Nigeria

We may begin by recalling two key propositions that have so far emerged in the current discussions on the political responsibility of the Nigerian Left in this period.

Conferred annually by the Young African Leaders Forum, the WAYAwards are a great opportunity to acknowledge a colleague whose effort you admire or respect. It recognizes young West African leaders who have made distinguished contributions to their communities.

On 4 June 2013, in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, South-Western Nigeria, I was on mission to meet with one of Africa’s master strategists and development pioneer, admired by many and considered a “rebel technocrat,” by a few.

The following notes are offered as a searchlight in support of this anticipated revised programme of the Nigerian Left. The Left should see the political terrain more clearly.

For over four decades, Adedeji was indisputably the leading proponent of regional integration in Africa. He was widely regarded as the intellectual father of African integration, just as Raul Prebisch was of Latin American integration and Jean Monnet the European integration.

Since the last 19 years, there has been a revival of the quest for the reestablishment of the defunct Republic of Biafra. Between 1967 and 1970 Biafra existed as an independent state apart from Nigeria.

To appreciate, more fully, the current wave of political re-alignments in Nigeria and be able to make informed projections, we may need to go back to the Nigerian Civil War of (1967-1970) and the long preparation for the Second Republic (1979-1983).

It is a fact of the Nigerian history that President Olusegun Obasanjo’s executive proclamation and declaration were criticised, at that time, by the National Assembly, parties other than the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), state assemblies and governments other than those controlled by th

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“Coffee or coke, Monsieur,” repeated the blonde attendant as Jide peered into her emerald green eyes. She was smiling and very pretty. Just the sight Jide liked being awakened to.

“Coffee, please.”

To demystify, without underrating the current wave of political re-alignments in Nigeria—and make bold but useable projections—Nigerian Leftists need to look back at the country’s recent political history and trace the trajectory from May 1999—the beginning of the present “dispensation” which con