Iyabo Arinola Ifeoma Awokoya's Blog

Nigerian Emigration: The Inconvenient Truth Unreported Nigeria Following Jul 5  · 6 min read Before the coronavirus outbreak, one could argue that the happiest places in Nigeria were the departure gates of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA).  For some passengers, these trips have become routine or more poignantly, part and parcel of a self-imposed double life (one foot in the west, one foot at home). These travellers are easy to spot — they engage in comfortable banter with airline staff and are more often than not dressed appropriately (during winter, most can be seen holding coats). In sharp contrast to the aforementioned regular travellers are those that are bidding Nigeria goodbye for an indefinite period of time. For many of these passengers, the journey to the crowded gates of MMIA has been fraught with obstacles that could only be overcome by a combination of emotional support, financial resources, prayers to a deity and perhaps,  crime . The r...

GANI FAWEHINMI'S OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO ON THE BELLVIEW AIR CRASH AND THE DEATH OF THE FIRST LADY,  STELLA OBASANJO,   NOVEMBER 21, 2005 "We must examine what happened in both events and proffer advice on how to prevent future occurrence in each case. We have heard mountains of hyperbolic rhetoric in the last one week and tons of sentiments and emotions had been shed. The time to take an analytical and sober look at the two events has come. Sentiment must not be allowed to replace reality and emotion must not be a substitute for the truth. Otherwise, we will go back to groping in the dark and repeating the same act of commission or omission in both tragic events. I do not know what the post-mortem report reads, but as the husband, you told the whole world in a broadcast on Tuesday, 25th October, 2005 that your wife went to Spain on a holiday without a visible sign of illness. However, reports nationally and internationally have revealed the followi...