Ayo Obe welcomed listeners to the last episode of IDEAs Radio.  She said that over the past four weeks the programme had looked at the IDEAs quotient in Security, the Electoral Process, the Judiciary and the Economy.  The last of the programme would be looking at Politicians, and what was their own Integrity, Ethics and Accountability contribution to our Democracy.  She introduced the guest who would discuss the issue with her: Jide Ojo who is a Development Consultant, Author and Public Affairs Analyst whom many listeners would know from his columns in Punch newspapers or television appearances.

Ayo Obe said that this fourth programme in the One Year After the Vote series would look at the Economy, for which she was happy to welcome back to the programme, Bismarck Rewane, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Financial Derivatives who is an economist and a banker and was a member of President Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council.

Ayo Obe said that Elections are a key part of Nigeria’s Democracy.  Although they are not the only part, where there is dissatisfaction with elections and the electoral process, that dissatisfaction spreads throughout the polity.  Ayo said that she was not quite old enough to remember the elections of the 1950s and 1960s and so could not speak for the entirety of Nigeria’s history, but if we consider the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Republics, in her view the 2023 elections were the most divisive our country has held.

Ayo Obe said that it would surprise many that IDEAs was back on air after it was supposed to have ended last July, but noting that “It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good”, she explained that the ‘ill wind’ of the collapse in the value of the naira had brought the ‘good’ that allowed IDEAs to do a further five broadcasts.  These would lead up to the anniversary of last year’s National elections, and would cover the Integrity, Democracy, Ethics and Accountability quotient of the government in five critical areas: Security, Elections, the Judiciary, the Economy and the behaviour of our Politicians.

Chukwudi Ezugwu started by referring to the saying about “good things coming to an end”, to which Ayo Obe replied that it might be better to stick to “all things must pass”, as it might be rather bold to talk about IDEAs as “good things”.  Chukwudi said that regular listeners would know that the programme came up on Friday afternoons and that it was engaging, interactive and educative.  He said that people would learn so many things as Nigerian citizens if they apply it in the daily activities of government and governance.  He  asked Ayo to explain the significance of IDEAs

andra introduced Ayo who intimated her that today’s was the penultimate broadcast of IDEAs Radio.

The guest, Bismarck Rewane, was greeted by Ayo who went on to say that the new administration of President Bola Tinubu had been getting praised for its policies such as floating the Naira and removing the fuel subsidy, but that most of that praise was coming from outside the country.  Even though most people inside Nigeria agreed that these policies needed to be implemented, there was real concern about the impact on people.

Chuwudi Ezugwu introduced the guest – Nkoyo Toyo, the Convener of the Labour Civil Society Front – and the topic, which he felt everyone would be very interested to hear: the removal of subsidy and the kind of palliatives that would be most useful.

Ayo Obe feared that listeners may have been groaning at the idea of more talk about subsidy removal and palliatives, but said that the programme would be looking at matters from the perspective of Integrity, Ethics and Accountability in our Democracy.  She said that today’s guest, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo, was not only the Convener of the Labour Civil Society organisation, but was also a well-known civil society activist,

Sandra Ezekwesili was full of beans and had ‘raised shoulders’ over the decision of the Federal High Court striking down the power of the National Broadcasting Commission to impose fines as she welcomed Ayo Obe for IDEAs this week, and Ayo’s guest, Lanre Arogundade, the Executive Director of the International Press Centre, Nigeria.

IDEAs 14th April 2023 … #BBOG’s Habiba Balogun on the 9th Anniversary of the Chibok Girls’ Abduction. Ayo Obe said that today’s programme was going to be different from the usual election-related topics that IDEAs had been covering because the 14th of April marks a sad anniversary.  It is 9 years since the abduction of…