Book Description

This book is a collection of my articles written as freelance columnist and published in Nigeria's national newspapers between 1985 and 1995. My article , "The proper meaning of underdevelopment," attracted several published comments from readers. This type of public reaction, a reaction that continued even with regard to subsequent newspaper articles, gave me unqualified fulfillment. I suddenly found a niche, a forum where I could take on policies and actions of government in the full glare of the public, without being branded a rabble rouser by the authorities. At least this was my reasoning until 1995. After the June 12, 1994 Presidential elections, annulled by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, my freelance newspaper contributions assumed a different tone. Between 1994 and 1995, my freelance newspaper articles were becoming a source of worry for my family. Late General Sanni Abacha had embarked on total annihilation of the opposition. My immediate and extended families were not so sure whether or not it was safe to continue writing in the vein that I was. Their concern was probably not misplaced since I had called for, in one of my articles, for the political break-up of Nigeria. I thus became one of the earliest writers to publicly called for the political redefinition of Nigeria as a political entity. Virtually all the articles contained in this collection were the result of government action or inaction. Topics ranged from poverty to the arbitrary creation of local government units to the futility of military incursion into politics. This book captures a very important portion of Nigeria's political and social history. As a book of articles and therefore socio-political commentaries, it is useful. Issues discussed in these articles are still as relevant today as they were when they were first published. The issue of the political future of Nigeria as a nation, the relationship between the center and the constituent parts, the problem of poverty and many more continue to dominate national political discourse even today. This book therefore cuts into contemporary Nigeria political issues albeit form the narrative of yesteryears. The fact that those issues on the front burner in the eighties and nineties still do even today, is a testimony to the unyielding nature of the country's political climate. Those significant and nutty sociopolitical issues raised by these articles are yet to be addressed and resolved.