FORMER Delta State Governor, James Ibori, has just been jailed for l3 years in London by a British court…for defrauding the mostly suffering people of Delta State of nearly £50 million (N13 billion).

RECENTLY, the state of the Nigerian economy came into focus when the Finance Minister, who also bears a grandiose appellation of Coordinating Minister, Dr. (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala observed the dwindling reserves in the Excess Crude Oil Account and also, the lack of co-operation of state governors on the fortunes of the Sovereign Welfare Fund (SWF).

THE circumstance has made it almost impossible to write this week’s piece. I am in Las Vegas, in the US state of Nevada, to attend this year’s NAB Show. NAB is the National Association of Broadcasters, and the show brings broadcasters and the industry together annually, in a showcase of content and the cutting-edge delivery modes.

THAT an estimated 10 million children and young adults are roaming the streets of the North as mendicants is a shame of Nigeria. But more importantly, it is the shame of Northern Nigeria, not because other regions or subcultures of the country do not have their own share of young, uneducated youth.

PURELY as a matter of self interest, I have deliberately decided to adopt an approach that is slightly different from that of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. The penultimate weekend, Sanusi tried to examine the issue of how to remove crushing poverty from Northern Nigeria.

THE bomb that went off early on Easter Sunday at the heart of the commercial section of the city of Kaduna left behind it more casualties than most other explosions witnessed since the seeming democratisation of the knowledge, skills and means to inflict massive violence on Nigerians, centred around the Boko Haram insurgency.

EVEN while commenting here last week on the new Police uniform, I knew that wasn’t the only thing to be said about the Nigeria Police at the moment.

TWICE in recent times, the media have speculated that President Goodluck Jonathan was poised to reshuffle his cabinet. As usual, the reported consequence of such speculation was that ministers were feverish with anxiety. On the one hand, during such intervals of uncertainty, public officers lose the confidence to step out and do their work.

OCHEREOME Nnanna in his piece on ‘Why The North May Remain Poor’ provides an answer to his implied question- ‘Why Is The North Poor?’

Time was when the South African football league was not worth even the effort Supersport was putting into popularizing same.

FRIDAY, March 30th 2012 was a special day in Abia State and Aba in particular. It was that day that the Governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji, invited the media and the general public to accompany him to Aba to witness the commissioning of some capital projects in Aba and Umuahia over the course of two days.

To Marshall’s observation, another economist had added that anything that does not make economic sense [to most people concerned] has no chance of succeeding. The proposal by the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, to issue new licence plates nationwide at, what most Nigerians consider, unreasonable fees, is a case study in how not to introduce change.

It may not be enough to explain that Sovereign Wealth Fund is similar to personal or family savings because the majority of our poverty stricken citizens, who live on the proverbial $2 a day have never been blessed with surplus income to permit the luxury of savings for the basic need of food for more than a day or two at any one time!

A few decades ago when the United Nations was sensitized on the global plight of women by our western sisters, it was decided that the most effective way of resolving the issue was to get governments around the world to be committed to uplifting the status of the women in their domain.

Freedom is one of the most talked about attainments or achievements in the history of man. It presupposes that at one point in time everyone goes through some form of captivity. We can be held captive by all sorts of situations and limitations and yearning for freedom is a goal most ideal.