It is, inexplicable, that despite Nigeria’s ranking as a major oil producer, our economy is still literally in shambles with a tattered currency and a crushing unemployment rate above 25%; we still unfortunately presently expend almost 50% of our total export revenue on fuel imported from some of those refineries which buy our crude oil. Regrettably, despite the regular recurrence of fuel scarcity, with its severe public discomfort, and ravaging economic dislocation, there is still no assurance that this tortuous cycle will ever end. However, if the inefficient, and wasteful sporadic operation of existing government refineries is anything to go by, any serious proposal for government to build and operate more refineries may just be a death wish.

OUR country is a secular state, but the Nigerian spirit teaches us to stand up for justice, defend the weak, the repressed and the oppressed. Nigerians are so fair-minded that even in football, if our national team is not playing well, we sometimes switch support to the visiting team. We are also quite religious; the Holy Books teach us to be our brother’s keeper.

After six harrowing days in the custody of kidnappers, three abducted students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu, Lagos, yesterday, breathed the air of freedom. The girls were rescued in Imota, another town on the outskirt of Ikorodu, after intricate police moves that started with the arrest of one of the suspects, last Friday

SENATOR Mao Ohuabunwa of the PDP has been declared winner of the Abia North Senatorial re-run held last Saturday. He polled 26,009 votes to beat his closest rival, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu the PPA candidate who polled 25, 814 votes.

LOKOJA —TRAGEDY struck, yesterday, as the Minster of State for Labour, Chief James Ocholi (SAN), his wife and son died in a fatal auto crash along Abuja-Kaduna highway.

THE decision by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Alliance (APGA) in the 2016 election, Dr. Alex Otti, to remain in politics and put up credible opposition to the government of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State is the best thing that can happen to Ikpeazu and Abia State in the next four years.
Some say Ikpeazu has started well. That was how his predecessors, Orji Uzor Kalu and Theodore Orji started, but because there was no one to breathe down their necks, they turned the state into their private estates and successfully transferred power to their cronies in spite of their failure and their rejection at the polls. Good governance came to Anambra State when Governor Chris Ngige turned against his godfathers and used good governance to protect himself from them.
In the same vein, Ikpeazu, who will obviously want a second term, will be forced to continue to do well, knowing that Otti and his mass of followers are waiting in the wings.
When there is no credible opposition in a democracy, the people are always the losers.

Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government Area, Rivers State, was shut down, weekend, as residents took to the streets in protest over the military invasion of two communities in Ogoni that resulted in the death of some persons.

ABUJA—SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said that the National Assembly was handicapped in stopping monthly allocations to local government councils without democratically elected chairmen.

The immediate past Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, in this interview ahead of his 60th birthday tomorrow, speaks of his life experiences.

Lagos—Chairman of the Hausa traders at Mile 12 market, Alhaji Haruna Muhammed hs appealed to Lagos State chapter of the Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, to prevail on the state government to re-open the market, disclosing that perishable goods worth more than N500 million was lost to the closure.