Nigeria’s Minimum Wage Illusion: Why ₦70,000 Today Buys Less Than ₦18,000 Did in 2011 (Comparing Real Wage Value in Dollar Terms)

03 Aug 2026

When former President Goodluck Jonathan signed the national minimum wage into law in 2011, it was set at ₦18,000. At the exchange rate of the time, around ₦160 to $1, that amounted to roughly $112.5 a month. Today, under President Bola Tinubu, the national minimum wage stands at ₦70,000. But with the naira now trading […]

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Minimum Wage Math Shows Why Many Nigerians Still Feel Poorer Despite Naira Figures Doubling

02 Aug 2026

A comparison circulating online argues that a Nigerian minimum wage earner sending a child to university was better off in dollar terms under former President Goodluck Jonathan than under President Bola Tinubu, even after accounting for Tinubu’s minimum wage increase and the new NELFUND (Nigerian Education Loan Fund, the federal government’s student loan scheme) support. […]

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Arrest Of Osun’s SSG (Secretary To The State Government) Raises Fresh Alarm Over Vote-Buying In Nigerian Elections

30 Jul 2026

Police in Osun State have arrested the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Teslim Igbalaye, along with five other people, over an alleged vote-buying plot. The arrest happened during a raid on a house linked to the SSG in the Oroki Estate area of Osogbo, the Osun State capital. Police said they were actually looking […]

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From Corn to Bean Cakes: What Happened to Nigeria’s Promise of Upward Mobility?

24 Jul 2026

I remember Obasanjo’s first three years. That was when the term “yuppie” — Young Urban Professional — became the catchphrase for young graduates entering the workforce. Fresh employees moved from job to job in quick succession, often spending less than a year at any one place before an even better offer came calling. We called […]

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Tinubu Says the Hard Work Is Done — But Do the Numbers Match the Mood on the Street?

24 Jul 2026

President Bola Tinubu says he has kept his promises and that Nigeria’s economy is now stable. Speaking to a delegation of North-East leaders at the State House on Thursday, the President said the consistent implementation of his economic reforms has brought the country into what he called a “golden era.” “The economy is already stabilised,” […]

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Why Would a Man Choose to Stay in Jail? The Curious Case of El-Rufai’s Bail Fight

23 Jul 2026

My two cents on the apparent travails of Nasir El-Rufai: I think he has a personal strategy to remain in detention. Maybe he figures he will do more strategic damage to Tinubu by staying in custody — that the emotional weight of what is undoubtedly a weaponization of justice keeps him unjustly immobilized, and that […]

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Penal Sharia Is Not Freedom of Religion. It Is Its Opposite.

22 Jul 2026

I continue my engagements with Governors and people in Government at all levels over the institution of Sharia penal law. Nigeria is a country driven by competing egos and sentiments. The experimentation with penal Sharia is driven by religious ego rather than any rational thinking or benefit expected from it. It is often defended as […]

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