Leading From the Streets: Media Interventions by a Public Intellectual 1999-2019

Name: Leading From the Streets: Media Interventions by a Public Intellectual 1999-2019
SKU: 93966
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₦20,000.00

The book is a compilation of compelling articles written and published in the mass media by the author, Magnus Onyibe, between 1999-2019, spanning the entire range of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political life.
As General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s war-time head of state, who wrote the forward for the book, noted ” …the book is more than just a collection of past articles but rather a compilation as well as an expression of passionate intellectual effort aimed at getting leadership in Nigeria to be more considerate and inclusive of the views, opinions and concerns of those outside the corridors of power. This is in order to help guide policy makers in their work of policy formulation for the good of Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.”
Continuing, the former leader of Nigeria emphasized that “In this book, Onyibe has made compelling contributions and given sound ideas and possible solutions to many burning national and global issues.
“Reading through the articles, it is obvious that Magnus, as someone with composite work experience as a broadcaster, insurance man and banker, as well as in the public sector as a commissioner in the government of Delta State, Onyibe is very familiar with the various issues that our country has had to deal with since independence 1960. As a way of proffering solutions to these seemingly intractable challenges, he wrote these articles as interventions from someone who does not function from the official government circle. “Nonetheless, he has deep insight about the challenges that we face as a nation and how we could possibly successfully resolve them.
Typical with the opinion pieces and editorials in these essays, they go to the heart of many of the issues over a span of 20 years since the return of the country to democratic governance in 1999.”
Thereafter, the war-time leader of Nigeria reached the following conclusion: “The issues were usually incisively analysed, and possible solutions proffered. If only the successive leaders, since 1999, had leveraged the good pieces of advice given in those presentations, one wonders how better off the country would have been.”

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One of the unique features of the book is that each of the seven (7) chapters contained have an afterwords writer who is an authority in the topic focused.
By and large, the collection of 77 articles in the book is very profound because it features essays that dwell on the core and relevant issues concerning the existence of Nigeria as a country and what needs to be done to make her flourish. Some of the topics focused on in the 7 chapters are: democracy and governance, politics and practice of politics, business and economy, leaders and leadership, and ethnic nationalism, separatism and religious insurgency, corruption and graft – the unending fight against it, and our country’s relations with other African countries and the rest of the world.
In essence, the book serves as a vital lesson in civic engagement and history. It provides an in-depth exploration of how power has been wielded and sometimes misused in Nigeria between 1999-2019 which is during the reign of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari; and the consequent impact of their leadership on the masses who do not possess this power.
Finally, the book is both a prophesy and an explanation in the same breath. That is because some of the fears that we had expressed in our media interventions about looming policy disasters that the actions and inactions of leaders in government could trigger or elicit way back in the days have come to pass.
Although it is a whopping over 600 pages to me, it is worth the reading effort.