Author: Magnus Onyibe

With President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State on Tuesday, March 18, the Renaissance consortium—a group of local investors that recently acquired Shell’s onshore oil and gas assets in Nigeria for a staggering $2.4 billion—now finds itself in turbulent waters. In hindsight, Shell, Mobil, TotalEnergies, Agip, and other major oil companies that divested from onshore assets in Nigeria and moved their operations offshore were remarkably foresighted. Like the mythical Nostradamus, they seemed to have foreseen the future and exited just in time to avoid the very risks that Renaissance now faces—risks of escalation into another…

President Bola Tinubu’s decision to end the roughly forty (40) years of subsidizing petrol pump prices on the very day of his inauguration— May 29, 2023—is a prime example of the use of executive orders, one of the three (3) legit­imate tools of governance. Subsequently, the long-standing policy of maintaining a fixed exchange rate for the naira against foreign currencies, which had been in place for sev­eral decades, was also discontinued. As a consequence of these two (2) drastic reform measures implemented through ex­ecutive orders, the Nigerian economy went into a tailspin, recording an inflation rate of over 34%. However,…

The Supreme Court has fixed June 6 for judgment, in the 20-year-old dispute over who should occupy the stool of the Emir of Gwandu in Kebbi State, North-West, Nigeria. A five-member panel of the court, led by Justice Uwani Aji, chose the date after taking final arguments from lawyers to parties in the three appeals filed. The appeals are mainly challenging the order granted about seven years ago by the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal, which reinstated HRH Alhaji Mustapha Jokolo as the 19th Emir of Gwandu. Since the order for reinstatement of Jokolo was made, the Kebbi…

On March 6, 2025, chaos erupted at the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Compa­ny (DisCo) in Lagos when a group of Nigerian Air Force personnel stormed the premises. Their reason? The power supply to their base had been disconnected. The attack, rem­iniscent of a military-style raid, left DisCo staff in panic and confusion. This incident occurred at a time when Nigeri­ans were still processing the news that the coun­try’s power generation had increased from an embarrassingly low 4,000 megawatts—woefully inadequate for a nation of over 200 million peo­ple—to 5,800 megawatts. Coincidentally, following the assault on Ikeja DisCo, the national electricity grid suffered…

In this nearly 20-year-old thesis, which I am now developing into a book titled ‘Dar­fur-Sudan: Why the Superpowers Failed to Help – Global Power Dynamics and Hu­manitarian Crises’, I argue that conflicts over resource control often stem from unfair trade practices. The failure to establish equitable trade relations has led to deep resentment, cul­minating in acts of terrorism, such as the Sep­tember 11, 2001 attacks, where extremists from regions long exploited by global powers targeted the U.S. in what they perceived as a response to economic and political oppression. Unfortunately, little has changed. The same economic disparities that have plagued…

President Donald J. Trump’s execu­tive order eliminating USAID has sent shockwaves across the globe, particularly in aid-dependent na­tions, most of which are in Africa. In line with the saying that “when America sneez­es, the world catches a cold,” many coun­tries are now facing severe consequences due to the proposed end of US aid. CNN’s Larry Madowo highlighted the crisis unfolding in Africa with a report on a Ugandan HIV/AIDS patient who lost access to life-saving medication following the with­drawal of USAID funding. This situation in Uganda mirrors what could happen across Africa, where the impact is expected to be devastating.…

What is life if not a series of experiments that drive innovation—the key to human progress? For centuries, most of the world’s estimated 8.1 billion people across 195 nations (including the Holy See-Vatican and Palestine) have operated under democratic governance, a system established by Cleisthenes in Athens around 508-507 BC. Despite widespread adoption, democracy has not significantly improved wealth distribution—while the poor remain disadvantaged, the rich continue to amass more wealth. A 2022 Oxfam report highlighted that, following the COVID-19 pandemic, “the world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion.” As the report…

By Magnus Onyibe What is life if not a series of experiments that drive innovation—the key to human progress? For centuries, most of the world’s estimated 8.1 billion people across 195 nations (including the Holy See-Vatican and Palestine) have operated un­der democratic governance, a system established by Cleisthenes in Athens around 508-507 BC. De­spite widespread adoption, democracy has not sig­nificantly improved wealth distribution—while the poor remain disadvantaged, the rich continue to amass more wealth. A 2022 Oxfam report highlighted that, following the COVID-19 pandemic, “the world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion.”…

Politics will not be the same again in the United States of America, particularly in Washington, DC, where old-school politicians are keenly watching with trepidation as President Donald J. Trump, on January 20, transitioned from the 45th to the 47th president. The palpable fear is driven by the impending rollout of his revolutionary policies, intention­ally designed to change the old world order to a new one, in line with his Make America Great Again (MAGA) mantra. As President Trump was inaugurated into office under very chilly weather, a majority of the inhabitants of the U.S. capital, Washington, DC—who form the…

In response to the Central Bank of Ni­geria’s (CBN) proposal for a 70% tax on the excessive profits banks made from naira devaluation in 2023 prof­its which increased by at least 51% due to President Bola Tinubu’s economic re­forms there has been a noticeable rise in banks’ philanthropic activities. The proposed excess profits tax, or windfall tax on foreign exchange gains, floated four months ago, appears to be part of the government’s strategy to address its declining revenue base. This is critical as the cost of governance continues to out­pace income. For instance, Nigeria’s 2025 budget, totaling ₦49.7 trillion, relies…