Hi Readers! Strangely I was able to sleep soundly that first night in Accra, in spite of my anxiety over my dad’s health. It must have been exhaustion. I’m sure I would have continued sleeping till evening, if Dicta, who was sharing a room with me hadn’t woken me up at eight to tell me that breakfast was almost ready.

As the year 2011 comes to an end and the President is getting set to present the 2012 budget before the National Assembly, one of the most contentious aspects of the proposed appropriation bill is the Sovereign Wealth Fund, SWF.

Your postulations in the last couple of weeks astounds me and judging from the reactions of others, I know I am not in the minority. Yes, I am a Muslim but that is not all that defines me. I am a journalist, a husband, father and a Nigerian. I have always rated you as a capable and esteemed colleague.

That Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of defunct Republic of Biafra has died is no longer news. That he was born into great wealth and privilege, attended elitist schools both in Nigeria and Britain, was the first Nigerian university graduate to join the Nigerian army and…

At last, government has arranged for “security” to take the lion share of our nation’s budget for next year. According to President Jonathan who delivered the budget speech last Tuesday, government would spend ?921billion to ensure the security of lives and property.

Since 1985 when the former military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida adopted the IMF economic model in Nigeria, the issue of “fuel subsidies” has become recurrent in Nigeria’s annual economic grammar. In 1989 and 1990, Nigerian students led a nation-wide protest against the anti-SAP policies of the military government, one of whose cardinal thrusts was the partial removal of oil subsidies.

If there are people not surprised that ASUU is back on strike, they are the faculty and students of UniJankara – Seat of Street Wisdom. We don’t blow grammar like the Professors of ASUU do, but we know when we are dealing with con-men – even if they are called Presidents and Vice-Presidents.

The remains of Prince Bello Afegbua, a retired Assistant Commissioner of Police, will be interred today at Okpella, a border village between Kogi and Edo States of Nigeria. He had died penultimate week at Irrua Specialist Hospital in Edo State after a brief illness, marking the end of an era and a journey that saw him dominate his environment for 80 years on this putrid plane.

Someone has said that if a trillion dollar bills were laid tip to tip in a row, it would go right round the world seventeen times. In these days of calculators and computers it would be fun to find out the truth about that statement. Just multiply the length of a dollar bill by one trillion and divide that by the circumference of the globe, and bob’s your uncle!

Mommy… I forgot to tell you that someone slapped me in school yesterday…” Who? I queried; she told me. What did you do? “Nothing, I cried.” “Did you tell your teacher? I tried to tell my teacher but she wouldn’t listen to me; she told me to go and sit down…”

The only constant thing in life is change, but whether it is good or bad, whether we choose to embrace or reject it is the question. With the passage of time, we have seen changes in the world around us that we never thought would happen.

IF people do not know when to resign, we are obliged to give them a little push to leave, though in some cases you can guarantee that you may push very hard to get any results. Debates over what to do with football (sports?) will leave many of us wondering what is spectacular about 2011 top make the concerns more urgent. Is it the little matter of no Nigerian team qualifying for the major ones in 2012 or falling out this year?

MANY people often wonder why Nigeria is still being considered a poor country in spite of the abundance of human, material and mineral resources. Some still regard the abundance of oil as a curse rather than an economic advantage.

COLLABORATION between private industry and the various levels of Government has, therefore, wrought substantial reductions in gas flaring—although how much is open to question.

As the massive row about fuel subsidy removal rages from one discussion arena to another, the thing that strikes me most forcibly is the sheer weakness of the Federal Government’s communication efforts.