History ● Conjectures ● Insights
Long, long before Nigerians started walking around wearing invisible t-shirts branded with the giant of Africa slogan, Nigerians always liked to show off. Here is one strong historical proof. Mr A. G Leventis of the Leventis fame had come to Nigeria in the late 50s having left Ghana, where he had built a thriving business empire. When Kwame Nkrumah became president of Ghana when the…
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, former premier of Western Nigeria is often credited with giant strides the region experienced under his watch as premier but not many know that his successes were largely because of the efforts of his men, chiefly the likes of Mr Stephen Awokoya, the region’s minister of Education. Chief Awokoya maintained that the region required an all-out expansion of all types of educational…
In the 60s competition for admission into the few available colleges was stiff and keen apart from the fact that many could not afford the school fees. Many brilliant students who could not make the cut or afford the fees, opted for educational institutions abroad. This category of students returned home and gave the impression that they lived as kings while abroad. Sir Victor Olaiya…
Affluenza is not sea sickness, which many who typically travel by sea experience. It is a condition which affects those living in an affluent society. According to Merriam-Webster, is the unhealthy and unwelcome psychological and social effects of affluence. According to experts, it begins when the flow of new rewards undermines the capacity of the individual to enjoy them. Much like continuing to pour the…
How did Umaru Dikko come to command the attention of the British official who stood above him in the above photo? How did the photographer know his famed brilliance was the big elephant in the room, and wanted to capture the moment his mind wandered away to territories where he may find answers to the puzzles triggered by his eye contact with the opened books…
How many know that the National Arts Theatre (Iganmu) Lagos, one of Nigeria’s iconic piece of real estate, sits on reclaimed land? This is the story: Police Commissioner Joseph Gomwalk, who was military governor of Benue/Plateau State between 1968 and 1975, had gone on a tour of Bulgaria when he was taken to the country’s Palace of Culture and Sports in Varna. Impressed by the…
Mallam Aminu Kano once lived in Nigeria. He could well have been a Spartan for he lived and modelled their famous ideas. He was a teacher then he became a politician, passionately loved by those popularly known as the talakawas, the masses. General Gowon invited him into his cabinet to serve as minister of health in the late 60s in Nigeria. Here is how he…
For decades, the Poems ‘Abiku’ by Professor Wole Soyinka and Professor JP Clark have had the wow effects on lovers of poetry worldwide. JP Clark’s appeal to the coming and going phenomenon to ‘step in and stay’ could well have been applied to Nigeria’s longest bridge and biggest traffic getaway for commuters. Here is the story: one military regime proposed the construction of the bridge…
As Nigeria marches towards the inauguration of the 9th National Assembly in June 2019, calls and counter calls that officers be selected based on the religion they profess have poured into the media so it is a good time to remember the sense in the late Prime Minister’s charge. He gave the warning following the controversies that dogged the government’s decision to negotiate and sign…
Those who claim northern Nigeria secured its right to produce the leader of Nigeria because the region once provided the leading foreign exchange earner for the country through groundnut cultivation in the era of the groundnut pyramids after 1965 support their position with claims that western Nigeria and southern Nigeria produced leaders of the country for similar reasons. For whereas until 1965 cocoa, which was…