February/March 2020

Muhammadu Buhari addresses the nation on coronavirus

‘COVID-19 is a Big Scam’ Citizens’ Distrust and the Challenge of Combating Coronavirus in Nigeria

Hakeem Onapajo and Jelili AdebiyiMarch 30, 2020

Although it is dangerous to entertain doubts towards the threat of COVID-19, Nigerians may have justifiable reasons to be sceptical about the government’s approach.

February/March 2020Special Focus: COVID-19

‘Talent not nurtured is useless.’ Moyosore Orekoya’s First Draft

Moyosore OrekoyaMarch 25, 2020

Chemical Engineer and author of ‘Democracy Questioned: How Democracy Can Fail Us, and What to do About It’, writes and edits ‘in chunks’, finding before editing ‘the golden mean sweet spot where I write an ‘idea’ or a standalone chunk of the article’.

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

Big Dreams and Grand Ambitions Nigeria’s Vision 2020—How far?

Onyenekenwa EnehMarch 23, 2020

The target year, 2020, is here and it is worth asking how much of Vision 2020 has been actualized. How have Nigeria’s development indicators compared with those of advanced countries, the first 20 of which Nigeria had aspired to join by 2020?

February/March 2020vol4-no2

The ‘Lion of Africa’ with Cat Claws Nigeria’s Image Problem

Fife OgundeMarch 20, 2020

After 60 years of independence, Nigeria has failed to establish significant political leverage on the global scene and is not the African superpower many tout it to be.

February/March 2020vol4-no2

‘Every Time You Decide to Write, What Is at Stake for You?’ Joshua Segun-Lean’s First Draft

Joshua Segun-LeanMarch 18, 2020

Essayist and author of ‘Long Live the Children of Disobedience’ and ‘The Prophetic Vision of Chinua Achebe’, Joshua Segun-Lean, edits as he writes, ‘feeling for a sense and a sound I might never arrive at but must keep tuning for.’

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

This photo is for our piece on Finding Self: Of Gods, Contestation and Containment Freshwater review

Finding Self: Of Gods, Contestation and Containment Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater

Elizabeth O. Ben-IheanachoMarch 15, 2020

A dark story about recognizing and coming to terms with the many fragments of our being, Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel, Freshwater, is a macabre and jarring tale of contestation and containment.

February/March 2020

Nation Forgotten Nigeria’s Neglected Pensioners

Wole OlayinkaMarch 13, 2020

After decades of service, retired public servants in Nigeria are spending their retirement years in depravation.

February/March 2020vol4-no2

This photo is for our piece on Dominique Otigbah's First Draft

‘Who has time for undecided authors?’ Dominique Otigbah’s First Draft

Dominique OtigbahMarch 11, 2020

If she could write about any moment in history, historian and author of ‘Reading Biafra’, Dominique Otigbah, would write a history of stockfish, ‘a quintessential Nigerian ingredient with its origins in Northern Norway.’

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

This photo is for our piece on Nigeria and the US visa ban

A Wake-Up Call? The Recent Travel Restrictions on Nigerians

Zainab UsmanMarch 9, 2020

It will be a grave mistake to treat Nigeria’s recent US visa ban as a one-off event, rather than a larger issue of limited leverage in a rapidly changing world that we seem ill-prepared to navigate.

Editors Picks: Independence DayFebruary/March 2020vol4-no2

Deceptions of Innovations Investigating the Claims of Big Tech

Aarshin KarandeMarch 6, 2020

The grand premise of innovation is that everyone benefits from it: technology not only yields great opportunity; it constructs great equality. The image of innovation is a redemptive one—but for whom?

February/March 2020