WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT UNILAG?

By: IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN 

The decision by President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday to rename University of Lagos, popularly called UniLag, as Moshood Abiola University has created a pointless controversy. Some people, especially members of the opposition, have described it as “cheap populism” while many current students and ex-students of the institution have wondered aloud why their school should be renamed “MauLag” - whatever that means. The social media are full of divergent reactions on the matter. But come to think of it, what is so special about UniLag? What makes some people think that the institution is too important to be renamed Moshood Abiola University? Do these critics actually know the role Abiola played in the evolution of the current liberal democracy that most of us are enjoying today? Are they aware of the pain of many years of military rule, which Abiola lost his life fighting against? Perhaps No.

UNILAG WILL BE MAU, No Going Back Says Minister

The Federal government has announced that it will not revert its decision of renaming the University of Lagos after the late winner of the 1993 presidential elections and business mogul, MKO Abiola.
 
Speaking to state house correspondents after Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku said  that what the president did was an answer to the outcry of concerned Nigerians who witnessed the events of June 12 and the subsequent demise of the man that was the acclaimed winner of the election.

The Minister called on Nigerians not to allow the protest by some students to overshadow the significance of the president’s decision to immortalize  Abiola.

Students of the University of Lagos have taking to the streets for two days consecutively after the pronouncement to protest the name change of the 50 year old institution.

BEAT CRAZY LAGOS TRAFFIC: Listen to 96.1

Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on Tuesday inaugurated the state’s traffic radio station in a bid to rid the roads in the metropolis of gridlock.

Inaugurating the station, Fashola said the FM radio, the first in Nigeria, was part of government's efforts at providing motorists information on traffic situation in the state.

END OF DISCUSSION: MKO Family Hails Jonathan.

 Amid pats and slaps that have trailed the decision of President Jonathan to rename the University of Lagos UNILAG after the acclaimed the winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, the final struck that breaks the camel's back and a life-line for embattled Jonathan has come, as the family of the late business mogul has said the decision was in order.

Read Full Text Of Jonathan’s Democracy Day Speech

Below is the full text of the nationwide broadcast by President Goodluck Jonathan to mark Democracy Day 2012 .

NATIONAL ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR, ON DEMOCRACY DAY,  MAY 29, 2012
Fellow Nigerians,
1.  One year ago, I was privileged to stand before you, to take the oath of office as President of our dear country, the third to serve you as President since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
Today, I remember that day and the processes leading to it with profound gratitude to God Almighty and to all Nigerians who have worked very hard to enrich our journey from military dictatorship to inclusive democratic governance.

Disappointing Anniversary: Jonathan Moves To Bribe Nigerian Publishers, Editors

By SaharaReporters, New York

Ahead of a tumultuous first anniversary week, the presidency last week embarked on a subterranean public relations blitz with top members of the mass media, with President Goodluck Jonathan himself meeting with newspaper editors and publishers.

The immediate purpose of the meeting is thought to be to head off public rage and negative reporting of Mr. Jonathan’s poor performance since he was sworn in one year ago this week.

Of Cassava Bread, Agege Bread and the Transformation Agenda.

By Olusesan Ogunyooye (@sesansoulmate)

Ma’am, are you aware we have refuted claims that Cassava Bread is unhealthy for diabetic patients?

How does that concerns me? I am not diabetes and I am not eat cassava bread. I see it only on News papers and TV when they pose with it at the Federal Executive Council meetings. I also remember that Joe once said he has changed his menu to cassava bread. Well, maybe he now eats out.

Do you mean you don’t serve him cassava bread?

Ask your head.

NIGERIA: THE MESSIAH

By: Oluwaseun Fakuade @seunfakze

It’s 2012. Already, the cacophony of what will be in 2015 has begun. From PDP, to the opposition parties in CPC, ACN, ANPP, ACCORD, other smaller parties & talks of alliance of the opposition: the journey has begun. Only weeks ago, I wrote about the burdening curses of leadership at all tiers in Nigeria. That has not changed, in fact it may not change. Why? Nigeria’s low expectations and an elitist ideal sense of looking for a SAINT/SAVIOUR will keep re-creating the vacuum that exist in Nigeria.

“I am Gay” – Charlie Boy

by: Jide Ladipo
 
Controversial maverick entertainment personality, Charles Oputa, better known as Charly Boy, has set another record with his confession that he is gay. By so confessing, he becomes only the second publicly known gay man in Nigeria.This is a record that only Pastor Rowland Macaulay beat him to by being the first Nige-rian to openly come out of the closet and even establish a church that catered to only gays. Those who know CB well however say he’s not someone who likes being a follower. He’s always a leader in everything he does and he’s now ready to take his rightful leadership position in the gay world.

WHO IS KILLING MASS HOUSING IN NIGERIA?

Housing deficit in Nigeria is being put at between 12 to 18 million. This perennial shortage witnessed today has bloated over the years due to increasing population, rural-urban migration, unemployment and inaccessibility to reasonable funds for developers and buyers; and of course, insufficient and skewed government policies. Professionals and government alike have identified these problems, proposed solutions and maps out, almost on daily basis, intervention programmes and advocacy fora. But in all these, all we see are many turnings without a movement. Olusesan Ogunyooye takes a look at the challenges of mass housing in Nigeria; and writes...

The Tongue of a Shattered S-K-Y: A Realist’s Poetic Fantasy.

By: Olusesan Ogunyooye

The decadence in the polity, the rot in the politics and the rusty image of Nigeria in global perception form revolutionary concerns of Tosin Gbogi in “Tongue of a Shattered S-K-Y”.

Though it is commonplace to hear that “the worst democracy is better than the best military rule”, I agree. But the truth remains that under the current political dispensation, Nigerians do sometimes, silently cry for the return of the khaki ‘boys’.