Congratulations! We are in a New Year; a leap year for that matter. This is the year in which, by God’s grace, you will leap into your breakthrough.

Benevolent spirits may have cracked his palm kernels but President Jonathan must have nudged them, by being effortlessly self effacing and disarmingly unambitious. The mien and disposition of a lamb amongst wolves alone may leave one with the inconsequentiality, the inconspicuousness, needed to progress untracked by envy but in Nigeria where the humble and hesitant are choked out by the nakedness of ambition and its riotousness , Jonathan was particularly fortunate .

Two days ago, 2015 breathed its last and yielded its place to 2016. Definitely, many people have made or are making New Year resolutions. This is good, especially if the resolutions are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time defined). They should also flow from your personal mission and vision.

I can’t claim to know the late Torch Taire very well. But he was very close to my Oga, Mr Sam Amuka in many ways including proximity. They lived within a walking distance of each other, and they were, like the cliché, of identical plumage and therefore tended to flock together. My knowledge of him is therefore, largely vicarious since I visit Uncle Sam’s place fairly often. Anybody who knows Uncle Sam knows he is a completely detribalised person. So was Torch Taire.

With the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting last week in its Vienna headquarters, members emerged with decision put in escrow for cartel leaders to tidy up agreements on production caps. It means every member (rich or poor) is producing as they can pump into the market to sustain their teetering economies. Most OPEC members seem roiled with incongruous market share control mechanisms espoused, with the rift between high cost producers whose economies are being devastated by low crude oil prices and prosperous producers that stand for market share.