It has become a practice among Muslims to offer their Zakat in the month of Ramadan. This is generally done to increase one’s blessings.

Zakatul-Fitr is not simply the calculation of your dues on your assets. Its scope and implication transcend what we must do in the case of the fourth pillar of Islam.

AS a forward-looking politician, I appreciate the argument about the separation of church and state. So you’re not likely to see a lot or religious references in this column.

THE recent United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, report – which accused Shell and the government of failing to protect my Ogoni homeland from chronic pollution – has generated bitterness as well as satisfaction.

After fulfilling all the agreements on the trade in wildlife, Nigeria’s suspension on wildlife trading has been lifted by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Wild Flora and Fauna, CITES.

Justice Ugochukwu Ogakwu of an Abuja High Court, yesterday, ordered Inspector- General of Police, IGP, Hafiz Ringim, to pay N500,000 as compensation to one Garshon Nyengonum for unlawful detention.

Nigeria’s first solar energy laboratory capable of supplying uninterrupted power for 360 days for five years has been installed and commissioned at St. Cyprian’s Special Science School, Onitsha, to power its two science laboratories.

THE All Africa Games, the 10th edition of which begin in Maputo, Mozambique, tomorrow, mean a lot to Nigerians, particularly those who were old enough to experience the second edition that held in Lagos 38 years ago. The Games appear to have passed the early uncertainties over future hosts, after the exceptional delays that we saw in Nairobi with the Games billed fro 1982 holding in 1987 – five years late.

The Presidency yesterday took a swipe at critics of President Goodluck Jonathan over his role in the removal of the former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, and dismissed such critics as self serving.

The Federal Government yesterday said it was committed to the prevention and management of cancer, with plans to establish more centres in tertiary institutions in the country.

In line with the Nigerian Content Act 2010, the Federal Government yesterday set a target of 40 percent participation of indigenous companies in construction works and other contracts in the country by 2015.