Author: Dakuku Peterside
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Israel-Iran conflict: The Nigerian connection – By Dakuku Peterside
When Israel launched Operation Rising Lion in the early hours of June 13, 2025, most Nigerians were asleep. The footage came in fragments—precision airstrikes, sirens over Tel Aviv, defiant chants in Tehran.
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Lessons of Mokwa flood disaster – By Dakuku Peterside
When the clouds gathered above Mokwa at the start of the 2025 rainy season, no one reached for a weather almanac; the townspeople needed only memory. They had seen the river climb its banks before, had watched water swirl down gullies that doubled as rubbish dumps, and had heard radio callers warn—almost cheerfully—that nature’s annual…
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Japa: The courage and cost of Nigeria’s great exodus – By Dakuku Peterside
I still remember the evening I first heard the term “Japa.” It came in the form of a meme—“If you’re seeing this, pack your bags”—plastered over an image of a dusty road disappearing into a golden horizon. The joke wasn’t just funny—it was painfully accurate.
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Nigeria: 730 days later – By Dakuku Peterside
Two years can feel both fleeting and painfully long in Nigeria. Seven hundred and thirty dawns have rolled across the savannah, the creeks, and the sprawling megacities since the last electoral hoopla promised a national rebirth.
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₦47 trillion later: A mid-term reality check for state power – By Dakuku Peterside
The halfway mark of any journey invites a reckoning, and politics is no exception. In mature liberal democracies, the reckoning is built into the calendar: mid-term elections test the strength of the governing party by subjecting its record to the electorate’s cold appraisal. One of the defining features of American-style liberal democracy is the midterm performance…
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Can an American Pope speak to Nigerian realities? – By Dakuku Peterside
When white smoke curled into the Roman sky and the world learned that the College of Cardinals had elected Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, Pope Leo XIV—an American—it was met with mixed emotions across Africa. For many, particularly in Nigeria, it stirred a sense of cautious hope layered with curiosity. However, it also
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NELFUND: Against a culture of impunity – By Dakuku Peterside
When the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, better known as NELFUND, was unveiled, it landed like a spark in a dry forest of despair. It brought a glimmer of hope, like a bold attempt to democratise access to higher education in a country where tuition fees are a barricade and scholarships are too few, too politicised,…
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A Pope’s funeral and new leadership paradigm – By Dakuku Peterside
The world came together on a warm April morning in Rome. Under Bernini’s wide colonnade, a simple wooden coffin lay, almost shy against the grand marble of St. Peter’s. It held the body of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, better known as Pope Francis; it also carried a final message, passed without words. As I watched the…
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Rivers: A ticking time bomb – By Dakuku Peterside
Rivers State is currently facing a pressing and time-sensitive threat. The oil-rich state has come under intense political scrutiny following President Bola Tinubu’s state of emergency proclamation on March 18, 2025. Despite official assurances that this step was necessary to tackle a supposed breakdown of law and
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NNPCL Leadership: Agenda for faltering oil giant – By Dakuku Peterside
The appointment of a new leadership team at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) has sparked fresh hope. However, history teaches us that leadership changes in Nigeria’s public institutions is often not a guarantee for remarkable positive changes . Each transition is seen as a potential turning point,