Opinion Archives - Page 42 of 63 -

Africa National Development News OpinionOPINION: Niger’s Mahamadou Issoufou Awarded Mo Ibrahim Prize for Excellence in African Leadership

PilotnewsMarch 21, 2021

By John Campbell Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou, set to step down after two terms in office, was last week awarded the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. The chair of the Mo Ibrahim Prize Committee, Festus Mogae, a former president of Botswana and himself a recipient of the prize, said that Issoufou had “led his people on a path of progress.” The committee noted that Issoufou had faced “severe political and economic issues.” Niger in the best of times...

Crime & Security Nigeria OpinionOPINION: The Nigerian Military’s Missing Link: A Joint Special Operations Command

PilotnewsMarch 18, 2021

By Fola Aina Nigeria’s northern regions continue to struggle with insecurity, claiming the lives of tens of thousands and displacing millions due to armed banditry and Boko Haram. Significant battlefield defeats led the military to resort to a strategy of establishing super camps to prevent terrorists and armed bandits from overrunning areas of relative peace. However, as that approach has largely failed, President Muhammadu Buhari decided to heed months of repeated calls for change among the military’s top brass when he appointed new service chiefs in late...

Africa Opinion PoliticsOPINION: John Magufuli, Tanzania’s COVID-Denying President, Dies

PilotnewsMarch 18, 2021

By Nolan Quinn ____ President John Magufuli’s death at sixty-one years of age followed a familiar pattern among Africa’s putative strongmen: denials that he was sick followed by secrecy as to the circumstances of his dying and where it happened. Magufuli, like other African heads of state, apparently sought treatment outside his own country, rumor had it either in Kenya or India—perhaps both. Vice President Samia Suluhu, announcing the president’s death yesterday, said the president died from a heart...

Columns Crime & Security OpinionOPINION: Nigeria Needs to Better Protect its Schoolchildren

PilotnewsMarch 16, 2021

By Nkasi Wodu In early March, over three hundred schoolgirls abducted by armed groups from a secondary school in Zamfara State in northern Nigeria were released by their abductors. Unfortunately, the global outrage this incident stoked has not deterred the armed groups operating in the north. Just last week, another set of students was kidnapped from a college in Kaduna State—the third mass kidnapping of students in Nigeria in 2021. An ugly video released by the kidnappers in Kaduna showed the students being...

Columns News Nigeria OpinionAnambra State: Weighing Governor Obiano’s Seventh Year Stewardship by his Agenda

PilotnewsMarch 12, 2021

The administration is now seven years old and with only one year to go; it’s therefore, fair that the administration is evaluated on the basis of what it set out to do during the celebration of its one hundred days in office ―Ebuka Onyekwelu Nigerian governors, steeped in a culture of fanfare both for good or bad, for little or big accomplishment, has now established celebrating their one hundred days in office, as a mark...

Columns Crime & Security OpinionOPINION: Ransom Payment in the Gulf of Guinea

PilotnewsMarch 9, 2021

According to the Nigerian army, a ransom of $300,000 was paid to pirates in the Gulf of Guinea to secure the release of the crew of a Chinese fishing boat. The party that paid the ransom is not reported. The most likely possibility is that it was the Chinese company that operated the fishing boat. The episode sheds some light of the murky operation of kidnapping and ransom payment in the Gulf of Guinea. The Chinese fishing boat...

Africa Columns National Security OpinionOPINION: As Crisis Deepens in Ethiopia, Need for Committed Diplomatic Response Grows

PilotnewsMarch 6, 2021

By Michelle Gavin _____ As the crisis persists in Ethiopia, the government in Addis Ababa aims to draw clear lines for the international community, positioning itself as a cooperative partner (after months of obstruction) in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, but also deeming any mention of Amhara forces in Tigray inappropriate interference in its internal affairs while continuing to largely ignore the issue of Eritrean troops in Ethiopian territory. These delineations are unpersuasive, but for now it appears...

Anthony Obi Ogbo Columns Opinion United StatesGovernor Abbott’s COVID comedy—the height of executive recklessness

PilotnewsMarch 5, 2021

“He may just be compromising the lives of thousands of Texans to structure his next tenure.” ― Dr. Anthony Obi Ogbo Texas Governor Greg Abbott has always used his physical paralysis as a talking point to advocate his zeal for overcoming individual challenges. Paralyzed from the waist down since 1984 after an accident involving an oak tree falling on him, Abbott has used a wheelchair ever since. In fact, through this experience, this Governor explained...

Columns Nigeria OpinionSheikh Gumi and the Burden of his New Found Truth

PilotnewsMarch 4, 2021

“There is little room for further conviction that what is happening is the commercialization of crime” ―Ebuka Onyekwelu In what looks like something that will never come to be; a day, where regular criminals will suddenly attain sainthood; that day is here with us. A popular Kaduna-based Islamic cleric and scholar has gradually moved from meeting bandits to asking for amnesty for terrorists and bandits and then exonerating them of any wrongdoing, as well as...

Crime & Security Nigeria OpinionOPINION: Mass Kidnapping in Nigeria Captures International Attention—Again

PilotnewsMarch 3, 2021

By John Campbell ____ On February 27, “bandits” attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State and kidnapped some three hundred girls. Government reaction was predictable: search-and-rescue missions and strong statements. President Muhammadu Buhari said “let bandits, kidnappers, and terrorists not entertain any illusions that they are more powerful than the government.” At the time of the kidnapping, some of the girls avoided capture by hiding. According to media, the victims were forced to march into a forest so dense...

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Politics

We Must Resist One Party Rule, Hashim Insists, Engages Accord Party Leaders

Jonathan Wishes Tinubu Peace, Long Life On His Birthday

Former Kano Governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso Resigns From NNPP

Tinubu Calls for Party Unity, Defends Reforms at APC Convention

Travel

Airline: Green Africa has launched zero naira fare campaign

Nigeria Ranks Sixth in 2022 Africa Visa Openness Index

Fuel scarcity: NNPC assures Nigerians of steady petrol supply

Second Niger Bridge Will Be Open Only For Other Vehicles Not Heavy Duty Trucks ― FRSC

Doing Business in United States is Not So Easy

Business News NigeriaCBN Limits Nigerians to ₦20K Mobile App Transactions on New Devices from July

Business News NigeriaBeer, Malt Drink Prices to Rise as Breweries Battle High Production Costs

Business News NigeriaShettima: Tax Reforms Will Help Small Businesses, Lift Nigerians Out of Poverty

Skit Maker ‘Governor Amuneke’ Speaks on Risks of Criticising Government Through Comedy

NiMet Identifies 11 States As High-risk For Meningitis

Lassa Fever Kills Medical Doctor In Plateau

Tinubu Celebrates Fela Kuti’s Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

Abuja Rising Singer Ifunanya Nwangene Dies After Snake Bite