[Leadership] As 2025 comes to a close, it is appropriate to pause and reflect on a year that laid bare both the strengths and the vulnerabilities of the Nigerian state. It was a year marked by tragedy and debate, reform and resistance, grief and guarded optimism. From governance controversies to security anxieties, from economic reforms to social reckoning, Nigeria spent much of the year in conversation with itself. This reflection highlights only a few of the events that defined the year, fully aware that they