Author: user user

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has raised alarm over what it described as a growing threat to press freedom following the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission’s (NBC) warning that broadcast presenters could face sanctions for allegedly presenting personal opinions as facts or ‘bullying’ guests on air.

In a statement on Tuesday signed by its President, Eze Anaba, and General Secretary, Onuoha Ukeh, the Guild said the development poses a serious risk to journalism practice in Nigeria and could undermine democratic accountability.

The NGE described the NBC’s position as ‘dangerous and injurious to journalism,’ warning that it amounts to an assault on press freedom, editorial independence, and the public’s right to information.

While acknowledging that the regulator may be acting in the interest of professionalism and ethical standards, the editors faulted what they called the ‘vague and broadly worded’ nature of the NBC’s statement, saying it leaves room for multiple interpretations and possible abuse.

According to the Guild, such ambiguity could result in selective enforcement or misapplication against journalists and media organisations performing their legitimate duties.

It further argued that the interpretation of the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, particularly in relation to news, current affairs, and political programming, is inherently subjective.

It warned that positioning the NBC as the sole arbiter of what constitutes ‘rigorous questioning’ risks encouraging self-censorship and stifling legitimate journalistic inquiry.

‘The role of broadcast journalists is to ask probing questions, challenge inconsistencies, and demand clarity in the public interest. Journalism is not about putting public officials in a comfort zone, but about holding power accountable,’ the statement reads.

With the country edging closer to another election cycle, the NGE stressed that the media’s watchdog role has become even more critical.

When Boko Haram first captured global attention, many people-both inside Nigeria and abroad-struggled to understand how such brutality could emerge from within our own communities. The group’s violence felt shocking and senseless, as if it had appeared suddenly without warning. Yet for others who grew up in Northern Nigeria and were familiar with its history, the language of religious struggle and reform used by Boko Haram sounded disturbingly familiar, echoing older tensions that had shaped the region for generations.

It is this uneasy mix of shock and familiarity that Professor Moses E. Ochonu tackles in his powerful new book, Boko Haram: The Past of the Present Upheaval (University of California Press, 2026). The book does something many commentators have failed to do: it places Boko Haram firmly within the long history of Northern Nigeria, helping readers understand not only how the movement emerged but also why it resonated in some communities and was rejected in others.

My connection to this book is both intellectual and deeply personal. Moses and I belong to the same generation. We grew up in Northern Nigeria at roughly the same time, shaped by many of the same social and historical forces that he now writes about with such clarity. Our paths connected in graduate school, though at different institutions-he pursued his PhD in African history at the University of Michigan, while I was doing mine at Yale University. While my career eventually moved into development finance and private investment, Moses remained in academia, where he has gone on to become what I consider the leading historian of Northern Nigerian history of our generation.

‘While these factors matter, Ochonu argues that they are only part of the story. To truly understand Boko Haram, he shows that we must look deeper into Northern Nigeria’s history-into earlier periods of religious reform, social unrest, and political upheaval that shaped how communities understand authority, faith, and resistance.’

That distinction is not given lightly. Today, he holds the prestigious Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in History at Vanderbilt University, one of the highest honours in the field. His earlier books-including Colonialism by Proxy: Hausa Imperial Agents and Middle Belt Consciousness in Nigeria and Africa in Fragments: Essays on Nigeria, Africa, and the Global African Diaspora-have already reshaped scholarly conversations about colonial governance, regional identity, and state formation in Nigeria. Beyond books, his essays and public interventions have helped policymakers, scholars, and general readers better understand the long-term historical forces shaping conflict and governance in Nigeria today.

We also had the opportunity to collaborate directly when he contributed a key chapter to a volume I co-edited on Africans. Investing in Africa, a project that sought to rethink the narrative of African capital formation and agency. Even in that context-far from insurgency studies-his historical precision and intellectual discipline stood out.

His new book on Boko Haram may be his most important contribution yet.

For years, many explanations of Boko Haram have focused on poverty, weak governance, or global jihadist networks. While these factors matter, Ochonu argues that they are only part of the story. To truly understand Boko Haram, he shows that we must look deeper into Northern Nigeria’s history-into earlier periods of religious reform, social unrest, and political upheaval that shaped how communities understand authority, faith, and resistance.

What makes this book especially valuable is its balance. Ochonu does not try to excuse Boko Haram’s violence. Nor does he treat it as an isolated or mysterious phenomenon. Instead, he carefully traces how the group’s ideas connect to earlier religious debates and movements, while also showing how Boko Haram broke sharply from established traditions. In many ways, the group drew strength from history even as it rejected many of the values that defined Northern Nigerian society.

This insight is crucial because misunderstanding history often leads to misunderstanding conflict. Over the years, I have worked in parts of Nigeria affected by insecurity, and one of the recurring lessons is that development efforts fail when they ignore historical realities. Projects designed without understanding local grievances, identities, and memories often miss their mark, no matter how well funded they are.

Ochonu’s book helps fill this gap. It reminds us that Boko Haram did not emerge from nowhere. Its rise was shaped by decades of social change, economic disruption, and political tension. By placing the insurgency within its historical context, he provides a clearer lens through which policymakers, analysts, and citizens alike can better understand the crisis.

This is not just an academic exercise. It is a necessary step toward building lasting solutions.

Nigeria has spent more than a decade fighting Boko Haram through military means. But military responses alone cannot address the deeper forces that sustain insurgencies. Lasting peace requires understanding-and understanding requires history.

That is what makes Boko Haram: The Past of the Present Upheaval such an important book. It offers readers something that has been missing from many public discussions: a clear, grounded explanation of how the past continues to shape the present.

For me personally, reading this book also carries a sense of pride. To see someone from the same generation, who shared similar formative years in Northern Nigeria and academic beginnings abroad, produce a work of such depth and relevance is deeply gratifying.

But beyond personal pride, this book matters because Nigeria needs it.

In a country where public debates often focus on immediate crises, history is sometimes treated as a luxury rather than a necessity. Ochonu reminds us that history is neither distant nor abstract. It is alive in our communities, in our conflicts, and in our search for peace.

And in understanding Boko Haram’s past, he gives us one of the most powerful tools we have for shaping Nigeria’s future.

The book will be available at all Roving Heights outlets across Nigeria.

Keyamo made this disclosure after a high-level meeting in Abuja convened to address the sharp rise in aviation fuel costs. He said President Bola Tinubu, who was briefed on the outcome, directed that a formal proposal be submitted for his immediate consideration. ‘The first request that he will consider and grant is a generous discount on the debts the airlines are owing the aviation agencies – NAMA, FAAN, NCAA, and so on,’ Keyamo said. ‘The percentage of discounts and all that, Mr President will decide.’

Tinubu is also expected to set up a committee to review the multiple taxes, levies, and charges imposed on domestic tickets, with a view to reducing the cost burden on passengers. The president will additionally meet airline operators directly to discuss broader issues around access to capital.

Airlines want more

Airline operators welcomed the government’s intervention but pushed for significantly more. Allen Onyema, chairman of Air Peace, said the proposed discounts did not go far enough, calling instead for a total waiver of all debts owed to aviation agencies and a suspension of further payments until the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.

Onyema described the financial pressure on airlines as severe, with operators forced to borrow money to sustain fuel purchases while struggling to maintain safety and maintenance standards. He also called on the government to address the punishing interest rates on aircraft financing in Nigeria, where airlines borrow at 30 to 35 per cent – compared to around 3 per cent in other jurisdictions. ‘This is killing,’ he said, urging the government to recapitalise the Bank of Industry, which he described as the only lender still offering relatively affordable rates to airlines.

The fuel price spike

At the heart of the crisis is a more than 300 per cent increase in the price of Jet A1 fuel, which has climbed from N900 per litre as of 28th February to N3,300 per litre. Onyema said the rise was disproportionate to global crude oil price movements and called for marketers to be held accountable. ‘Even Dangote is surprised, because what he is selling to us still remains the cheapest, and some of them lift from there,’ he said. ‘So why the astronomical rise?’

The Airline Operators of Nigeria had threatened to suspend operations from 20th April over the fuel costs but subsequently announced a temporary stand-down following appeals from the minister.

Nigeria’s gas industry gathered for the first time under an explicitly legal lens last week, with executives, regulators, and attorneys converging on a single diagnosis: the country’s contractual and regulatory infrastructure is not yet fit for the scale of investment its gas ambitions demand.

The Nigerian Gas Association held the inaugural edition of its Legal Forum on April 17, convening senior legal practitioners, policymakers, and industry leaders to examine what participants described as a structural gap between Nigeria’s gas policy aspirations and the commercial frameworks needed to realise them.

The forum, themed ‘Strengthening Nigeria’s Gas Legal Framework for a Low-Carbon, Commercially Viable Future,’ produced a clear consensus: the Petroleum Industry Act, passed in 2021 after nearly two decades of legislative effort, has laid a credible foundation, but its transformative promise hinges on execution quality that Nigeria has yet to consistently demonstrate.

‘Nigeria’s gas resources present a defining opportunity for economic transformation,’ NGA President Aka Nwokedi said in his opening address. ‘But realising this potential will depend on building a legal framework that is transparent, predictable, and globally competitive.’

Of the structural concerns raised, dispute resolution and contractual clarity drew the most urgent attention. Participants identified inefficient resolution mechanisms and unpredictable enforcement as persistent deterrents for long-term capital, particularly from international project financiers who price legal risk into their investment calculus.

Nigeria’s gas sector has historically suffered from protracted commercial disputes and regulatory ambiguity that extend project timelines and inflate financing costs. Forum delegates argued that closing these gaps – through clearer contract standards across the gas value chain and faster arbitration pathways – is now as consequential as any infrastructure or fiscal incentive.

The stakes extend beyond domestic policy. As global energy investors weigh competing opportunities across Africa, the Gulf, and Central Asia, legal predictability has emerged as a decisive differentiator.

Forum participants stressed that Nigeria must demonstrate regulatory coherence and institutional alignment to attract the long-term capital required for gas monetisation at scale. ESG obligations and carbon management standards, they noted, must be embedded in enforceable frameworks rather than left to policy statements, as international investors increasingly subject prospective markets to rigorous sustainability screening.

The forum acknowledged the Tinubu administration’s stated priority of expanding gas infrastructure and boosting domestic utilisation, framing sustained policy continuity as a critical signal to investors evaluating decade-long commitments in the sector.

Nigeria holds Africa’s largest natural gas reserves and has positioned gas as the primary bridge fuel in its energy transition strategy. Yet monetisation has lagged, constrained by infrastructure deficits, pricing distortions, and the legal and regulatory uncertainties the forum sought to address.

Beyond its immediate outputs, the forum’s conveners framed it as the founding edition of a standing institution, a structured annual platform for aligning legal frameworks with fast-moving industry and market realities.

For a sector long accustomed to policy announcements without follow-through, the question delegates left with was whether this forum marks the beginning of a different pattern, or becomes another well-intentioned initiative that fades without implementation.