Nigeria, Nov. 19 -- Recently, Nigeria's political space has witnessed a string of unsettling developments. First came the coup rumours, then the sensational 'threat of invasion by the defender of the universe,' and now the spectacle of a public clash between political and military elites. All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of long-standing political-economic instability, insecurity, volatile macroeconomic indicators, slow progress on inclusive growth, and uncertainty around sustained development.

My concern hinges on one point: in all the noise, nobody seems interested in discussing how these disruptions affect Nigeria's national development agenda. The entire discourse has been reduced to political gossip, personality clashes...