WHEN Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, a German conservative archbishop of the Catholic Church, was elected on April 19, 2005 as the leader of about 1.2 billion Catholics the world over, there was only one thing uppermost in his mind: how to make the world more peaceful.

I was shocked to read on Thursday, February 7, a rejoinder to Vanguard’s story on the rush by the NFF to book the Super Eagles return from South Africa hours before their crucial semi final match with tournament favourites and star-studded Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire.
I really don’t know who the rejoinder emanated from, the National Sports Commission, NSC or the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF. However, it looked like a joint work from both bodies, going through the message.

Short of giving details of the anticipated repossession of Nigerian artefacts from France, Usman insisted that diplomacy remained the “best and only option for now and we would change our strategy if it’s not working.”

Hon Uzoma Nkem-Abonta, a lawyer, represents Abia State in the House of Representatives. He is said to have moved the highest number of motions on the floor of the House. In this interview, he speaks on the Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB; Nigeria’s centenary celebrations and other national issues.

As the Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, clocks four years in office, his popularity has continued to soar even though he has himself not sought it.

The world was reeling from the announcement that Pope Benedict XVI had announced that he would step down at the end of the month. It was a seismic announcement where I was and there all manners of conspiratory theory abound among which is; he is going to make a confession or was there an inside job in the Vatican?

Former Secretary General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, SAN, yesterday, raised an alarm over the poor state of affairs in the country, saying “Nigeria is fast turning into a failed state.”

Nwabueze, who spoke at the 14th annual convention of the Igbo Youth Movement, IYM, in Enugu, said the country was already displaying all the attributes of a failed state.

The world today is witnessing a situation bedeviled by violence of diverse magnitude, anarchy, starvation, health challenges, evil of the highest order, corruption, poverty, war in the homes, nations and among nations. And in the face of all these, hapless individuals have responded with despair and negative confessions.

The train of the National Good Governance Tour led by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, will today (Sunday) arrive Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, in continuation of tour of projects across the country. A statement by the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Markson Fefegha, said the team made of journalists and civil society groups will tour eleven federal projects in the state and a number of projects carried out by the state government.

Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye clocked 80 two Fridays ago, precisely February 8, 2013.
An economist, seasoned administrator and former President of the Alumni of National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, which is the highest body for policy formulation and leadership training in the public sector of Nigeria, the Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State- born democrat put in 35 years of meritorious service in the public service including 28 years in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where he rose to the position of Director. In 1992, he was an aspirant to the office of the President of Nigeria on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). He later became an elected Senator of the Republic (1999-2003).Durojaiye, currently a constitutional lawyer, speaks, in this interview, on many issues.