STATE CREATION: IS IT THE SOLUTION TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC CRISES? By Kola Ibrahim In the colonial period towards the independence, the various nationalist bourgeois political class, as a way of ensuring their political influence had canvassed for regional governments as the best means of bringing their ‘people’ into the limelight of civilization. But aside the fact that the regionalization of the
MASSIVE FAILURE IN NECO AND WAEC EXAMINATIONS: SYMPTOMS OF CHRONIC DECAY IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR By H.T. Soweto The mass failure in the 2009 National Examination Council (NECO) November/December and 2010 May/June WAEC has shown that Nigeria’s education sector is tumbling down a hill. The National Examination Council (NECO) released its Nov/Dec 2009 SSSCE result showing that only 4, 223
POST UTME: CAN IT RESOLVE THE CRISIS OF MERIT? By Keye Ewebiyi Post-UME or what is now called Post-UTME was introduced in 2005 because the Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) as a means of ascertaining the merit of admission seekers had become corrupted and discredited. The Post-UTME is meant to be an additional test organised by tertiary institutions to screen students
GOODLUCK JONATHAN PRESIDENCY: CAN NIGERIA EXPERIENCE POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVED LIVING CONDITIONS? After much hullabaloo, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan became president of Nigeria on May 6, 2010, consequent upon the death of President Musa Yar’Adua, who died in office after a protracted terminal ailment. As usual, several bourgeois analysts and plain self seekers, who always support any government in power, have
AUTHORITY-SPONSORED ATTACKS ON SOCIALIST STUDENTS IN OAU We demand immediate reinstatement of Adeleke Olorunwa Emmanuel (Goddey) By Barryblacky In what qualified as a massive witch-hunt of student socialists, pro-management officials of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Students’ Union have launched violent attacks on members of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and other left organisations on the campus. About ten members
2011 GENERAL ELECTIONS: IS NIGERIA ABOUT TO BREAK A 50-YEAR OLD JINX? Going by what President Goodluck Jonathan and Professor Attahiru Jega, the newly appointed Electoral Commission Chairman have been saying, Nigerians are expected to have truly free and fair elections come 2011 general elections. Hear the President: “When we nominated Prof. Attahiru Jega as the Chairman of INEC, some
3-MONTH STRIKE OF LECTURERS AT TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN OSUN STATE Government Must Meet Workers’ Demands For Students To Resume For over 3 months now, workers in all four Osun State-owned Tertiary Institutions, including the Osun State Polytechnic Iree, Osun State College of Technology Esa-Oke and the two Osun State Colleges of Education at Ilesa and Ila have been on strike
MINIMUM WAGE AGITATION: TIME FOR MASS ACTIONS By Chinedu Bosah The minimum wage agitation is one that has generated so much interest amongst Nigerian workers, considering the fact that the wages currently earned can be best described as poverty wages. The issue has been characterized by conflicting stories from the government quarters and the media. This has confirmed the position
OAU MANAGEMENT: STOP VICTIMISATION OF AYO ADEMILUYI Process his Final Result and Mobilise him to Law School In what is a clear case of clampdown on freedom of the press at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Michael Faborode has ordered the final results of Ayo Ademiluyi to be withheld. Ayo, a Law student had completed all the
ADIEU! BILLY BRIGHT ANOKWURU A GENUINE AND CONSISTENT TRADE UNION LEADER Billy Bright Anokwuru died on July 20, 2010. Before his death, he was the former National President of the National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees (NUSDE) and Vice Chairman of the Labour Party in Lagos State. In this interview, Comrade Rufus Olusesan (Vice President of NUSDE and Chairman
LABOUR AND ATTAHIRU JEGA: Free And Fair Elections Are Meaningless Without A Fighting Mass Working Class Labour Party By Ayo Ademiluyi Towards the upcoming 2011 general elections, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) believes that the appointment of Attahiru Jega would perhaps ensure free and fair elections. In a communiqué issued, while welcoming the appointment of Prof. Attahiru Jega as the
ELECTORAL REFORM CAMPAIGNS AND THE HOPE FOR GENUINE CHANGE IN EDO By Lateef Adams Free and fair election is a miracle that many Nigerians are waiting to happen in Nigeria. It has often been said that if Nigeria could get it right on elections, then it will be possible to resolve all other socio-economic problems which the country is enmeshed
NIGER DELTA AND GULF OF MEXICO: UNITED BY DISASTER OF CAPITALISM By Peluola Adewale Perhaps, one of the collateral advantages of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster is the momentary media attention it has drawn to daily pollution and environmental degradation of Niger Delta area of Nigeria which has been hitherto under-reported. The international media have run stories comparing
MAJOR VICTORY FOR LARUTI OPERATORS LAGOS STATE GOVT. FORCED TO PAY BACK OPERATORS MONEY The tricycle operators popularly known as Lagos State Rural Transport Initiative (LARUTI) recorded a major victory on May 2010 after 10 months of struggle against the Lagos State government. The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) led these poor tricycle operators to get back their
POOR STATE OF LAGOS ROADS: A GENUINE WORKERS’ AND PEOPLES’ GOVERNMENT IS THE ONLY WAY-OUT By Lanre Akinola The euphoria that greeted the so called performance of the Lagos State Government headed by Mr. Raji Fashola particularly, on the construction and rehabilitation of roads has begun to wane. With the beginning of rainy season, most people have now woken up
LEKKI ROAD CONCESSIONING: POOR LAGOSIANS SUBJECTED TO SUPER EXTORTION By Victor Osakwe When the construction of Lekki road was started in 1982 and completed in 1987, little did Lagosians know that 28 years later the road will be an avenue for exploitation. The road was initiated by Lateef Jakande in 1982 and built up to Eleko junction and was completed
CURRENT TAX REGIME IN AJEGUNLE: TAXING TRADERS OUT OF EXISTENCE By Ismail Aderemi The traders in Ajegunle, a suburb in Lagos have been agitating against the outrageous and illegal multiple taxes imposed on them by the Ajeromi Local Government in the past 4 months. The Ajegunle Peoples Movement (APM) and Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) along with Ajeromi Community Movement (AICOM)
POLICE BRUTALITY IN AJEGUNLE: CHARLES OKAFOR IS BURIED For an adequate compensation to the families of Charles and other victims By Dagga Tolar Charles Okafor, who was murdered by the police in Ajegunle Lagos state on April 1 2010, was finally buried on August 7, 2010 at Trinity cemetery Apapa. It will be recalled that Charles was clubbed and gun-butted
AMCON: LAW TO SANCTION RECKLESNESS IN BANKS’ PASSES By Chinedu Bosah President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law the establishment of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) on Monday 19, 2010. The firm which is aptly described as ‘Bad Bank’ by the Financial Times is to absorb most of the existing N1.2 trillion non-performing loans and other bad loans in
VAT INCREASE: ANOTHER NEO-LIBERAL CAPITALIST ATTACK ON THE WORKING PEOPLE By Kola Ibrahim Just like its predecessors, the Goodluck Jonathan/PDP government, in line with its anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist agenda, has concluded plans to unleash further attacks on the working and poor people with the recent increase in the Value Added Tax (VAT). According to a report in the ThisDay newspaper