The national U-20 Women’s football team, the Falconets is on the verge of making history as they take on their American counterparts for a ticket to their second consecutive final of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan.

Kano Pillars central defender, Papa Idris was the biggest casualty at the weekend as the national team’s technical crew headed by Stephen Keshi gradually zeroes in on a final list of players that will tackle Liberia in this weekend’s Nations Cup final round qualifier in Monrovia.

YET another avoidable natural disaster has necessitated this question once again: How much do the government and people of Nigeria value the lives and dignity of Nigerian citizens? A recent spate of heavy rains led to the release, by the Republic of Cameroun of excess water from its Lagdo Dam, which occasioned deadly flooding down its course, wreaking havoc as it claimed no less than 10 lives and rendered over 20,000 Nigerians homeless in Adamawa State.

ABIA State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji yesterday expressed surprise at the decision of Northern governor to back out of the agitation for creation of state police, insisting that the decision to support state police was collectively taken by the Governor’s Forum.

Dr. Mourtada Deme, is the Project Director of the Democratic Governance for Development, DGD project, an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP for the promotion of democracy in Nigeria. An expert in electoral reform, he has experience in the promotion of good governance, institution building in developing countries and has observed elections in many countries. Deme, a Senegalese-born American trained democracy expert, spoke to Vanguard on his experiences of Nigeria’s democracy project. Excerpts: