Editorial

As the Federal Government plans to mark this year’s Democracy Day on June 12, it is reasonable to assert that the hope of those who struggled for enthronement of democratic government in 1999 is being threatened by the way the country is being governed.

In the last month, there has been an increase in cases of kidnapping, killing of innocent people, invasion of peaceful communities and destruction of property, indicating that insecurity in the country is yet to abate.

Pay rise for judicial officials is a welcome development, however, President Bola Tinubu dictating how much judges should take, leading to an 800 per cent increment in their salaries is discriminatory, antithetical to the principles of separation of powers and judicial impartiality, and could not have been in the national interest.

Despite the hazards migrants face crossing the desert and the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, recent years have witnessed a steady increase in the number of Africans, mostly youth, exploring the deadly routes and losing their lives in their desperation to relocate

Governor Uba Sani Bello and the Kaduna State House of Assembly should allow the elected council chairmen and the councilors to complete their three-year tenure as enshrined in the state law, as any reduction will be illegal.

It is unacceptable to subject Nigerians to excruciating pains while trying to access Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, the market of which the Federal Government claims has been deregulated. It also does not make sense for Nigerians to pay as high as N900-N1000 per litre of petrol, at a time when the cost of living is sky-high and the citizens are dejected.

Reversing the entry age for admission into universities and other tertiary institutions in Nigeria from 16 to 18 years will be anachronistic and an indication of gross misunderstanding of the issues that plague university education in the country.

The escape of detainee executive of Binance, Mr. Nadeem Anjarwalla, from a guest house where he and his colleague, Tigran Gambayan were kept, courtesy of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, is a security breach that must not go without appropriate investigation and punishment.

The fact that the Nigerian government was unable to intervene successfully in rescuing dozens of schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists from Government Secondary, Chibok, in Borno State remains a big shame, 10 years after the gory incident.

Lagos is predictably, the pacesetter in urban development and physical planning in the country, with its recent moves to digitise land administration processes through an e-portal system and granting three-month moratorium

Given the mounting public criticism and wide-ranging controversies trailing the ongoing 700 km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway project, the Federal Government should rethink and review the project.

The invasion on Saturday, April 13, of the Oyo State House of Assembly premises with the apparent intention to seize legislative and other powers by the self-designated ‘Democratic Republic of the Yoruba’ is a grave breach of Nigerian law.