THE African Union (AU) 26th Session which closed in Addis Ababa on January 31, held a lot of promise for a continent brought to its knees by insecurity and violence; some of it self-inflicted. The expectations were high and the organisation’s leaders were on point in their opening speeches. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the Chair of the African Union Commission which runs the Secretariat, told the world that Africa is committed to “silencing the guns”. Explaining why the theme of the Session was “African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women”, Zuma declared that the continent has refused to be indifferent to violent extremism, gender-based abuses and suffering due to conflicts.

I AM not a fan of Kaduna State Executive Governor, Nasir El-Rufai. I find him rather brash. Even with some of my friends serving in his government, I did not think highly of administration. Then last week, I got a call from a close friend. He said his extended family in Kaduna who run a private school is thinking of phasing out conventional education and taking a different course. The reason is that most of its students have moved en-mass to public schools. But he says his family school is not the only private one limping; a number of others are tottering at the point of collapse for the same reason.

ETHIOPIA is primarily in the news this week, but not because it is hosting the on-going African Union (AU) Heads of State Summit. Rather, it is about two worrying developments. The advancing drought for which needed international funds are in short supply and an estimated 350,000 newborns are expected in drought-affected communities between March and August, 2016.

ELDER Statesman, Chief Bisi Akande was Executive Governor of Osun State for four years from 1999 during which he led his colleagues who were unwilling to pay workers the National Minimum Wage. I was then in the Nigeria Labour Congress, and we went to appeal to him to change his mind.

TURKISH leader, Tayyip Erdogan decided to change his country’s ceremonial Presidency to an executive one. So he told his countrymen: “There are already examples in the world. You can see it when you look at Hitler’s Germany. There are later examples in various other countries”. But he came under international criticism for allegedly casting Adolf Hitler in a favourable light. He immediately began a series of summersaults saying the governance system in Hitler’s Germany was not an effective one and that “if the system is abused, it may lead to bad management resulting in disasters as in Hitler’s Germany”.

THE name, Asuquo Ita may not ring a bell in the country. But, Eskor Toyo does amongst intellectuals, academics, economists, trade unionists, human rights activists, leftists and in university campuses across the country. However, both names refer to the same person. The real name of this revolutionary professor of Economics and moral leader of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is the former, while Eskor Toyo was his nom de plume which stuck and under which he became a professor.

ERITREA is a relatively unknown African country. Little news filters out. In October 2012, I wanted to pay with a hundred dollar bill in a Washington supermarket, and the cashier declined. He asked me to pay with a smaller denomination, which I did not have. Noticing his features, I asked if he was of African decent. He asked if I knew Ethiopia. He said his country is near Ethiopia. I asked, Eritrea? “Yes” “So why didn’t you simply say you are from Eritrea?” “I tell people, and they never seem to have heard of such a country”

INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Madam Christine Lagarde was on a four-day visit to Nigeria from January 4. She claimed it was a friendly visit: “I’m not in Nigeria to negotiate for IMF loans but to promote fiscal discipline and favourable monetary policies”

IN the days of innocence, the preachment was ‘Blessed are the peace makers’. In these days of globalisation, rather than make peace, nations tend to stoke the fires of conflict. So is it with the Saudi Arabia-Iran spat which began with the January 2, 2016 mass execution of forty seven persons after trials which even the usually complacent United Nations described as raising “serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process”

The new year will be quite challenging for Nigerians. They need no prophet nor soothsayer to predict this. The country’s situation evolves from its reliance on a mono- culture; oil. Politics is the largest and most productive industry in the country with being in government, the most profitable investment. With falling crude oil prices, the economy is bound to wobble, and unpalatable policy dishes served. Wisely, the Government benchmarked the 2016 Budget on a very low figure of $38 per barrel down from the $53 last year, and $76 for the 2014 Budget. Based on a 2.2 million barrels quota, it is hoping to make a daily income of $83.6 million or $30.514 billion in 2016.