Vol 47 No 23 | NIGERIA Sekibo and the drones 17th November 2006 With President Olusegun Obasanjo's sacking of Transport Minister Abiye Sekibo on 6 October, the row over the 215 million euro (US$275.5 mn.) contract to supply aerial drones for...
Vol 47 No 22 | NIGERIA The next election deadline 3rd November 2006 Presidential hopefuls are quietly launching campaigns but doubts surround the party congresses due in December Within two months, Nigeria's political parties are due to chose their presidential candidates and launch their campaigns for next May's elections. So far, there is an eerie surreality...
Vol 47 No 22 | NIGERIA Starstruck Starcrest 3rd November 2006 On 20 October, Swiss-based and Canadian-listed Addax Petroleum announced that it was buying a controlling interest in a lucrative Nigerian oil block - the award of which until...
Vol 47 No 22 | NIGERIA Fear of flying 3rd November 2006 Africa, with less than four per cent of the world's air traffic, suffers about a third of its air disasters. The latest, on 29 October, killed the Sultan...
Vol 47 No 21 | NIGERIA All for one, not yet 20th October 2006 Under threat of corruption charges, state governors are losing their political nerve As the net closes in on those state governors accused of corruption and fraud, President Olusegun Obasanjo's position has strengthened markedly against his Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and most...
Vol 47 No 20 | NIGERIA Leaving it late 6th October 2006 Six months ahead of the next presidential election, no one knows which candidates are standing and which are heading for gaol In a system that typically leaves the key decisions until the last moment, Nigeria's politicians are leaving things very late. Nominations for candidates for next April's state and...
Vol 47 No 20 | NIGERIA No consensus on the census 6th October 2006 No Nigerian official has been able to explain convincingly the reasons for the delays in publishing the results of the national census held in March. That is no...
Vol 47 No 19 | NIGERIA Pots, kettles and corruption 22nd September 2006 Allegations about President Obasanjo and his deputy mean a livelier if not cleaner election While President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar sling mud at each other, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an official anti-corruption body led by Nuhu Ribadu,...
Vol 47 No 19 | NIGERIA Ambitions in the north 22nd September 2006 The President has not said who he wants to succeed him but he knows who he wants to stop The northern Nigerian elite is in the unfamiliar position of trying to side-step the manoeuvrings of a southern President determined to block the political ambitions of at least...
Vol 47 No 15 | NIGERIA The governor's dues 21st July 2006 Oil shut downs and political violence are escalating despite record budgets in the Delta Despite a record budget of US$1.2 billion for 2006, Rivers State government isn't helping those worst hit by the violence and oil shut downs in the Niger Delta....