Last week’s gruesome murder of Deborah Yakubu, a home economics sophomore at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, comes at a time of escalating social and economic tension in Nigeria, and will most certainly raise the political stakes as the country enters electioneering season in preparation for next year’s presidential election.

Al-Shabaab remains capable of carrying out massive attacks in Somalia and nearby countries despite a long-running African Union offensive against the Islamist terrorist group.

In the run up to the 2019 national elections, there is once again uproar over the size of the compensation paid to Nigerian parliamentarians, who receive almost half a million dollars annually.

Transparency International (TI) has issued its Corruption Perceptions Index. As in previous years, its citizens and a selection of international organizations perceive Nigeria as one of Africa’s most corrupt countries. Nigeria’s ranking—146 out of 180 countries surveyed worldwide—is little changed from years past.