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The Food, The Hand, The Spoon: Assessing President Tinubu at Midterm

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  It was a tug of war between my intellectual and impartial faculties on one hand, and my political and parochial inclinations on the other hand to undertake a mid-tenure evaluation of the impact of the 4-year Presidential mandate officially handed to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR on 29th May 2023. Over the past two weeks, the dailies have been awash with a flurry of self-declared scorecards such as the caption ascribed to Mr. President’s second anniversary speech by the Statehouse press team on 29th May 2025 - “ We have made undeniable progress ” - and some pre-anniversary briefings by his cabinet members. Going by the chant of his unapologetic double stroke of oil subsidy removal and foreign exchange unification, tax system reorganization, fiscal discipline and debt managements, President Bola Tinubu’s midterm speech reminded us of his administration’s unrepentant conviction that its daring economic reforms remain the silver bullet against Nigeria’s hyena-like financial adversa...
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Surplus Offers, Scarce Interests: Government Jobs for Nigerian Doctors

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  Happy workers’ day to all working Nigerians, fellow members of my medical profession as well as the political and bureaucratic movers & shakers of our national destiny. My growing concern for Nigeria’s healthcare system, now and in the future, reached a fever pitch recently when I learned of a dangerous reality that can shoot down the health of Nigerians and tip the country’s economic forecasting into the sea. If health is truly wealth, owing to the nexus between population wellbeing and national productivity, the disinterest of a critical mass of our health workforce in government jobs should stimulate a sense of emergency requiring at least a Presidential broadcast. When The Punch newspaper’s 8th April publication quoted that “ the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, said over 16,000 Nigerian doctors have left the country in the last five to seven years to seek greener pastures in other countries ”, the odious fact was established w...
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Lassa fever that murders; Lesser fervour than others

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  The fervour with which relevant authorities (Federal & State governments) and their partners (international, regional & local Non-Governmental Organizations) create awareness about some chronic infectious diseases (e.g. HIV, Tuberculosis) and diseases of public health importance (e.g. Cholera, COVID-19, Ebola, Meningitis) among the Nigerian public appears not to be extended to Lassa fever. From the Lassa Fever Situation Report released weekly by Nigeria Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (NCDC), the 10th – 16th March 2025 report showed that out of 604 confirmed cases of Lassa fever,113 deaths have occurred in Nigeria since the beginning of year 2025 till the period of reporting.   And 3 States – Ondo, Bauchi & Edo – are responsible for 71% of confirmed cases of Lassa fever.   Later parts of the report indicated that “the predominant age group affected is 21-30 years (Range: 1 to 94 years, Median Age: 30 years) [and] the male-to-female ratio for co...
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Probing Such Cultures Promoting Much Corruption in Nigeria

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  The recently released Corruption Perception Index (CPI) report is another call to action against corruption in my dear country of Nigeria. Quoting verbatim from the Trading economics website on 18th February 2025; “ Nigeria is the 140 least corrupt nation out of 180 countries, according to the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reported by Transparency International. The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory's rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories in the index ”. From this ranking, Nigeria is perceived as less corrupt than 40 countries and more corrupt than 139 others. Predictably and unfortunately, so long as we persistently uphold a public procurement system, for instance, whereby a to-be-favoured-vendor is asked to bring “two other pre-filled invoices” to mimic a pre-qualification, Request For Quotation (RFQ), Expression of I...
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My Mum Turns 70: Melo Ni Mo Ma Ro Nipa Abiyamo Iyabode?

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  Melo ni mo ma ro nipa abiyamo Iyabode (how much will I broadcast about a mother incarnate Iyabode), who was bequeathed to mother earth on 13th February 1955? My siblings and I may not be throwing a 70th birthday party for our loving mum because of her grief over the recent loss of her younger brother, Dr. Ademola Akinmola (a medical doctor), whose painful passing in a ghastly road traffic mishap on 26th August 2024 remains a sore wound for ma’a mi (my mother – in Yoruba language) , Mrs Iyabode Moromoke Lillian Ademujimi (nee Akinmola). Be that as it may, my pen needs neither a sound of music nor clinging plates & cutlery to expressly and openly celebrate and acknowledge the relentless, selfless and priceless disposition of my mum to her husband and three offspring - my humble self (her first male), Toun (her second child & only female) and Toyosi (her second male & last child). Ma’ami is the first child of her late father, Pa Israel Adenodi Akinmola, who departed t...
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Our Failing Social Order; Her Fading Crucial Other

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    The pockets of preventable deaths due to fire incidences resulting from accidental spillage of gasoline by trucks conveying these highly flammable substances over the past few weeks are proofs of dearth of a vital societal fabric in Nigeria. Poverty, illiteracy and ignorance may have been largely responsible for the unrestrained rush by passers-by to scoop ‘free’ petrol that may unfortunately burst into flames at the slightest trigger, resulting in wanton killings as witnessed across three States recently. Nonetheless the triple excuses I just stated, there is a prevailing decline of social order - a dangerous wave of less observance of standards, values and laws. How come Nigerians living in diaspora, irrespective of their socioeconomic, literacy and awareness status, observe the laid down social order (or earn sanctions) in their respective countries of residence abroad? Notwithstanding the economic challenges that Nigeria currently experiences, and the policy initia...
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A Nude Yearn for A New Year!

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  Happy New Year to all Nigerians. I align with your naked hearts, bare mouths and unclothed words that convey our candid collective desires of a less burdensome economy and functional society in year 2025 unlike the old year – 2024. What we yearn for are normal things, which unfortunately, have been missing in our nationhood for forty years or more, making the current ‘abnormal’ situation appear as ‘normal’ features of the Nigerian society. Using this and other media to reach those in authority about year 2025, therefore, here is our natural request for a new breath, or fresh air, in 2025 - a nude yearn for a new year! On one hand, it is a fact that many occupiers of public leadership positions in Nigeria may not necessarily have the quality and character of good leaders. On the other hand, it is fair to point out the reality that many inhabitants of Nigeria are also far from been called good citizens. Despite this dual shortcoming, it is ironical that the latter group (the go...
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