Dr. Anisah Ari, an Associate Professor at the University of Florida, has emphasized that women’s courage and grassroots leadership are vital tools for sustaining peace in Nigeria’s conflict-affected communities. Ari made this known in a paper titled “Reclaiming Peace Through Truth Appeal: The Imperative of Tough Conversations in Nigeria’s Fragile Landscape,” which she shared on Sunday in Abuja. She cited widespread banditry, abductions, armed robbery, and killings as factors destabilising communities and exposing the country’s fractured national identity and fragile security architecture. “The country is overdue for a shift from reactive security to proactive dialogue. Peace cannot be imposed; it…
Author: TheStories
The clamour for increased representation of women in Nigeria’s political space has once again come to the fore, as stakeholders await the outcome of the Reserved Seats Bill currently before the National Assembly. The bill, also referred to as “Additional or Reserved Seats Bill’’ seeks to alter the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to provide reservation for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly to address the low number of women in the legislature. If passed into law, the bill will address the long-standing concerns of women underrepresentation in governance and decision-making by ensuring that…
Bauchi State First Lady, Aisha Bala Mohammed, has commended Nigerian girls for championing education, health, and dignity — showing resilience and leadership even in crisis. Speaking at the 2025 International Day of the Girl Child celebration in Bauchi, themed “The Girl I Am, The Change I Lead: Girls on the Frontline of Crisis,” she said girls are “not just part of the future — they are shaping it right now.” Mrs. Mohammed highlighted how Bauchi girls are leading campaigns on menstrual hygiene, environmental protection, and community service. She reaffirmed the state’s commitment to expanding education access, ending child marriage and…
I woke up this morning with that quiet urge to write, the kind of restlessness that begins with a question and ends in reflection. My mind hovered over a dozen possibilities: the heated arguments about Tinubu’s sense of fairness in appointments, the shockwaves from Professor Joash’s emergence as INEC Chairman, or the latest drama of political clemency and pardons. Yet, none felt right. Nigeria’s political air has grown too predictable, its conversations split between the eternally “pro” and the forever “anti”—two camps so rooted in conviction that neutrality itself has become an offence. The last time I dared to sound…
For many workers, the dream after years of service is to retire in comfort, having earned the right to live a dignified life. Yet, for countless retirees across Nigeria, that dream often fades into hardship due to unpaid gratuities and pensions. In Sokoto State, however, this narrative is changing under the leadership of Governor Ahmed Aliyu. His administration’s decision to clear a ₦15 billion inherited gratuity backlog has been widely hailed as a historic and compassionate intervention. The governor’s action goes beyond settling old debts—it restores dignity and hope to thousands of retired civil servants who had endured years of…
Nigeria’s youth are ready to lead For decades, Nigerian youths have campaigned, voted, and thrown their weight behind older politicians — yet leadership positions have remained stubbornly out of reach. After years of exclusion and missed opportunities, a new generation of young Nigerians is stepping forward, determined to shape the nation’s destiny. Armed with education, creativity, and an unyielding spirit, they are ready to confront Nigeria’s biggest challenges — from corruption and unemployment to insecurity and inequality. No longer content to stand on the sidelines, they are turning ideas into action and ambition into measurable progress. The future is now…
The phrase “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold,” drawn from W.B. Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming,” evokes a profound sense of disintegration and chaos. This sentiment resonates deeply within the socio-political landscape of Northern Nigeria, where historical, cultural, and contemporary dynamics converge in a tumultuous narrative. The complexities observed in this region reflect the broader implications of societal disintegration, mirroring the themes articulated in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart.” This essay seeks to explore the interplay between Achebe’s narrative and the contemporary challenges faced in Northern Nigeria, emphasizing the fragility of societal structures in the face of external pressures.…
I am deeply concerned, not just by the deaths of five Lagos female political leaders, which happened sequentially, but by the eerie silence and dissociation that followed it. Unlike so many other news and happenings, some of which are not even irrelevant, the story of the Lagos 5 is not trending. As I write this, the news of their demise seems to have barely made a ripple on the surface of public discourse, with just a few reports and mentions on social media handles. It is almost a week after the passing of the fifth woman, yet there is no…
The recent and rather startling disclosure by a governor from one of the core northern states that he was rough-handled by bandits and kidnappers has further highlighted the procedural limitations of state governors in tackling the menace of banditry and kidnapping in the region—and indeed the country at large. The rise and spread of banditry and kidnapping have caused serious and unimaginable damage to the geographical, social, economic, and political structures of the core northern states, which continue to grapple with the insecurity the menace has created. Insecurity is a terrible drawback in the scheme of national development. From the…
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Sokoto State Council, has hailed the Minister of State for Works, Bello Muhammad Goronyo, for redefining government–media relations through his strategic investment in journalism capacity building and commitment to open governance. Speaking at a one-day capacity-building workshop for journalists in Sokoto, NUJ Chairman, Usman Mohammed Binji, described the minister’s support as a “visionary partnership” that strengthens democracy by empowering the media to operate with skill, integrity, and courage. The workshop, themed “Investigative Journalism in the Digital Era,” trained 20 practicing journalists drawn from various media organizations across the state. It focused on equipping them…