The removal from office, the week before, of Hafiz Ringim as Inspector General of Police (IGP) was no doubt overdue. Soothsayers and prayer warriors saw it coming. We suspect that Ringim himself may have seen it because it appears that even the blind were able to see it.

Two weeks ago, a new Director General was appointed for the National Orientation Agency (NOA) bringing to an end the tenure of the incumbent-Alhaji Idi Farouk. No reason was given for the development.

It was from a friend who called me last week that I first heard the pleasant news of the end to the fuel subsidy imbroglio. The call would have ended within a minute if not for his rather curious comment that there was ‘no victor no vanquished’.

The pattern of public communication in Nigeria has over the years been poor. Public policy is hardly ever well publicized. The people are always in the dark about a policy especially the roles they are to play to ensure its success.

In his famous book “How we think”, renowned American philosopher, John Dewey, proposed what looks like a simple template on how to make a decision. According to the scholar, every decision maker should take 3 simple steps: (a) identify the problem (b) assemble all the solutions for it and (c) pick the best solution.

2012 would be a great year for Nigeria if, as it begins today, every citizen, on the basis of his professed competence and expertise resolves to contribute his quota to national development by offering professional advice to the nation in this first month of the year. An aggregation of the pieces of advice so obtained would surely impact positively on the nation.

When this column recently supported the introduction of Islamic Banking to Nigeria, some non-muslims were visibly angry with our standpoint. One critic dismissed our article as ‘sponsored’, and ‘a magnitude of lies’.

At last, government has arranged for “security” to take the lion share of our nation’s budget for next year. According to President Jonathan who delivered the budget speech last Tuesday, government would spend ?921billion to ensure the security of lives and property.

The post of a government minister is no doubt an important public position. Anyone who is appointed into it is expected to be properly equipped to perform well hence he should be ready to accept responsibility for the outcome of his mandate.

When we harped in this column last week on the imperatives of competitive ethnicity in Nigeria, our premise was that for longer than makes sense, the Nigerian nation has made no appreciable effort to embrace the integration of its multi-ethnic constituents which should have made everyone to subordinate his self interest to the general good. In reality ‘One- Nigeria’ has remained a slogan as each grouping continues to pursue its own agenda.

One obvious subject that has continued to elude the Nigerian nation is integration. Neither the political structure nor the law of the land is sufficiently positioned to redress the situation. The state of origin of every Nigerian has remained the most important ticket for getting anything.

Serving under President Olusegun Obasanjo was for me an eventful experience. To start with, I got called by him on the phone many times as late or better put as early as 2am and the first question was usually about my whereabouts- where else could I have been at that time? Immediately following my reply, ‘in bed sir’ would be why? What could I say?

Unionism has no doubt taken a firm root in Nigeria as every profession, occupation and vocation in the country now wears a well organized labour stance.

For some time now, the National Assembly has done some good work in its effort to redirect public affairs to the path of good governance. The Assembly has been busy getting several government officials to appear before it to clarify certain issues of public interest.

The on-going trial of some former Governors for corruption while in office is quite thought provoking for what it reveals- that the anti-corruption war in Nigeria is a cyclical unending relay race. Looking at where we are coming from, the situation is no doubt frustrating.