THE King of Saudi Arabia recently passed away and I must confess that what interested me most in the news reports over the weekend were the images of Saudi streets, infrastructure and people. Saudi Arabia is not a democracy.

ONE of the cherished traditions of developed democracies is the creation of fora for contestants to public office to sell their programmes to the electorate before live audiences. Contestants present their party’s manifestoes and planned activities on attaining power in form of debates that are often transmitted live to audiences via the broadcast media. These events are organized and moderated by select members of the mass media and others, not party partisans. This is especially the case for contestants to high offices like that of president. Since the 1960s, no presidential election takes place in America without a presidential debate. It is just a convention of American democracy that is now widely accepted and practiced the world over. It may not be a constitutional requirement but no candidate into elective office who wishes to be taken seriously spurns it.

THE other day in London, National Security Adviser Col. Sambo Dasuki called for a postponement of the February elections. I am vexed by both the call and the venue, so a word first on the latter. For news so important, you would think that Nigerians ought to be the first to know, and that it would come at the end of consultations with the electoral commission (INEC), National Assembly, and political parties, if as usual the general public is to be ignored. But I’m assuming that Nigeria’s public officials respect Nigeria’s public institutions or the Nigerian people.

Host Communities Producing Oil and Gas, HOSTCOM, in Ijaw area, Delta State, have thrown their weight behind the re-election bid of President Goodluck Jonathan and Senator Ifeanyi Okowa’s election as governor of Delta State, saying the duo have people-friendly agenda for Nigerians and Deltans in particular.

By Lolade Bamigbola Looking at its growth trajectory, it is safe to say that Samsung, which has been pushing the boundaries of design and utility of smart devices, has not relented in its innovative streak. The electronics giant believes that smartphones have become one of the most used devices by most people and design is […]

AS part of its efforts to tackle youth unemployment in the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, has embarked on an empowerment training for youths in Ondo, Delta and Edo states.

PROVOST of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Asaba, Delta State, Dr Ignatius Ezoem, has decried the quality of teachers being produced in the country and stressed the need for the upgrade of Nigeria’s education standard.

Kano – Scores of people have been killed and many others forced to flee to the mountains following a renewed series of Boko Haram raids in northeast Nigeria, a lawmaker and a relief agency official said Tuesday. The reported attacks by the Islamists targeted the Michika area in northeastern Adamawa state, where bodies reportedly littered […]

Shareholders and partners of Brass Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG, project have constituted a new pre-Front End Engineering Design, FEED, team and adopted a new technology, APCL, to ensure the sustainability of the project.

The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) on Tuesday expressed its deep grief and that of the entire Nigerian football family at the death of former Super Eagles’ goalkeeper Wilfred Agbonavbare.