Deep Thought

 President-elect, Tinubu: Rerouting Nigeria’s Pathway to Glory III By Prof MK Othman   Agriculture should be the next priority after education for the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) to reroute Nigeria’s pathway to glory. Agriculture can create 100s of millions of jobs, eradicate poverty, reduce social crimes, attain food security, and attract millions of foreign exchange-earning. Developing agriculture in Nigeria today is akin to plucking the low-hanging fruits, which requires simple effort, concerted determination, and focus. This is because Nigeria has unlimited agricultural potential and the capability of feeding the African continent. The development of agriculture depends on four key resources; education/knowledge, human, water, and land resources. Nigeria is stupendously blessed with human, water, and land resources in large quantities. On water resources, Nigeria is divided into seven climate zones, with average annual rainfall from 600 mm in the Sahel savannah of the

 President-elect, Tinubu: Rerouting Nigeria’s Pathway to Glory II By Prof MK Othman Miraculously, the election of Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) as the next president was uniquely different from how the past three and current presidents became number one citizens. President Olusegun Obasanjo did not plan or dream of becoming Nigerian president before he was overwhelmed and persuaded to become PDP flag bearer and won the election in 1999. He garnered 18 million votes to beat his close rival, Chief Olu Falae who contested under a joined ticket of AD-APP.  In 2007, Governor Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s dream was to represent the people of the Katsina zone at the Red Chamber as their senator. Against Umaru’s plan, providence crowned him as the veritable successor of President Obasanjo. He moved to Aso Rock, the seat of the presidency with Dr. Goodluck Johnathan as his Vice President. Before then, Dr. Goodluck was the deputy Governor to the Bayelsa state governor, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha up to 2005 and t

 Food Security in Africa: Is Genetically Modified Technology a Pathway? II By Prof MK Othman This is a corollary to my article of 16th February 2023. The continuation of this article was disrupted by the topical issues of cashless policy implantation and the 2023 presidential election. Now, I am back to the topic. The enormity of food security issues in Africa is a major concern to both people of Africa and the entire world. It is pertinent to bring out major food insecurity indicators that comprehensively measured food security in the world. There are two major indicators “Prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) and Food insecurity experience scale (FIES)” for measuring the “Prevalence of severe food insecurity”. While the average PoU of North America and the European Union from the year 2000 to 2016 was 2.5 percent of their population, Africa recorded 24.3 percent in the year 2000, which reduced to 17.8 percent in 2013 and then increased to 20.1 percent in 2016. As of 2021, the prevalen

 Re: Nigeria 2023- Nigerians, Mercilessly Beaten by Cashless Policy By Prof. MK Othman Nigeria is undoubtfully a unique country in all ramifications. Nigerians have unlimited resilience and unshakable survival instincts. In 2017, I was a visiting scholar at an American University and had a fruitful interaction with some American professors and they were attracted to come to Nigeria for a collaborative project. All arrangements were made on the type of project (agriculture and nutrition), how to secure a grant, and the potential number of persons to benefit. At the last minute, their Embassy gave security advice against their visit to Nigeria and particularly the proposed project area. Despite the security report, the team leader was so determined to move ahead with our plan and damn the consequences until his family members were made to prevail over him. He called to apologize and then asked me whether the Nigerian security situation was worse than that of Afghanistan or other war-rava