When I mildly protested, he smiled and said, “Oyinbo man, you are not working hard enough. I will buy you a drink after doing what I asked you to do.” About twenty minutes later, the waiter placed a chilled bottle of Star lager in front of me and said “from the VC.”

Mortality is given, life is terminal by nature. I wouldn’t qualify as anyone’s comedian though my family would say I was raucous and fun loving.

Back to the issue of permanently delayed flights, we sought to compare the harm to the nation by our unconscionable commercial airlines with that of those opting for chartered flights. This led us into a long conversation on the intriguing relationship between Minister Diezani and the National Assembly – a discussion that was greatly illuminated by reports in the media the night before.

The Igbo are conducting what I call the inward gaze. I went to Chicago, therefore to articulate the following positions: that the Igbo must come to terms with their historical role and task as builders of a modern polynational state. In this task, they are in partnership with other nationalists for whom the Nigerian state built on justice, equity, and freedom is a historical imperative.

There have been some rumblings; in fact, it is more like a roar and sabre rattling. Some quarters in Osun State, believe that it is about time there was a change in the government house come the next election

I have an exercise I always conduct in my pre-marriage class. I normally ask the participants if their parents are still alive. If the answer is yes, I will ask if their parents have health challenges, faulty or old cars, leaking roofs or broken walls or other problems the parents need money to solve. Normally, they also answer “yes”.

The Nigerian main nationalities represented by their delegates at the on going conference took brinkmanship to a new height last week. The North reportedly set the tone when it published its stance on thorny issues of the conference.

Last week, I expressed the view that Nigeria can only move forward in the near future if certain government functions are outsourced to top-class foreigners.

THAT Nigeria is a great country is axiomatic; that the Nigerian economy (with all its imperfections) is the greatest in Africa has now been widely accepted through the rebasing of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Nigeria is so great that it is often described as the ‘Giant of Africa‘

Last week, I made a case for Nigerians to support our armed forces as they confront the greatest security challenge facing the nation since the Nigerian Civil War. I illustrated my narrative with examples drawn from my years of encountering our valiant soldiers in far-flung areas of the world.