By Jide Ajani It was a visit that evoked emotions of many kinds. It was also a visit to one of the most popular prison facilities in the world – Robben Island Prison. And one of the inmates who made the prison to attract global attention was prisoner 466/64, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.  Mandela, referred to […]

The ideal role of a critic is to serve the best interest of society through constructive criticism by drawing the attention of leaders of society to issues which are begging for redress. It is however not enough to enumerate and propagate what is wrong. A good critic ought to, in addition, proffer solutions to the problems or articulate alternative options for handling identified concerns. More importantly, a critic should be charitable enough to commend leaders in those areas where they have made efforts to right their wrongs. The latter is the premise of today’s article which identifies 3 state governors whose recent activities deserve some measure of commendation. The governors are Adams Oshiomhole of Edo, Babatunde Fashola of Lagos and Theodore Orji of Abia.

Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amechi has opened an important debate about Nigeria’s oil industry, and it is an important question. How much oil does Nigeria sell daily? How much of this actually reflects in Nigeria’s revenue accounts? This has been a mystery. Indeed Nigeria’s oil revenue account is one of the most secret of mysteries, made even more so by a most secretive administration whose executive authority is so wide-ranging that it can afford to play God on this matter.

Governor Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State is a lucky politician. After winning the first term in 1999, he lost out in 2003 but returned to his seat in 2011 to continue from where he stopped. His imprints are all over Kano and he does not seem to be in a hurry to give up his fight to reposition the state, even after crossing from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress, APC. After one hour interaction with Sunday Vanguard at the expansive Government House, Kano, Kwankwaso gives an insight into his kind of politics, his developmental strides and defended his defection to the APC.

However, and this is the crux of the matter, those responsible for running the universities on daily basis have, through financial rascality, misused available financial resources. Wastages and corruption in the system are legion. They include explosive increase in the purchase of official cars, frequent unnecessary trips by top management of universities many of whom are senior academics, huge allowances and gifts for members of university councils, lavish convocation ceremonies, overpriced contracts awarded to relatives, friends and cronies of VIPs in various campuses most of which are poorly executed, and so on.

Like people on sickbeds, Nigerians are once again getting ready to toss from side to side, without asking if the problem is with the beds or themselves. Pity.

Do we need a National Conference, sovereign or not? The answer is neither “yes” nor “no” for the simple reason that we have failed woefully as a nation to raise a set of politicians who would make any form of government work. We had tried three forms of government since independence – parliamentary, military and presidential. None of them had been able to develop this nation to its full potentials – not at the national, regional or state levels. None.

Who does not like the story of David killing Goliath with a sling and a stone? Who is not impressed with Elijah calling down fire from heaven to incinerate the prophets of Baal? But all that is old wine that should not be put in the new wine-bottles of Jesus Christ. David ostensibly offered to kill Goliath in order to become the king’s son-in-law. But Jesus says: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it.” (Matthew 16:25). When the Zebedee brothers wanted Jesus to emulate Elijah, he rebuked them, maintaining the spirit in them is not the spirit of Elijah

There is no better time to applaud the spirit and stoic determination of Harrison Okene, the 29 year-old man who survived two-and-a-half days trapped 30m (98ft) deep in freezing seawater. Although the incident occurred in May 2013 , it has only been widely reported in the last couple of days and his survival has captured the imagination of experienced deep Sea divers and lay people alike

As Nigerians continue to celebrate what has been generally described as “a fair draw” after being pitted against perennial foes Argentina, Bosnia and Iran, the Chairman and CEO of Sport radio, Brila fm, Dr Larry Izamoje has warned against “Nigeria taking things for granted.”