THE Statesman-Columnist bears a heavy burden. Quite often, he is torn between two worlds: even where he constantly has an opportunity to privately advise on critical issues – and that’s the extent to which the political class expects him to go – his audiences still want to know his stand, if only as a pointer to the direction they should be looking at.

“Gentlemen of the press” was the title of a Broadway play in 1928. The following year, it was adapted into an all-talking film of the same title. What did male journalists do next? They simply assumed ownership of the four words and turned them into a catchphrase and wherever there’s a gathering of journalists, male and female, the salutation became: “Gentlemen of the press.” Not on this 20th day of January, 2016, at The Hub of The Journalism Clinic, in Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria.

Teachers are the first set of people who give a child a sense of self or validation outside of the home. If they are successful at imparting their knowledge and building a child’s confidence in his or her abilities, or in encouraging a child to pursue certain skills or even dreams, then they would have had a positive impact on that child’s life.
Unfortunately, too few Nigerian teachers fall into this category of individuals who are driven by a sense of purpose, a desire to leave children, if not the world, better than they found them. How could our Nigerian teachers have this sense of responsibility, in a country that cares so little for them, where salaries are negligible if paid at all?

EVEN before I had sat in the same classroom with Professor Biodun Jeyifo (BJ to his legion of friends and admirers), I regarded him as my teacher. He had been instrumental to my arrival at Cornell in 2001 to fulfil my long-nourished dream of taking a degree in literature-in-English. With a background in law, my best bet was to apply for a Master of Fine Art in poetry, having already published a collection of poems, finished the first draft of another, and freshly become a fellow of the Iowa International Writing Programme.

THE Minister of the Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazau is not new to public office. A three star general at the point of retirement, he was for some years the Chief of Army Staff in the Goodluck Jonathan administration. Even though his tenure as the CoAS was not particularly distinguished nor was he noted for any major achievement while in the military, he nevertheless carried himself in a rather dignifying way.