Once upon a time, not so long ago, family was everything to us. Parents, siblings, family members, all came first in our lives. You couldn’t do without them. They were the first you turned to in adversity and in sharing of good news. The family had so much influence on the individual that you thought twice before you engaged in any act of misdemeanour, as a list of dos and don’ts had been drummed well into you right from childhood, and you were raised, to know that you must not do anything that would bring dishonour/disgrace to the family. You were loyal to your family and you chose your confidants from among the members.

The Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has streamlined the complex contract system in the commission which “in the past had spawned several ‘toxic projects’ – projects that were awarded without budgetary provisions.”

Junior athlete Ese Brume watched from the standards of the Warri Township stadium as the events of the African Youth Athletics championships unfolded yesterday. She was one of Nigeria’s brightest hopes for a medal, but sadly she was dropped at the last minute for being over the age limit.

Smart card technology, the world over, is precisely 38 years old. It has been deployed by several governments for specific purposes. Have you ever imagined, however, a multi-purpose smart card powered by the social democratic mantra of democratizing access to all the good things of life, through which citizens can access and enjoy dividends of democracy, a card that makes it impossible for the people to be cheated? Welcome to Kaadi Igbe Ayo (KIA), Ondo State’s latest in digitalised service delivery. KIA is deployed to facilitate strategic planning and development, efficient record keeping, human resource monitoring in the public sector, anti-corruption drive and solutions, while enabling a higher level of qualitative/quantitative service delivery in the health, education, transport and agro-allied sectors.