The abduction of the Chibok girls in 2014 triggered a global movement. One school abduction was enough to unite Nigerians, attract international attention, and place enormous pressure on the government through the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.
Yet, what has happened since then should trouble every Nigerian.
Under President Buhari's eight years in office, Nigeria witnessed about ten school abductions. Under President Tinubu's administration, in just three years, we have already recorded over ten school abductions.
Despite these repeated tragedies, there has been neither sustained national outrage nor significant international attention comparable to what followed Chibok.
This raises an important question: have we become so accustomed to insecurity that what once shocked our national conscience is now treated as normal?
At a time when millions of Nigerians are grappling with insecurity, poverty, and hardship, it is deeply troubling that those in power appear more focused on political calculations and preparations for the next election than on addressing the urgent challenges confronting our people.
It is, therefore, no surprise that some observers have labelled us a "Now Disgraced Nation". While we do not agree with any attempt to define our great country by its present difficulties, we must acknowledge that persistent insecurity, economic hardship, and leadership failure have damaged our reputation and standing among nations.
The answer is not denial, propaganda, or political distraction. The answer is leadership that is competent, compassionate, accountable, and genuinely committed to the welfare and security of the Nigerian people.
The Nigerian youth must not become indifferent. We must all refuse to normalise failure.
Young Nigerians - Take back your country!
A New Nigeria is Possible. -PO
VoidZero is joining Cloudflare.
Our mission stays the same: to make JavaScript developers more productive than ever before. Vite, Vitest, Rolldown, Oxc, and Vite+ remain MIT-licensed. Evan and the VoidZero team will continue leading them.
Cloudflare shares our commitment to open source. Together, we can keep investing in the tooling developers rely on every day, while bringing the Vite ecosystem and Cloudflare’s platform even closer together.
Dear Young Nigerians,
One lesson from the 2023 elections, particularly in Lagos, should never be forgotten.
In the period following the presidential election and leading up to the governorship election, we witnessed a troubling shift in public discourse. Conversations that should have focused on competence, governance, development, and the future of our nation were gradually diverted towards tribal sentiments, ethnic divisions, and unnecessary suspicion among citizens.
Many sincere and well-meaning Nigerians participated in these conversations without realising that they were being drawn into narratives carefully designed by others.
Throughout history, whenever politicians find it difficult to compete on ideas, performance, character, or vision, some resort to exploiting the fault lines of ethnicity, religion, and identity. Their calculation is simple: a divided people are easier to manipulate than a united people.
Today, I see similar efforts emerging again, sometimes in more subtle and sophisticated ways. Narratives are planted, amplified, and circulated, often by individuals who genuinely believe they are defending a worthy cause, without recognizing the broader agenda behind such campaigns.
Let me state clearly that Pastor Enoch Adeboye remains one of the foremost fathers of faith in our nation. For decades, he has consistently preached the virtues of peace, prayer, love, reconciliation, and national unity. Even when faced with provocation, his response has always reflected humility, restraint, wisdom, and grace.
At 84 years of age, it would be unfair for young and able-bodied Nigerians to transfer to him responsibilities that properly belong to them. The task of building a better Nigeria rests primarily on the shoulders of the younger generation. It is their duty to lead the conversations, champion the reforms, and drive the positive change our nation urgently requires.
We must be careful not to become instruments in the hands of those who secretly nurture division while publicly preaching unity. In most cases, their target is not the individual being attacked; instead, it is the person who is attacking. Their real objective is to weaken the bonds that hold us together as one people and one nation.
I therefore urge all young Nigerians: do not allow anyone to recruit you into hatred. Do not allow anyone to weaponise your ethnicity, your faith, or your admiration for respected leaders.
Question every narrative. Verify every claim. Follow the facts. Resist manipulation.
The Nigeria of our dreams can only be built by citizens who refuse to be divided, who choose unity over hatred, and who place our collective future above narrow interests.
A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO
Look what I get to take home. Last night, DEATH OF THE AUTHOR won the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and THE SPACE CAT won for Best Illustrated and Art Book. My daughter Anyaugo was there with me 😊.
What an amazing night.✨
Club legend Cesar Azpilicueta will retire from football at the end of the season.
Congratulations on a superb career, Azpi, and thank you for everything. 💙
Dear football,
Today, I want to share with you that this season will be my last as a professional footballer. After so many years living my dream, I feel it’s time to start a new chapter in my life.
Being honest, even though I have been preparing myself for this moment, I found it hard to write this letter. After 20 seasons , many people have played an important role in my career.
When I first kicked a ball as a child in Pamplona with my schoolmates, I never imagined the amazing journey ahead. I’m grateful for every moment: the wins, the tough losses, the challenges, and most of all, the people I’ve met and the friendships I’ve made along the way.
To my teammates, coaches, and every staff member at all the clubs I’ve been lucky to be part of, thank you for helping me grow as a person and a player every day. Wearing the shirts of CA Osasuna, Olympique Marseille, Chelsea FC, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla FC, and representing my country at the biggest stages has been a true privilege. Every moment has meant so much to me…
There’s a silent disaster happening in Nigeria that nobody wants to confront honestly.
We keep shouting about unemployment, bad leadership, low productivity, corruption, poor healthcare, failed institutions and why our country is not working. But many people are avoiding the root cause.
Our education system has been deeply compromised.
A student enters secondary school or university full of dreams, intelligence and potential. Then the system teaches them something dangerous:
“You do not need competence to succeed.”
WAEC malpractice. NECO malpractice. GCE runs. Sorting. Sex for grades. Extortion. Intimidation. Victimization. Handout rackets. “See me after class.” “Talk to your lecturer.” “Settle this course.”
And after 4 or 5 years of surviving that environment, we expect excellence to magically appear.
It won’t.
A country cannot repeatedly reward dishonesty in classrooms and expect integrity in government offices, hospitals, engineering sites, courtrooms and businesses.
This is where many of our unemployable graduates are coming from.
Not because Nigerians are not intelligent.
Not because our youths are lazy.
But because too many people were trained inside a system where merit was murdered.
The painful part is this:
UNN, UNILAG, FUTO, ABU, UI, IMSU, ABSU and many others are using largely the same NUC-regulated curriculum.
The difference is standards.
The universities that still command respect are usually the ones with stronger resistance against sorting, extortion and academic fraud.
The ones collapsing in reputation are often the ones where corruption became normalized.
Once a student realizes they can buy an “A” with ₦20,000, or sleep their way through a course, or manipulate results through connections, the motivation to truly learn starts dying slowly.
And when millions of such graduates enter the labor market, the entire country pays the price.
That weak engineer may eventually supervise a bridge.
That poorly trained nurse may handle a patient.
That compromised accountant may manage public funds.
That fake first-class graduate may become a lecturer and reproduce the same cycle again.
This is no longer just an education problem.
It is a national security problem.
Countries become great because they protect competence fiercely.
Singapore did it.
China did it.
Germany did it.
South Korea did it.
You cannot build a first-world country with a third-world attitude towards education integrity.
Nigeria does not have a shortage of talent.
Nigeria has a shortage of systems that protect excellence.
And until we become ruthless about fighting academic corruption, exam malpractice, sorting, sex-for-grades and institutional intimidation, we will continue producing certificates instead of competence.
This fight is bigger than schools.
It is about the future survival of Nigeria itself.
Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Xabi Alonso as Manager of the Men’s Team.
The Spaniard will begin his role on July 1, 2026, having agreed a four-year contract at Stamford Bridge.
Welcome to Chelsea, Xabi!
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Shola was excited when he saw the title of our proposal: “Making room for a bigger decade”. It was the perfect way to capture the mission he had invited us on.
By our next meeting, it was a different story.
I'll explain.
We had held several conversations with different leaders to absorb context... and we were right at work, excited to the brim about the challenge. We have a thing for high stakes based on our previous work but the nerve never fully disappears, not in a subjective field like branding.
We had been introduced to the Orange team, a strategy development agency they had hired to lay the foundation for everything. I knew the co-founder, Tola Alade and he had told me about his business partner, Alessandra. A few months earlier, we had exchanged one of those “we should work together sometime” but we meant it.
Now it was here, right on our laps. There was no ice to break. They had started before us but everything was still early, fluid and in motion.
We studied their work-in-progress documents, and jumped on calls to hear their thinking, share our thoughts, ask questions and exchange ideas. Ale would sip from her big cup that looked straight out of Italy (I was right), as she talked us through her thought process laid out on slides and complete with “don’t take this too seriously, I just quickly put it together so you can have an idea”. We liked her immediately. Off to a great start, it all appeared.
We held our own internal conversations to make sense of everything we had learned so far, from the several conversations and our study of older Paystack materials. We distilled our robust, and apparently brilliant ideas into a set of possible directions. Ready and confident, we asked for a call with the Paystack leadership.
At the end of what we thought was a great presentation, they were rather shocked by a presentation that was all theory and no visualization. As a strategy-led design agency, we were used to having those thoughts-only conversations with our clients over several calls before any visuals. But fair to them, they had hired a whole agency for that.
Enter Emmanuel Quartey.
He unmutes his mic, starting first by giving us some feedback on the ideas, and then going on to close with something along the lines of: “guys I get you, but this is all too abstract for most of us at this point. I’m your guy here, however. I'm happy to sit fully with you at this level of abstraction. Consider me as your client in this phase. Let’s do our meetings as a smaller team and we will come to this wider meetings only at more tangible milestones.”
And that’s how the combined task force was born: Emmanuel, Ale, and Wilfred Alfred, Paul Akorede, Dunsin Ayodele, Mercy Abayomi and myself from FourthCanvas. (Teslim Abu would join the project later on and Tola Alade listened in from time to time, from the Orange side).
Over the weeks that followed, we met often, sometimes 3 times a week, talking through every word, line, shape, and shade. It felt like one same team. Many times we spent more than 4 hours on one call.
Figma is on the Google Meet presentation from Paul’s screen, and everyone else was either right there on the file creating something or leaving comments. Someone is importing something from Adobe Illustrator to Figjam, another is uploading a sketch from paper… so we can all have it one place for all to see and discuss. Everyone is trying something, or asking what if? The sessions flowed from our own internal calls to the extended sessions with Emmanuel and many times, Ale.
Working with Emmanuel was intense and exhaustive. It was both a blessing and a challenge. If you listen well to Emmanuel, you will get somewhere great, but from time to time, you'd also have to insist and defend your differing conviction. It would have to be convincing indeed however! He is everything but the surface.
Emmanuel could try to nudge you for hours in one direction and when you finally start to agree, he has seen something he didn’t previously see and now he’s arguing for something you had defended and now discarded.
We were not surprised by Emmanuel’s obsession, however. At least, not after our very first meeting.
After Emmanuel said he was our guy in that first 'unsuccessful' meeting, we had jumped on a first call to properly get to know each other. When it was his turn to introduce himself, he had mentioned in passing, this building project he was currently pouring his soul, heart and mind into. “If you guys want to hear more about it”, we can do another call for it. Of course we want to hear more about it! We set up a call on the calendar. We must have set 60 or 90 minutes to it.
We invited other members from the larger FourthCanvas team. 6 hours later, we were still going... Emmanuel had hundreds of pictures, links, and iterations to show. It was a ‘masterclass’ about soil, drainage, walls, doors, nails, bricks, hinges and everything you could see and not see about a building.
We were in for a ride.
We explored far and wide, but still within the crafted intentions of the would-be parent brand. From ‘rails to ambition’ to ‘exponent’ and ‘environmental modulation’, we sketched hundreds of ideas, and refined tens of them, looking for the mark that most fittingly captures the next, bigger decade of what was simply Paystack.
The next time we presented to the larger group, they loved the ideas, but now they thought we had gone too far with the ideas. We had gone deep and wide, seeking the right metaphors for what they were trying to build. We had distilled several pages of strategy and made sense of them with brilliant concepts we could write books about. We had done everything but the obvious — the stack.
At the beginning of the conversations, everyone tended towards TSG as the name, even though it meant ‘The Stack Group’. We had chosen to ignore the stacks idea from the elegant Paystack logo. TSG needed to have its own unique identity, we said. We had the Paystack icon on our board, with a red x crossed on it like: "don’t do it".
Later in the process, it was clear this would be known more as ‘The Stack Group’ than as TSG. Now the red x on the stacks logo started to become grey.
“I love these ideas but I’m also wondering: should we really ignore the obvious?”, Shola asked me one evening on iMessage. With the new spelt out name, it was increasingly necessary to consider a direction inspired by the idea of the ‘stack’, which defined the identity of the successful first child of the incoming adoptive parent.
The following morning on our internal call, I was trying to give the team a download of what Shola said when Paul showed me something he came up with the previous evening. It was as if he was listening in on my conversation with Shola. He had come up with a brilliant idea that nodded just enough to the stacks without quite being the stacks.
Several iterations later with additional input from Dunsin, Wilfred and I, we had a strong, compact mark that shared the appearance of layers stacked up but most importantly emphasized elevation from one level to another. At the same time, it subtly read T, S and G. (Once you see it, you can’t unsee it).
It simultaneously paid homage to the origins of Paystack and illustrated the acceleration that the parent group was to be about, ultimately becoming its own striking, unique mark.
In our next presentation, we began by saying it was just a work-in-progress. We were confident about the mark but we were also trying to manage expectations. We also showed other ideas that were completely unrelated to the stacks.
Amandine didn’t hold back her excitement. Shola was in love! He said it made the perfect connection. “It feels Paystack without being Paystack. It feels like the more mature, institutional version of Paystack.” He continued: “I can imagine someone putting off a Paystack shirt and putting this on, and it still feels like they come from the same place.”
We had created a ‘mastermark!’ It was strong, institutional and potentially timeless.
We were, and still are, very excited about how much it feels like an uncle beside his niece, when you put them side by side. And this fits Orange’s family tree classification, where Paystack was that brilliant first child with accomplishments (we heard: layers) and The Stack Group was the wise uncle with global relationships who amplifies the work of the entire family (we heard: levels).
The new mark was unlimited in what it could become, while signifying, or better, embodying stability, excellence and growth.
“We could wake up one day and decide to make batteries. I want us to be able to go that far and wide, as long as it’s solving a problem for Africans,” Shola had said in our very first call.
Now you can, I thought.
Put that icon on a battery, data server, skyscraper, digital screen or as one must, a tote bag, and still it would imbue it with the daring Paystack spirit but on an entirely new level — The Stack Group.
Explore the full visual system, including typography, colour, texture, devices and overall composition:
👉🏾 https://t.co/yjy3VZ0GwF
Fellow Nigerians, good morning.
I woke up this morning after my church service with a deeply reflective heart, and despite every constraint, I felt compelled to share these thoughts with you.
Many people do not truly understand the silent pains some of us carry daily—the private struggles, emotional burdens, and quiet battles we face while trying to survive and serve sincerely in difficult circumstances.
We now live in an environment that has become increasingly toxic, where the very system that should protect and create opportunities for decent living often works against the people—a society where intimidation, insecurity, endless scrutiny, and discouragement have become normal.
More painful is when some of those you associate with, believing you would find understanding and solidarity among them, become part of the pressure you face. Some who publicly identify with you privately distance themselves or join in unfair criticism.
We live in a society where humility is mistaken for weakness, respect is seen as a lack of courage, and compassion is treated as foolishness—a system where treating people equally is questioned simply because you refuse to worship status, tribe, class, or power.
Personally, I have never looked down on anyone except to uplift them. I have never used privilege, position, or resources to oppress others, intimidate the weak, or make people feel small. To me, leadership has always been about service, sacrifice, and helping others rise.
Let me state clearly: my decision to leave the ADC is not because our highly respected Chairman, Senator David Mark, treated me badly, nor because my leader and elder brother, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, or any other respected leaders did anything personally wrong to me. I will continue to respect them.
However, the same Nigerian state and its agents that created unnecessary crises and hostility within the Labour Party that forced me to leave now appear to be finding their way into the ADC, with endless court cases, internal battles, suspicion, and division, instead of focusing on deeper national problems and playing politics built more on control and exclusion than on service and nation-building.
Even within spaces where one labours sincerely, one is sometimes treated like an outsider in one’s own home. You and your team become easy targets for every failure, frustration, or misunderstanding, as though honest contribution has become a favour being tolerated rather than appreciated.
And when you choose to leave so that those you are leaving can have peace, and you step out into the cold, you are still maligned and your character is questioned. Despite all your efforts to continue working for a better Nigeria and engaging people with sincerity and goodwill, those who do not wish you well continue to attack your character and question your intentions.
There are moments I ask God in prayer: Why is doing the right thing often misconstrued as wrongdoing in our country? Why is integrity not valued? Why is the prudent management of resources, especially when invested in critical areas like education and healthcare, wrongly labelled as stinginess? Why are humility and obedience to the rule of law often taken to be weakness rather than discipline?
Let me assure all that I am not desperate to be President, Vice President, or Senate President. I am desperate to see a society that can console a mother whose child has been kidnapped or killed while going to school or work. I am desperate to see a Nigeria where people will not live in IDP camps but in their homes. I am desperate for a country where Nigerian citizens do not go to bed hungry, not knowing where their next meal will come from.
Yet, despite everything, I remain resolute. I firmly believe that Nigeria can still become a country with competent leadership based on justice, compassion, and equal opportunity for all.
A new Nigeria is POssible. -PO
Where I play ball, there’s this woman who shows up every Saturday morning with chilled zobo and tigernut drink. She shares it to everyone for free, no money, no stress. Naturally, everybody likes her.
It was only today I found out she’s actually the wife of the man who owns the pitch. That “free” drink? It’s strategy. It keeps all of us coming back every weekend, and once you’re there, you’re already spending. Each player pays 3kpa to play, bottled water is 5H, and before you know it, you’ve spent close to 5k.
Now she’s taken it a step further, she just launched a side business at the same pitch. She sells and rents out boots, sells jerseys, socks, bibs… everything you need to play. And she’s making serious money from it.
In simple terms… She gave us free drinks, built loyalty, then positioned herself to collect the money in every other way. Smart Igbo woman business move��
The future of language takes a village. 🌍
We’ve officially launched the YECS Corpus: 120 hours of Yoruba-English code-switching speech data with @mozillaorg . It's Open Source on MDC! 😀
Access it here: https://t.co/5xPvicKBjm
#LyngualLabs#YECSCorpus
From the information reaching me tonight, UNN wants to start the renovation of Eni Njoku hostel on Tuesday.
They also want to start other hostels renovations as well.
I will be on AfiaTv with UNN PRO tomorrow at 10am as he will publicly confirm this and other coming questions.
Our court proceedings still stands.
Accountability is not a crime. It’s very needed for every progressive society.