THE practice of appropriating huge sums of public money under the guise of enhancing national security has come under increasing scrutiny, following the near collapse of security situation in Nigeria. CHARLES KUMOLU reports

WHEN Mr. Rauf Aregbesola took over the reins of office, he made no bones about his desire to transform Osun State from a cluster of small towns to main cities, while still retaining their distinctive social and architectural character.

Barely four days after organised labour expressed concern about the precarious security situation in the creeks of Bayelsa State, tragedy struck Saturday in the troubled waterways when armed gunmen launched a deadly attack on some youths allegedly on a peace mission to Lobia community I in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state, killing eight of them.

Insecurity, inadequate infrastucture, irregular power supplyhave been a recurring decimal at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja Lagos. Only recently, a gang of robbers made the car park where the local bureau de change transact their illegal trade their port of call, endangering the lives of all airport users that fateful day.

A PLETHORA of abandoned or underutilised buildings currently dot the nation’s landscape. Lagos, the former seat of the Federal Government and unarguably, the country’s commercial capital, is littered with most of these structures, majority of which used to be beehive of activities in the 1980s and 1990s. They were, however, abandoned when many Federal Government-owned ministries and establishments relocated to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

I NEVER thought or imagined that I would ever travel by rail until some weeks ago when I boarded a Lagos to Kano bound train. Before now, I had crisscrossed the country by air and by land transport but never by rail. Thanks to the rehabilitation of our rail system by the Federal Government that saw the intercity trains return to the tracks on December 21, 2012.

IN the face of the current failure of food security, water supply and power generation, not a few are in haste to ask if the 12 River Basin Development Authorities RBDAs across the country have lived up to their mandate. CHARLES KUMOLU reports…

IN the face of the current failure of food security, water supply and power generation, not a few are in haste to ask if the 12 River Basin Development Authorities RBDAs across the country, have lived up to their mandate. CHARLES KUMOLU reports

As women all over the world celebrated the InternationalWomen’s Day the of politcal empowerment of women remais on the front burner.

THOUGH Nigerians are yet to recover from the devastating effects of the 2012 excessive rainfall, the nation is again confronted with predictions of unusual rainfall in 2013. In view of the havoc this might create if the predictions become real, fear is the word across the country. CHARLES KUMOLU reports.