Some do argue with justification and a good sense of history that the structure of the country’s edifice is so deficient that even angels from heaven would find it impossible to manage. Of all the world’s political contrivances in the 20th century, only Nigeria still stands since 1914 as a united country by divine grace. Other countries, even in Europe, have broken into several states.

Like the ‘Briafran’ tragedy, the clear warning was treated with unpardonable levity until it was too late to avert a full-scale civil war. Now, if the militants have seen the wisdom of laying down their arms to give room for dialogue, then the voice of reason has triumphed.

Also, while road contractors are busy mobilizing for construction of new roads, daily or weekly paid workers (like the old PWD) should be engaged to mend old Federal and State roads (with the co-operation of State governments.) The dichotomy between federal, state and local government roads should be discarded under a suitable and agreed arrangement to ensure that all hands are on deck for effective road maintenance all the year round.

As Professor P. Ekeh once noted in “Government and Development in Nigeria” that, ‘whatever other gifts the Fulani aristocracy possess (and there are few other groups that are so well endowed in Nigeria indeed elsewhere in Africa), economic production has not been one of its strong points’.