It has been a long way from the 1950s when politics was forced on the best of any community (when the best educated were begged to represent the people) to the present time when any candidate (with minimum of a school certificate) would force himself on the people as their representative.

A critical reader once asked me to define the concept of sensible politics and commonsense economics that I always refer to in this column, and also, to differentiate between that concept and President Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda. My logical answer is that the President’s Transformation Agenda is now in vogue and Nigerians are familiar with the consequences of some of the actions of the Federal Government.

The joy of political freedom is the realization of the fact that free people are their own masters. After independence in 1960, Nigerians assumed responsibilities for their own destiny as a nation endowed by nature with immense human and mineral resources. In size alone, Nigeria is known as the ‘Giant of Africa’.

ANOTHER ‘Democracy Day’ (29th May) has passed innocuously with the usual songs of dividends of democracy from the mouths of many Nigerians (especially supporters of the ruling party, PDP). The opposition, as usual, has continued to remind Nigerians of the woes of missed opportunities under the present Federal Government.

In management parlance, a periodic appraisal is necessary to consider and compare the present position with the last one as a means of planning for the future. Therefore, it may be rewarding to assess the progress of the present administration from the time of its inception in 2011 to the present time. Some analysts might question the justification for judging a President half-way to the end of his term.