JOHN Ighodaro in the Vanguard of Wednesday October 6, 2010 titled his story thusly: “Population of seven W-African states equals the poor in Nigeria”. He was quoting Mr. Adama who made this known at a workshop in Calabar.

Hi Readers! Now I know that the odious Belinda does mean something, if not a lot, to Seb. Michel called at my place the other Saturday to tell me that Seb was behaving oddly.

Let me take us a little back, to the time Alhaji Ibrahim Bio came on board as sports minister. After we had canvassed and fought relentlessly to have “one of our own” as minister, the Yar Adua government obliged with the Tennis Federation boss, Alhaji Sanni Ndanusa and our joy knew no bounds.

There is a general saying that when a lie is repeatedly trumpeted without any refutation as a result of apathy, ignorance, fear or self-interest from any quarter, sooner than later, even the ‘lie makers’ will believe their lie and the lie will become the truth in the general consciousness. So it has become with Central Banks’ touted Liberalisation of our country’s foreign exchange market since this dubious scheme was unveiled in May this year (2006).

A little girl kneels down and begins to say her night prayers. She is without the complication of big words and the eloquence of accomplished speakers. What she has is a heart that is pure, offering words of supplication and thanksgiving that are genuine; her audience one after the other opens one eye, then the other and one by one take the prayers more seriously.