The struggle between living and putting a descent meal on the table is a tough one for the common man in Nigeria. No matter how hard he tries, or how far he pushes himself, the tables are not turning favourably for him. He thinks that as nobody seems to notice his ordeal, it must a conspiracy to wipe him out of existence.

“I have been praying for years, yet God has not answered “.These are the words that come to the mouths of some believers who may have been asking God to intervene in their situation through prayer.

For most ecclesiastical leaders and theologians, the so-called revealed truths contained in religious scriptures allegedly written under the inspiration of God are unassailable. Indeed, in their reckoning, such “divinely revealed truths” are superior to verifiable information about the objective world generated through scientific investigation. The fundamental problem with religion with respect to truth is that the believer is cocksure that he is right because he has read the truth from a certain holy book and knows, in advance, that nothing will make him change his mind. Therefore, the truth of the holy book is an axiom accepted a priori, not the end product of the process of reasoning or painstaking research.

Jesus says to his disciples: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.” (John 15:16).

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and Group Managing Director(GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu recently contemplated a strategic petroleum products reservefor the country. He was thinking about meetingemergency local demands.