Wearegst

14/04/2024

Freedom that is dependent on another human being Is not really freedom.

12/04/2024

The lack of emergency response systems in Nigeria is killing people.

The gst: Four actors lost their lives after a series of preventable mishaps.

Several cast and crew members of a movie called “Another Side of Life”, were on a boat ride back from a movie location on Wednesday, the 10th of April.

Several safeguarding measures were not in place during the boat ride and after it had capsized. Passengers were not wearing lifejackets, the boat driver was inexperienced and no witness at the scene could provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Even after one of the recovered actors, Junior Pope was declared alive by a mortuary attendant, he was not taken to the hospital but to a native doctor for a ‘revival ritual’.

He was then taken to a hospital, but the hospital did not have oxygen, a primary life-saving emergency resource. By the time he was taken to another one, he had lost his life.

This all played out like a sad, unexplainable, movie.

12/04/2024

Dr Olayemi Cardoso is shaking up the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The gst: In what seems like a reorganizational and restructuring process, several employees of Nigeria’s central bank have been fired.

There has not been any specific reason given for the layoff of these officials. However, there has been speculation that this is a result of Dr. Cardoso's leadership aim of reorganizing the bank and separating it from some of Emefiele’s structures.

09/04/2024

Is “delve” too big of a word?

Paul Graham flags essays with the word, claiming it is mostly used by Artificial Intelligence systems like chatGPT.

Nigerians disagreed, leading to various responses on what is appropriate ”human” grammar.

What do you think? Are Nigerians masters of the language or are we just used to using unique words everyday?

Swipe to see the reactions.

08/04/2024

Why should citizens continuously pay the price for failing systems?

The gst: The Minister of Power says it is ‘insensitive’ for the government to keep paying subsidies but it is definitely normal for Nigerians to switch off their basic electrical appliances to save the government money.

The plot seems to be lost. Our leaders have forgotten one of the main purposes of the government is to establish and maintain order within society and to provide public goods and services.

07/04/2024

Do we need to say anymore?

06/04/2024

Our spotlight today Is on
We love how she uses her art to inspire!

05/04/2024

Botswana is addressing the elephant in the room.

The gst: Germany is the second-largest importer of hunting trophies after the USA. However, the German Ministry of Environment has started discussing the possibility of imposing stricter limits in Botswana. They are now concerned about poaching and the negative effects it will have on conservation.

Botswana’s president is not having it. The country had strict conservation laws from 2019 to 2024, even using its military force to enforce the laws - but had to remove them because of their destructive effects on local communities. They were destroying crops, destructing properties and interfering with water reserves.

The president emphasizes that there is a real threat here - if trophy hunting is restricted, it will leave Botswana to deal with a bigger elephant population. The country has already offered to send 8,000 elephants to Angola and 500 to Mozambique to manage its overpopulation.

05/04/2024

Another debut from a Nigerian female author?

Count us in!

This April, in honour of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we will be reading Ogadinma by Uzoamaka Olisakwe.

As always we’d like you to be a part of it. Join us at the end of the month to discuss its themes and their relevance to the Nigerian we have today.

04/04/2024

More billing for Nigerians.

The gst: Let’s break down what the electricity consumption bands mean:

Band A consumers should receive a minimum of 20 hours of electricity per day.

Band B consumers should be provided with about 16 to 20 hours of electricity daily.

Band C customers are to have 12 to 16 hours of electricity supply.

Band D is allowed 12 hours

Band E should receive 4 to 8 hours of electricity.

With the increase in tariffs, the federal government hopes to reduce electricity tariff subsidies by about 1.14 trillion naira.

It remains particularly unsettling for Nigerians as the electricity supply has been unsatisfactory in recent times, especially with constant national grid failures. This raises the question of who is actually receiving a 20-hour electricity supply before such a significant tariff hike is considered.

04/04/2024

03/04/2024

Air Peace’s direct Lagos to London flight is a win.

The gst: Nigerian-owned airline Air Peace recently launched a direct flight from Lagos to London. Offering affordable prices and a 15% discount on an economy ticket for Nigerian students in the United Kingdom has compelled international competitors to reduce their prices by 66%.

Nigerians are generally celebrating this development, enjoying cheaper prices and a simpler payment process.

However, Allen Onyema, the CEO of Air Peace, reveals that it took seven years to reach this point due to obstacles set by a civil institution.

This raises questions about how many initiatives have been halted due to the inefficiencies of civil societies. It’s important to nip these issues in the bud for Nigeria to continue to perform competitively on the global stage.

02/04/2024

Togo’s president is shaking up the legislative scene with a coup.

The gst: This isn’t Faure Gnassigbé’s first attempt to elongate his stay in power. In 2019, parliament instituted a two-term limit for presidents. This allowed him to run for two more 5-year terms.

Critics have pointed out that this move is unconstitutional, as members of the parliament should have vacated their seats in January.

Under the new law, parliament will select the next president without debate and the new role of “president of the council of ministers” will hold all executive power.

The parliament passed this notion with no opposition as the house is dominated by the ruling party.

The bill is now tabled before Parliament for a second reading following public backlash.

31/03/2024

May we always have our people ❤️

30/03/2024

Today's spotlight is on Joyce and the different ways she spotlights femininity!

28/03/2024

Do you really need that new outfit?

Valerie breaks down why sustainability in fashion is important and a few ways you can be fashionable and sustainable.

28/03/2024

Nigeria has to start caring for ALL its citizens.

The gst: Discrimination and stigma at public places is nothing new for people living with disabilities. The federal government signed the Discrimination against Persons With Disabilities Act in 2020 though that has not proven to be enough against the lack of infrastructure and accessibility in Nigeria.

27/03/2024

Senegal’s successful election is a win.

The gst: The Senegalese people’s fight for democracy resulting in a peaceful transition of power has branded the nation as a model for upholding democratic principles.

Bassirou Faye wasn’t well known before he was endorsed by oppositional leader, Ousmaane Sanko, and took over the presidential race.
He campaigned on solving the key concerns of Senegalese youth: job creation, stronger economy, limiting France's influence and anti-corruption.

This win serves as a true beacon of hope and a reminder that free and fair elections are never going out of style.

26/03/2024

The math is not mathing. Did the government pay a ransom?

The gst: After spending 3 weeks in captivity, the children taken from a primary school in the Kuriga area of Kaduna state have been released. According to the Kaduna State governor, only 187 students were taken, not 287 as previously believed. In a press release, Governor Uba Sani thanked the President, the Nigerian army, and the National Security Adviser for prioritizing the safety of the students.

However, there are many questions without answers.

Why are there no news of the kidnapper’s arrest?

What did the security officials do to rescue the children?

What measures have been put in place to prevent this from happening again?

26/03/2024

Slipping out of the custody of the National Security Agency is quite alarming.

The gst: After spending more than a month in detention, one of the detained Binance executives escaped.

The administration had previously arrested two Binance executives - Africa’s regional manager and the head of financial crime compliance. They also confiscated their passports.

Nadeem Anjarwalla is said to have used his Kenyan passport to flee the country with a business seat on a “Middle Eastern” airline.

The federal government had initiated criminal proceedings against Binance on the same day, accusing the cryptocurrency platform of tax evasion.

They allege that the platform’s non-payment of Value-Added Tax (VAT), failure to file tax returns, and complicity in aiding customers to evade taxes through its platform are criminal.

24/03/2024

Full stop.

23/03/2024

Celebrating the limitless possibilities of the mind through her different forms of art is Zorah’s mission.

21/03/2024

The doggedness and determination of our athletes at the African Games 2023 in Accra show that we are more than excellent.

19/03/2024

You don’t need experience to secure a billion-dollar contract in this new dispensation.

The gst: On the 12th of February, 2024, the Honorable Minister of Transport signed a fishy Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MPH Rail Development Limited.

The suspicious thing about this signed agreement is that MPH Rail Development Limited has no history of rail construction and only a 100-pound bank balance. It is also owned by Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who happened to be the Lagos state House of Assembly speaker during the last two years of Tinubu’s term as governor.

The Ministry of Transportation emphasizes that this agreement is not legally binding. They claim the MOU is an unsolicited proposal presented by the British African Business Alliance, an association based in the United Kingdom with an interest in business in Africa.

We will just have to wait and see.

17/03/2024

We are saying it out loud for everyone to know -
Women are not the epitome of morality.

15/03/2024

The gst: The 2024 national budget allocated 3.24 trillion naira for the security and defense sector, 12% of the entire budget. The Nigerian army received 787.25 billion naira.

These figures seem ambiguous right now with the perilous state of security in the country. The president has proudly announced that he will not pay even 1 naira as ransom. While that is a reasonable stance, what will make this case any different? Will it soon exit news cycles and leave the women and children forgotten once again? As we all become desensitized to the killings and kidnappings, will the defense agencies leave the burden of getting their loved ones back to their families?

These are the questions the president and defense agencies must answer.

15/03/2024

Suffering through endless hours of terrible network? Well, damaged cables undersea are the major culprit.

The gst: Across west and southern Africa, several telecommunications and service providers put out a notice that their substandard network was a result of major damages to underground sea cables.

The West Africa Cable System (WACS), the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), MainOne, and SAT3 cables are affected. However, repairs are ongoing, and providers have assured the general public that the network will be up soon.

13/03/2024

President Tinubu secretly added 3.7 trillion into Nigeria’s 2024 budget according to a Senator turned whistleblower. Now he’s lost his seat.

The gst: With growing divisions in the Nigerian Senate, Nigerians have found out an ugly truth. According to Senator Ningi, Nigeria’s budget had more than three trillion untied to expenditure secretly inserted. Some Senators are complicit — according to Senator Jarigbe, one of the dissenting senators, 500 million each was allocated to senior members in the budget to have them look away.

Bottom line: The President and Senate President have questions to answer. And there has been a caught.

12/03/2024

More than 26,000 Nigerians are on UK health and care work visas and many more plan to join them. Now, the UK government requires them to leave their dependents behind if they must work in the country.

Why it matters: Majority of health workers in Nigeria are leaving the country for better pay and to experience a quality healthcare system. With the UK’s new rules, they are forced to decide if migrating to the UK is worth leaving their dependents here in Nigeria for. It’s a major cause for concern.

09/03/2024

Our spotlight today is on Iklima She magically captures Northern Nigeria through her lens and we love to see her work!