Expression By Ebere Wabara
PLEASE note that Americans use ‘jewelry’ as opposed to the British version above. Headline correction below.
“…Deficit hits N2.8trn, as Works and Housing, Transportation, others get lion’s share” Three or more ministries cannot simultaneously get the Lion’s share of something (budget)! If there is parity in the allocation, there should be other ways to express the various revenue receipts. ‘Lion’s share’ simply refers to ‘the largest part (of something)’.
The next offence is by News of March 9 which offered readers a meaningless centre-spread headline: “Residents seek urgent help as pupils evacuated”
“Group seeks govt’s attention on (to) dilapidated roads in Anambra”
“In the aftermath of its suspension of business, several deposit (depositors) and staff of the bank….” (Source: as above)
From NEWS of March 7 comes this schoolboy misapprehension: “ASUU splits, new union emerge (emerges)”
“Erosion swallow (swallows) 200 buildings in Anambra”
“LG stakeholders pass vote of confidence on (in) Mbah”
“Fire outbreak on NNPC’s OML 20 oil asset” Delete ‘outbreak’ on grounds of its redundancy
Access this grammatical inexactitude from my bank: “Call…to report an incidence (incident) of fraud or any suspicious activity on your account” (Full-page advertorial by Access Bank). Certainly, writing is more than banking and transcends figures!
SOCCER Sun of March 12 disseminated three inaccuracies: “…that a football rivalry between the two (sic) countries was truely born” What type of computers do some journalists use that they do not experience automatic spell-check, which is inbuilt? ‘Truly’ does not accommodate ‘e’!
“That is why Sunday’s encounter between the Selecao and the Super Eagles will be more than a friendly and the roll call (roll-call) of players billed for the match attest (attests) to that.”
“Stakeholders gear-up (gear up) for…”
“Sultan advocates stiff penalty for out of school (out-of-school) children’s parents” Guardians, too, should be penalized.
“It is simply not possible because cost of meters have (has) already been fixed by NERC.”
“BEDC to rollout (roll out) 572,392 prepaid meters in 2 years”
“How corruption among govt agencies cripple (cripples) ports’ revenue”
“Barca swoops for (on) Nigerian whiz-kid”
“Organizers assure on 2026 Lagos Women Run” Who did they assure?
DO WE HAVE UNARMED BANDITS?
SOME media professionals ignorantly use the phrase “armed bandits”: “The Zamfara State Government’s effort towards finding lasting solution to armed banditry and cattle rustlings suffered a setback as…” The dictionary defines a bandit as “a member of an armed gang that robs people”. It means a bandit is usually armed; therefore the word “armed” to qualify him is out of place. On the contrary, a robber is someone who “takes property from a person or place illegally”. A robber may or may not bear arms. If he does, he is an armed robber liable to the death penalty upon conviction. As we can see, the distinction between a robber (armed or unarmed) and a bandit is clear.
RAYPOWER, WHAT’S THE PAST TENSE OF SLIDE?
THE nation’s premier independent radio station, RayPower, reported in the business segment of its Nigeria Today newscast on Tuesday, March 17,
2026, that the country “SLIDED into recession…” Its editors and correspondents, and indeed media professionals, should note that SLID is both the past tense and past participle of SLIDE. It is not in the
same word class as GLIDE and GLIDED.
“Among the controversial recommendations was the creation of more states at a time many states are (were) having difficulties meeting their recurrent expenditures, including monthly salaries.”
“…as heads of MDAs most times ignore the summons (summonses) of the parliament and treat its resolution (resolutions) with levity, while the lawmakers watch helplessly (haplessly).”
NEWS of March16 disseminated this inaccuracy: “He said the salvation of the country cannot (could not) be found in any of the existing political parties.”
From the preceding diseased headline to this juvenile slipshodness: “Doctors suspend stike in Kaduna, Ebonyi” Even the computer underscored this strike carelessness from the same page as above! Do we still have editorial bastions (proofreaders) this time round?
“The facility will result in improved security profile of the Internet traffic and save the nation of the embarrassment of….” Info-tech: save the nation the embarrassment of….
“Renowned filmmakers will converge in (on) Nigeria next week for….”
“Politically, experts in IT advocated for the use of e-voting system….” Once again, ‘advocate’ when used as a verb does not admit ‘for’.
“There will be what I call enriched mobile communication experience come 2027 through mobile money….” ICT development: experience in 2027.
“PDP in make or mar primary”: Self-acclaimed Voice of The Nation: make-or-mar primary. The hyphenation confers class. No standard publication dispenses with it. The same tragedy trailed the accompanying rider, too: “State by state analysis (sic) of how delegates may vote” As above: State-by-state analyses….
“…today’s presidential primary may be riddled with so much (many) underhand deals and sharp practices.” What is the difference between ‘underhand deals’ and ‘sharp practices’? The latter should subsume the former! An aside: ‘much’ instead of ‘many’?
“In doing so (a coma) some of the government’s supporters may certainly have overstepped the bound of propriety….” From the other side: the bounds of propriety.
“Reactions to this position have been pouring in, and it’s highly elating that most share same position.” This way: most share the same position.
“Majority of Nigerians are of the opinion that a country roundly blessed has no business tottering at the brink of disintegration and collapse.” A/the majority of Nigerians…
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