You had to be strong not to be moved by some of the pictures Sky News Television beamed to the world last weekend.

The whole world focused on Nigeria last week. It started with the sudden realisation— as if woken from a deep slumber— that the over two hundred girls abducted had not been traced, let alone rescued, and ended with the World’s Economic Forum where the potentials of Nigeria— and Africa were highlighted.

There are killings in the land, everywhere you turn. There are bombers claiming lives and property and they are not limited to the North East alone. There are kidnappers claiming lives and property and they are not limited to the South East alone.

As catch phrases go, this is as good as many. And those who have been attracted—or entrapped—in the past by alluring phrases like ‘Land of the flowing sun’, The paradise of the East’, ‘An exotic blend of Western and Eastern civilisation’ to mention a few, only to find that what was offered and purchased was not what was delivered will hesitate to buy into it. (Nobody to my knowledge has been able to melt the sun to see its liquid form.)

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. The churches, synagogues and other places of worship will be full. Many of those in the congregation tomorrow go to church only twice a year— the other day being Christmas. Many will make it a family outing and an opportunity for the kids to show off their new Easter dresses.

It is likely there might be some ego massaging and chest thumping by those who believe they have ‘grown’ the economy; especially those in the kitchen cabinet who will grasp at any straw that shows the economy is on track.

Around noon on Thursday, March 6, the main building of Nigeria’s premier club, the Ikoyi Club 1938, was without electricity. It was the first time I would notice that in the almost four decades that I have been a member of this elite club.

The dust is yet to settle on the suspension of the CBN Governor Mallam Lamido Sanusi. Until it does, one will never know just how wise the Presidency was in the unprecedented suspension of a CBN Governor three months before his tenure was due.

The first time I visited the hinterland of any Niger-Delta region was for a funeral. It was over 30 years ago, but that visit has been etched in my memory since then. Dusk, and a light shower, were darkening the skies as we got to Warri.

The foreign heads of government and dignitaries who came for the country’s centenary celebrations had hardly settled down in their posh hotel rooms and comfortable quest houses when the news that the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists had struck again filtered in.