INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation,ILO, yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, called for an “urgent and vigorous” global campaign to tackle the growing number of work-related diseases, which claim an estimated two million lives annually.

TO be born with disability is quite challenging. Being born whole and having to suffer sudden disability for no fault of yours at a tender age could be cruel, far more challenging and regrettable.

ETHNIC nationalities in Delta State, under the aegis of Delta State Oil Producing Communities, yesterday, urged the National Assembly to order the cancellation of Oil Mining Leases, OMLs, awarded to Shell Development Petroleum Development Company.

MAYBE I should add here that during the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration in which Dr. Okonjo-Iweala was also an influential member, I wrote some critical opinion articles on the activities of the President, Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Nasir el-Rufai, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, among others. During the short-lived administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua, I x-rayed some of the President’s policies and those of Segun Adeniyi, his spokesman.

An estimated 80,000 metric tonnes of rice is smuggled into Nigeria from Benin Republic every month, which represents a loss of revenue to the country amounting to about N9.7 billion monthly, or N116.4 billion annually.