Introduction I was at a conference for public relations professionals recently. It was well-attended by practitioners from different countries, mostly from Africa. We discussed issues about the future of the profession and practice. During the conversation that followed a presentation on influencer marketing, a delegate implied that social media influencers are a threat to PR practice. In other words, they …

Again, Africa is in the news. And for the wrong reasons! While other continents are deepening and consolidating on the gains of democracy, Africa is retreating to the days of the military jackboots. In the last 18months, soldiers have struck and taken over power in Chad, Guinea, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and lately, Niger. More could be in the offing. …

In today’s fast-paced world, consumers are the driving force behind any successful business. They invest their hard-earned money in goods and services with the expectation of a satisfactory experience. However, not all brands live up to their promises, leaving consumers disappointed and disheartened. Addressing this issue, BrandXchange, an innovative platform, has taken the bold step of empowering Nigerian consumers to …

Worrying sociopolitical developments in the West coast of Africa have very understandably elicited subregional, continental and global concerns. Within the twinkle of an eye the gradual absorption of democratic governance consistent with contemporaneous global trends by countries in the subcontinent, has gone on the reverse gear. A week ago Nigeria’s Northern neighbours, the Republic of Niger, became the latest of …

The removal of fuel subsidy and the convergence of the foreign exchange markets – the two major policy objectives President Bola Tinubu has committed himself to since assuming office – inevitably came with economic cost to the people who have had to bear the pains of higher cost of living. The jump in pump price of fuel and devaluation of …

There are few women in political and leadership spaces in Nigeria. Currently in the Senate, out of the 109 senators, three are female, which was a reduction from the seven in the ninth Assembly. Similarly, in the House of Representatives, 16 women were sworn in out of the 360 lawmakers, a slight increase compared to 13 in the previous House. …

As a Nigerian abroad, the reaction you’ll likely get when you introduce yourself is an excited reel out of names of Nigerian superstars who have adorned the country’s Green-White-Green and played for the national football team, the Super Eagles. “Finidi George”, “Amokachi”, “Jay Jay Okocha”, an elated Albanian screamed on learning about my nationality during my last trip to Tirane, …

Not only are military coups becoming frighteningly frequent in West and Central Africa, virtually all of them, it appears, also speak French. For the fifth time in three years in West Africa, soldiers struck again in Niger, Nigeria’s Northern neighbour, where former President Muhammadu Buhari had teasingly longed for refuge from Nigeria’s hostile press. With the recent turn of events, …

A pattern has emerged in the arguments many of the partisan and ideological critics routinely make on television stations. There is this tendency to always muddle up facts and mislead the public, notably through willful ignorance. One point that has been erroneously made is the view that the Federal Government is not doing anything about fixing the four refineries it …

I was already halfway through the article for publication today which I entitled “Tinubu, Nigeria is Not Lagos!” when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced a coup against me last night! What I had in mind, and had assembled much of the facts and data, was to analyse the two prong economic decisions of the government, their implications and the pending …