The Constitution and Presidential Powers, By Ifeanyi Uddin
The recent spat between the newly appointed defence minister, General Aliyu Gusau (rtd.) and the military chiefs of staff over reporting lines has resonated in the most unlikely places. I believe, the most startling of these resonances, is the possibility that the office of the federal minister of (or for)…
Still on Our Rising Debts, By Ifeanyi Uddin
Each time I read of our governments (central and sub-national) contracting new debt, I cringe. Several years back, a friend and boss advised me not to pay for what I can have for free, or take on credit. So my worry isn't from an "ideological" or "religious" aversion to debt.…
[sc:"post loop ad"]
In Search of New Scapegoats, By Ifeanyi Uddin
My attention was drawn, last week, to the possibility that the American government may be behind the random acts of barbarity in increasingly large swathes of Northern Nigeria that have, especially with the most recent killings of 59 secondary school pupils, soured the nation's mood. Apparently, if this new reading…
Reforming Our Universities, By Ifeanyi Uddin
Decades after its ouster from office, the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) administration remains one of the most steeped in controversy in Nigeria. How much of the country's current baseness is the consequence of that administration turning "corrupt practices" into a tool of statecraft? You are likely to find debate heating…
The Business of Policy Making, By Ifeanyi Uddin
Last week, the federal government upped the policy ante. In the wake of the recent launch of a national automotive policy, its inauguration of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan and the National Enterprise Development Programme is nothing if not ambitious. According to one newspaper report, “both programmes, initiated and spearheaded…
Accounting For Crude Oil Sales and Revenues, By Ifeanyi Uddin
Why does it matter that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has indicated accounting sleights of hand at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)? Or that shenanigans in and around Nigeria's proverbial golden egg-laying goose may be responsible for the federal budget’s recent (and…
The MPC’s Effect On The Domestic Balloon, By Ifeanyi Uddin
At its first meeting this year, held Monday last week in Abuja, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s rate-setting committee (the Monetary Policy Committee — MPC) opted to tighten monetary policy. Reflecting on this decision, I am still not sure which is the more surprising of the committee’s decision: the MPC’s…
On Today’s Meeting of The MPC – Matters Arising! By Ifeanyi Uddin
The Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) rate-setting body, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets today monday 20th January, under a cloud. The mass of gray overhead has nothing to do with the recent public spat between the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and that of…
The CBN and Institution Building, By Ifeanyi Uddin
The pyrotechnics notwithstanding, the hijinks last week around the fate in office of the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), did have a useful part. For an economy like ours, with its many pretensions to greatness, we cannot place too high a premium on the quality of our…
Osun State And The Church, By Ifeanyi Uddin
Why would the government of Osun State build a church? Why would any government build a place of worship, at all? In today's plural, interconnected spaces, I cannot conceive of any interpretation of the goals of a government (except The Vatican) that would include the construction of a place of…
