Nine years ago, there were long queues in Nigerian cities especially Abuja.
It cost more than 20,000 to purchase a sim card when Nigeria introduced GSM telecommunications. Globacom stormed the scene more than one year after and crashed the price to N5,000.

Sports is part of entertainment and this partly explained why he took huge interest in not only what we did on the sports desk but also in Nigerian sports.

Sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi surely means well for our sports but he simply doesn’t get it. While lamenting on our failure at the 2012 London Olympics, the minister assured that Nigeria will win five gold medals at the next games in Rio de Janeiro and that the next Sports Festival in Lagos, the Eko 2012 Games will be the springboard for good performance in the next Commonwealth Games and the Olympics.

I played football but not to the level that officials needed my passport for any outing. Injury did not allow me to proceed.

I have seen spectacles. I have enjoyed some great shows from music to movies and exciting atmospheres in sports from tennis to track and field and of course football. But nothing is like the Olympics. Some adore it almost as a religion. Yes, it even started like a religion before it became competitive.

I have to tell this story to President Goodluck Jonathan for he is also the patron of Nigeria Olympic Committee.

I was in Calabar to see the Eagles beat Rwanda 2-0 in a Nations Cup preliminary match. And just like I reminded Samson Siasia during his time that his team had only exhibited only 40 percent of what his dream performance was, I say same of Stephen Keshi’s team today.

Your article today is an interesting piece. Character is what is lacking in our national teams, not skills. When pride and indiscipline enter through the door, determination and knack for honor fly out through the window.

Die, Eagles die for Keshi was the title of Ade Ojeikere’s column on the eve of Nigeria’s match with Namibia in Calabar.

Callistus Ibare, with his camera man, put me on the ‘dock’ ten minutes before Nigeria engaged Namibia in Calabar.

It was a short but moving speech, one that made many flash back to the days when local sports commanded so much passion and made Nigerians proud of what they had.

Sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi was still wallowing in his innocence when he promised to visit aggrieved members of the football family to prostrate to them and beg for peace.

REPS, YOUR PROBES DON’T SCARE US was the title of Steve Nwosu’s column in the Daily Sun Wednesday. I quote from it: “Of course, I’m not, in the least deceiving myself that anything will be done to those exposed. We have been through this path before with the power probe, BPE, NNPC, Aviation, Maritime, BPP, fuel cabal etc.

These are trying times for all of us with our back pushed to the wall. Please understand the thinking as this is a peculiar one-off situation that will not repeat itself. We’ll continue to appreciate your opinion and constructive criticism.”

It feels good to be back from a long vacation. My resumption fell at the time Eagles were preparing for the 2013 Nations Cup qualifier in Rwanda and I moved to Abuja to monitor their training.