WHEN I was growing up in Lagos, almost all the non- Nigerian Catholic priests I knew were Irish. They built and ran some of the best schools and were the embodiment of moral authority. It seemed that the primary profession of the Irish was priesthood. It is therefore shocking to learn that the Irish youth today has his attention turned to other calling

RETIRED Brigadier-General David Mark’s Senate will be three years old early in June this year. Looking back at its track record of performance (especially in the area of representation) it is difficult to compare it with the Senate that Chief Ken Nnamani led and bowed out of in 2007.

My attention in the last fortnight has not been on the ministerial list or the passage of the 2010 Budget. As important as these and other national matters may seem, I was more preoccupied with the whirlwind of violence that is sweeping the country and threatening its very existence.

LAST week, my wife and I received text messages warning us of the possibility of acid rain in Abuja, Nigeria. The message was said to have originated from NASA in the United States, thus lending it the required weight and authority.

BY the time you are reading this the Senate would have commenced its screening of nominees for ministerial positions into the cabinet being constituted by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan. With the face of the new Executive Council of the Federation out in broad outline, it is now possible for Nigerians to have a general impression of the direction Nigeria is likely to follow in the next 12 months.