Ike Okonta
Ike Okonta, an Abuja-based policy analyst and writer, is currently a fellow of the Open Society Institute, New York.
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2012-02-01
| Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, has allowed his government to loot the treasury, while militant organizations terrorize the populace. Its rich and powerful have already plunged Nigeria into a bloody civil war once, and they appear ready to do it again.... read |
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2011-10-06
| After the sound and fury of Nigeria's recent elections, Africa’s most populous country appears set to face violence and chaos born of deprivation and neglect. Indeed, President Goodluck Jonathan appears indecisive in confronting the terrorist threat posed by the northern-based Islamist sect Boko Haram.... read |
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2011-06-01
| Nigeria's recent elections mean another four years of incompetent rule by the People's Democratic Party, which has in power since 1999. The main challenge now is to maintain peace and unity between the country’s fractious ethnic groups, while forging ahead slowly with efforts to create a strong national identity.... read |
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2011-04-13
| Nigeria’s legislative elections, to be followed by a presidential poll on April 16, indicate that the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party has lost its near-total grip on the country’s politics. There is now greater hope than ever that Nigerians may get a government that reflects their interests and responds to their demands.... read |
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2010-10-27
| The bombs that exploded in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, as the country was celebrating its golden jubilee this year are a disturbing portent of the unprecedented political territory that the country is entering. Indeed, President Goodluck Jonathan's bid for a second term in 2011 could break up the ruling party and plunge Nigeria into ethnic and religious turmoil.... read |
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2008-01-18
| Russia is not alone in seeing oil as a means to transform its global standing. Nowadays, the mantra of President Umar Yar’Adua, who took power in June 2007, following controversial elections, is to transform the country into one of the world’s 20 largest economies by 2020. Yar’Adua and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are struggling to stamp their authority on an unwieldy and restive country of 140 million people, and the government views rapid growth as a means to achieving that aim. ... read |
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2007-04-25
| Nigeria's first attempt since independence in 1960 to transfer power from one civilian government to another has just ended – farcically. Once again, democracy, challenged by deep social divisions and President Olusegun Obasanjo’s quest to maintain power, is at a knife’s edge.... read |
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2006-07-07
| In Nigeria today, the key question nowadays is not whether President Olusegun Obasanjo will quit after his second (and final) term expires next year, but who will succeed him. Given Nigeria’s history of sit-tight military dictatorships, that is real progress. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily the president’s doing. ... read |
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2005-01-26
| When Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo made his surprise announcement on 13 January to begin a nationwide dialogue to discuss constitutional reform, he was bowing to the inevitable. The clamor by disaffected politicians and human rights activists for such a conference had reached a crescendo. ... read |
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2005-01-26
| When Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo made his surprise announcement on 13 January to begin a nationwide dialogue to discuss constitutional reform, he was bowing to the inevitable. The clamor by disaffected politicians and human rights activists for such a conference had reached a crescendo. ... read |
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2004-04-02
| Under fire from shareholders, and facing investigations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands for misrepresenting its oil reserves, Royal Dutch/Shell is trying to shift the blame to Nigeria. ... read |
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2008-01-18
| Russia is not alone in seeing oil as a means to transform its global standing. Nowadays, the mantra of President Umar Yar’Adua, who took power in June 2007, following controversial elections, is to transform the country into one of the world’s 20 largest economies by 2020. Yar’Adua and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are struggling to stamp their authority on an unwieldy and restive country of 140 million people, and the government views rapid growth as a means to achieving that aim. ... read |
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2003-04-08
| Nigeria has never held successful civilian-run elections. The last one, which returned President Shehu Shagari and his National Party of Nigeria to power in 1983, was marked by widespread violence and vote-rigging. Three months later, the Army staged a coup--Nigeria's fifth since independence in 1960. ... read |
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2006-07-07
| In Nigeria today, the key question nowadays is not whether President Olusegun Obasanjo will quit after his second (and final) term expires next year, but who will succeed him. Given Nigeria’s history of sit-tight military dictatorships, that is real progress. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily the president’s doing. ... read |
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2002-09-26
| Once again, Nigeria seems at the brink of disintegration, this time with the threat by parliament to impeach President Olesegun Obasanjo. But Nigeria has always been remarkable for producing surprising outcomes. Time and again, Africa "experts" issue dire warnings about the country's impending implosion, and time and again, Nigeria holds together, however precariously. ... read |
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2011-04-13
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| Nigeria’s legislative elections, to be followed by a presidential poll on April 16, indicate that the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party has lost its near-total grip on the country’s politics. There is now greater hope than ever that Nigerians may get a government that reflects their interests and responds to their demands.... read |
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2007-04-25
| Nigeria's first attempt since independence in 1960 to transfer power from one civilian government to another has just ended – farcically. Once again, democracy, challenged by deep social divisions and President Olusegun Obasanjo’s quest to maintain power, is at a knife’s edge.... read |
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2010-10-27
| The bombs that exploded in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, as the country was celebrating its golden jubilee this year are a disturbing portent of the unprecedented political territory that the country is entering. Indeed, President Goodluck Jonathan's bid for a second term in 2011 could break up the ruling party and plunge Nigeria into ethnic and religious turmoil.... read |
