05.08.08
In Anambra one encountered a predicament of a different sort—the prospects and risks of entrusting important projects to local contractors. While lauding Governor Obi’s efforts in road construction, many people told me that the local contractor handling many of the projects often did sub-par work. The wisdom of supporting local businesses should not overshadow the imperative of ensuring that there is value for every naira of public funds spent and that contracts meet the highest standards of execution. Obi must, then, take seriously the challenge of closely monitoring compliance with contractual specifications.
04.15.08
Late last year, Governor Peter Obi presented a proposed budget of N84.2 billion naira to cover capital as well as recurrent expenditures. Several months later, the membership of the state assembly is far from finalizing the budget. Instead, a majority of the members have taken to playing the most sordid politics with a matter that touches directly on the lives of Anambra indigenes. In an arbitrary move informed neither by rhyme nor reason, the assembly is threatening to gut the budget by cutting it deeply.
04.08.08
 Prodded by my friend, I too stole a peek at the said column, which was originally published in the Guardian of Thursday, March 2, 2006. Given that ours is a country in which memory is often weak and fleeting, it seemed to me apt to begin today’s reflections by sharing some of the insights from two years ago.
03.17.08
Late last week, I placed a telephone call to a close friend of mine, a highly successful businessman who lives in Ikoyi, an address that is home to many of Nigeria’s rich, famous and connected—as well as expatriates who work in the diplomatic service or oil sector. This friend has a booming, exuberant voice and usually speaks energetically. In short, his verbal manner over the phone leaves you in no doubt about his cheerful spirit. On this occasion, however, I detected an unaccustomed weariness in his voice. He sounded like a man beset by a crisis he was unable to see his way out of.
01.29.08
It is encouraging that a few Nigerian politicians are voicing the opinion that immunity, as currently conceived and enshrined in our Constitution, is an odious idea. And that the idea of handing millions of naira to unaccountable politicians, in the name of addressing security problems, is a recipe for pervasive corruption.
01.22.08
On Tuesday, January 15, every major Nigerian newspaper carried an astonishing report that should make scandalized Nigerians hopping mad. The Leadership’s headline screamed: Obasanjo Wasted Over N1.2trn On Power Sector – Yar’Adua. The Sun of the same day echoed the headline: BIG WASTE - Obasanjo wasted $10 billion on power – Yar’Adua.
01.17.08
Today, Nigeria needs a more pungent offensive in the war. You need someone who will clarify the nature and essence of this war. It is not enough to pronounce that we are fighting corruption, as President Olusegun Obasanjo loved to do; this must be demonstrated beyond all doubt before the Nigerian people. Not in the press, but in the eyes of the people of Nigeria.
01.15.08
One example of cheerful news was how the miasma of public outrage swept former Speaker Patricia Etteh from the seat she had (effortlessly) brought into ridicule.
01.08.08
Nigerian politicians are so enamoured of the phrase “to move the nation (or state, or local government area) forward” that it is about time somebody proposed a counter motion. Ask any politician why he or she is seeking a particular elective or appointive office and the odds are you’d get this pat response: “I want to move the nation forward.”
01.01.08
One thing is certain about the way Nuhu Ribadu was eased out of his post as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC): The timing and mode stank. Once, the man was a metaphor for prevarication and selectivity, an anti-corruption czar who sometimes played apologist for a regime that wallowed in corruption. He leaves office as a metaphor of a different regime’s indifference to the crusade to combat graft.
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