Baba Aye's

The 2027 general elections are around the corner. The elections will take place amidst the worst economic distress for working people in recent history. This is compounded by mounting insecurity and social crisis. Nonetheless, politicians have started warming up for campaign. Different sections of the ruling class are coming up as usual with empty promises. But now more than ever, the working masses, the marginalised youth, and oppressed people across the country need an alternative that challenges the systematic rottenness of social, economic, and political life. Issues shaping 2027 A recent poll by Business Day confirmed that, towards the 2027 elections, the topmost concerns of Nigerians are the economy and security. This is not at all surprising. While there has been economic growth since the Bola Tinubu administration of the APC regime came into power in 2023, the lives of poor working-class people have got worse. It is now more difficult for the vast majority of the population to ...

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o bade this world goodbye on 28 May at the age of 87. Fare thee well, great griot of our pathways. Say us well to the ancestors whom you now join to be clothed with the earth from which we all must return. He was definitely one of the greatest writers of in the world. He gave us – Africa and the world at large – a profound depth of beauty, thought and inspiration with his work. He was also, in my view, the most representative of the spirit of Africa, of the numerous colossal figures of the word, that have been Africa’s contribution to the world and its literature. At childhood, his life was interwoven with that of the Kenyan people fighting against British colonialism, with all the consequences of this history. He  was named James Ngugi at birth. This was name he used to publish his first novel Weep Not Child . But he threw away the slave master's name, renaming himself in line with the ways of his forbears. He did not just criticise the past of colo...

Kuli kuli is a delicious peanut-based snack. It is probably the most celebrated accompaniment for “smoking” garri, or cassava flakes if you will. It is also known for being so temptingly delicious that it could teach youngsters thievery, as one of those songs we sang in Yoruba as kids went.   Kulik kuli was also the Friday back page column of Mr Femi Adesina in The Sun. He has since then become a lead spokesperson for the second coming of a dictatorship under General Muhammadu Buhari. With lucid style, the column contributed to national discourse. There was an echo of truth in its lines. The past half a decade has however helped show Adesina for what he is, as he now writes and speaks for “the inside”. Does this have to do with supernatural powers, abi na demons in Aso Rock that like (to waste) our local snacks? Just a few years back Reuben Abati informed the world of these spirits and their taste for boli , the plantain snack which is supposed to help turgidity of that thin...

A Critical Perspective on the Deepening of PPPs in Nigeria and Union Response by Baba Aye [1] Introduction The past decade has witnessed reforms in the health sector, at the heart of which has been a systematic ingraining of neoliberal values, methods and thrust by the government in the framework of the national health system. The trade unions have responded to this in several ways. There have been quite some successes, won through struggle and established with creative strategies and tactics. A number of challenges do however remain.  With a focus on the phenomenon of Public Private Partnership, this brief paper would attempt to: locate the situation in the health sector within the broader context of attacks on public services; identify critical elements of the state’s offensive on the soul of public healthcare delivery; presenting trade union responses, and; discussing the challenges and potentials before trade unions in the sector. Crises and the enthrone...