.8 billion on an airline to serve the governors’ tastes rather than people’s needs is unconscionable. By almost every development indices, the Northeast lags painfully behind. High levels of poverty and huge infrastructure gaps, compounded by almost two decades of terrorism have left the region below already troubling national averages on key humandevelopment and socio-economic indicators. While the six NorthEast states account for about 15% of Nigeria's population and almost one-third of its landmass, they contribute a paltry 3.5% to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and account for only about 5% of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by states. All the six states fall below the national average of 0.560 in Human Development Index (HDI), with four of the six states posting less than 0.5 (Gombe: 0.466; Borno: 0.464; Yobe: 0.439 and Bauchi: 0.372). The Poverty Rate in the region is about 70%, against the national average of 61%, with states like Gombe and Yobe recording multidimensional poverty rates of between 80%–86%. Unemployment rate in the region averages about 32% against a national average of 24%. https://blueprint.ng/north-east-development-commission-between-promises-and-human-capacity-building/ As The Economist noted recently about Borno state, but symptomatic of the region, “violence has wrecked the economy, leaving young people jobless and traders without customers. One 27-year-old in Maiduguri complains that he is forced to travel to neighbouring Chad to sell his grain, as locals cannot afford it.” https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2026/10/01/nigerians-dislike-their-president-but-may-re-elect-him-anyway Some may argue that states have little control over these macroeconomic indicators, though that claim is debatable. Examining the state of public education, health, transportation, areas firmly within state control, give little cheer. Life expectancy across the zone is less than 55 years, with residents facing severe acute undernutrition despite the region being rich in agricultural potential. This severe undernutrition impacts over 40% of children under the age of five. In a recent report by The Economist, the paper highlighted the sharp increase in the number of malnourished women and babies admitted over the past three years in a clinic for starving people; it reports July 2026 as the worst month since the clinic opened in 2016. https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2026/10/01/nigerians-dislike-their-president-but-may-re-elect-him-anyway According to UNICEF, 2.8 million children in the region are in need of education-in-emergencies support in three conflict-affected states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. In these states, at least 802 schools remain closed, and 497 classrooms are listed as destroyed, with another 1,392 damaged. It is little wonder therefore that academic outcomes in the region lag significantly behind the rest of the country, besting only the north-west region. Secondary school completion rate for the region is 38%, 25% below the national average. In the 2025 ranking of states with the highest WAEC credit pass rates, Yobe State was second from bottom with a credit pass rate of 14.1%, only better than Zamfara with 12.7%. The reason for these poor outcomes is not far-fetched. None of the states met the 26 per cent education policy benchmark in their 2026 budget allocation for education and worse still, none achieved full implementation of the budgetary provision for 2025. https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/914882-data-what-north-eastern-states-allocated-to-education-in-their-2026-budget.html CODE, an NGO operating in the region, in its State of Education in the North-East Report 2024, stated that “Children's education in the North-East has remained poor due to poverty, insecurity, inadequate funding, poor parenting and inhibitive socio-cultural practices. Most of the school-age children work in low-paid jobs, often to fend for themselves or support their parents, when not victims of discrimination as in the case of the girl child”. It goes further to say, “one major factor underpinning the decline in school enrolment and retention is poor infrastructure. In most schools, poor facilities such as derelict classrooms (or total lack of it in some cases), leaking roofs, broken furniture, and unhygienic toilets, make students unsafe and outright unmotivated aside from impairing teaching and learning activities. This, essentially, makes children skip classes or drop out altogether, hence the continuity of the out- of - school children epidemic.” Without improving these facilities, how do we improve education outcomes and not make the next generation a ready pipeline of recruits for terrorists? On road infrastructure and public transportation, how many state’ roads in the region are passable. Is there a mass or public transport system in the states that eases the burden of commuters especially in the face of rising food and transport costs? If the Governors have N15.8 billion, then they can utilise same to complete the 550km North-East Highway which spans Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Yobe and Borno States and better connect their region. The project conceived since the 2000s has remained largely uncompleted with Daily Trust reporting last month that the “road was abandoned with unfinished stretches, big potholes and worn-out sections that are barely fit for use”. These are the kinds of serious problems government should be addressing, not going off on a tangent, looking to start an airline especially in a region where there are scheduled commercial flight operations already. Since Ibom Air’s launch and modest success, several state governors have floated plans for their own airlines (which in many cases are simply private airlines painted in state colours), often overlooking government’s constitutional primary purpose of citizens’ security and welfare. The governors should abandon this ill-conceived venture and focus governance on people’s healthcare, education, sanitation, public transportation, food and physical security needs before embarking on this flight of fancy. The people need bread, not planes! *Ayodeji, a lawyer and policy analyst can be reached via dejikolawole@yahoo.com
By Nathaniel Olawoyin FOR two days, October 6 ad 7, members of the CORA Youth Creative Club, CYCC, and some members of the public converge in GRA Ikeja for an immersive training cum workshop to explore how Artificial Intelligence interfaces with the process of creating and distributing an artistic or cultural product. Organised by the CORA Library & Resource Centre,…
Different opinions do not diminish qualifications. Nigerian football needs competent leadership, transparent…
By Paul Okoku𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔, opened another chapter in the story…
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*(L-R) George-Ikoli, Adefope-Okojie and Falana Retired Justice of the Court of Appeal,…
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*Escobar The US has sought to influence Brazilian politics for decades, including…
The Federal Government has described healthcare as critical economic infrastructure, stressing that…
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By Mikail Mumuni As political activities intensify in Ogun State ahead of the 2027 general election, one question deserves the attention of every governorship candidate seeking the people’s mandate: What…
