By Hassan Salihu

Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye, SAN, has been honoured with the national medal of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR). The award conferred on him is in appreciation of his effective leadership, which has reinforced the purpose of ICPC’s formation and added visibility to its statutory functions.

By Tunde Akanni, Ph.D

Somewhat subtly, what used to be a household name in the hey days of print journalism in Nigeria, well ahead of the ceaseless disruption by the internet, has extended the frontiers of his influence into conventional broadcasting. He did it a couple of years before he inched up to seven decades. It was strategic. No less strategic is the choice of the nomenclature. Citizen Radio. “Feel free to be part of this in all respects”, Alhaji has urged me and a number of people I know.

By Mike Awoyinfa (Nigeria's King of Tabloid Journalism)

I know that this column will come as a surprise to you, Lanre Arogundade, my younger brother. Brother from the same town: Ijebu-Jesha. Brother from the same country. The same country where life expectancy is put around 54. Brother in the same profession of journalism. Brother in the struggle for human rights, justice and equity. Brothers who attended the same secondary school: Ijebu-Jesha Grammar School.

By Bola Bolawole

President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Victor Osodeke, has given hope that the eight-month-old strike action by his members may soon come to an end – whether gloriously or ingloriously, I must add! The intervention of the House of Representatives, led by its speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, must have broken the ice so much so that Osodeke could confidently announce that he (interpreted, ASUU?) has sighted light at the end of the tunnel: After eight wasted months, which is like three academic semesters! My son, who is in the first semester of Part Three at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, told me his friends and classmates in strike-free universities will be graduating in two months’ time!

By Femi Adesina

The news came like a bolt from the blue. I had been slated to receive National Honours Award in the rank of Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON. Who, me? I almost couldn’t believe it. Astounded is the word. But the person telling me was neither flippant nor frivolous. And a short while after, I had the letter in my hands, duly signed, bearing the good news in cold print. I still asked: who, me? Yes, it was me. Emi lo kan. It was truly my turn, and no mistake.

By Azu Ishiekwene

Back in the day, weather forecasts were a joke. And I mean literally. The weather forecast segment which used to come at the end of the news bulletin on Nigeria’s national broadcaster, NTA, was the butt of cruel jokes amongst folks.

By Bolanle Bolawole

Now that the campaigns towards the 2023 elections have started, what will the candidates campaign with? The stars of the campaigns are the presidential candidates – Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).

By Bola Bolawole

“What goes around, goes around, goes around/Comes all the way back around” – Justin Timberlake

“For they shall sow wind and reap a whirlwind” – Hosea 8:7

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” - Galatians 6:7.

By Danjuma Katsina

I left Lagos after the GOCOP conference, passed the night in Kano and arrived Katsina on Friday.

By Tunde Akanni, Ph.D

Gals – and our younger Lanruze used to have a large army of them – may also insist he’s theirs. Perhaps, he belonged to them more… Lanre, who now wears a clean skull, used to flaunt a fairly curly hair on the head. And he really could be meticulous taming it. I used to wonder, during our National Concord days, how the tough former NANS guy could spare enough time to tend the head.

By Hassan Gimba

This was first written on the 18 of April 2022.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was founded in 1978. Its predecessor, the Nigerian Association of University Teachers (NAUT), was formed in 1965 covering academic staff at the University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Ife and University of Lagos.

By Olawale Rasheed

History is replete with judges who shaped their days and nations, judicial officials who imprinted their footprints in front pages of national archives. In uncertain times, the nation needs an activist reformer, a man ready to crusade for a transformative judiciary, issuing federalist corrective landmark rulings, focussing on unanimity in apex court decisions and deploying the bench as a weapon of national restructuring. Is Justice Olukayode Emmanuel Ariwoola that man to remake the judiciary for this sacred national tasks?