Omolade Adunbi, Author at Maroonsquare

11Dec

By Omolade AdunbiNo Comments

Articles, Politics

The Lady is not for Turning

Nigeria's former finance minister wrote a book about her time in government. It is a thinly veiled attempt to clean up her image. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala served as Nigeria’s finance minister twice since the country’s return to democracy: first from 2003 to 2006 under Olusegun Obasanjo and more recently, from 2011 to 2015, under Goodluck Jonathan. Now she has written a book, published by an American academic press, ostensibly about those experiences. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala Dr. Okonjo-Iweala comes from a family of academics. Her mother, Kamene, was a renowned sociologist and her father, Chukwuka, an economist (he is also a local king in the Delta region, and a former UN official and government official in Ghana.) She had her e...

Herdsmen, Small Arms & Politicization of Pastoralism in Nigeria

In the last few months, alleged Herdsmen attack on innocent civilians across Nigeria has been on the increase. These incessant attacks have preoccupied commentators from across the political and religious spectrum in Nigeria. Many of these pundits have ascribed the preponderance of these attacks to a particular ethnic group noted for their pastoral life. In many respects, some of these pundits have ossified around the discourse of an attempt by the Fulanis to reproduce the Usman Dan Fodio Jihad of 1804 with the intent of spreading Islam across the country. The Fulanis are an ethnic group with a majority Muslim whose life are heavily dependent on animal pastures. The fact that President Muhammadu Buhari is a Fulani Muslim also adds to this speculation about the Fulanis planning to take...

Economic inequality lies behind growing calls for secession

The rise of ethnic and religious nationalism in Nigeria in the last decade has led to such high levels of tension that it’s prompted people to ask if it will survive as a country. Or if Nigeria is on the brink of another civil war.What’s behind the growing tensions is unequal distribution of the country’s wealth. Inequality has caused mistrust among ethnic groups. This, in turn, has led to conflict and violence.Nigeria has in fact been at war with itself for some time – a war that has become intensified in the last two decades.A number of events illustrate this. For instance, militancy in the oil rich Niger Delta region started after the 2003 general elections where arms and ammunition were purchased by some politicians and handed to young people in an attempt to influence the elections. ...