Till today, the top twenty countries remain among the most disciplined and have the lowest tolerances for corruption and laxity. Till today no Minister in Japan, or Russia, can promise to add so many megawatts of power and fail to do so without losing his job and being black-listed permanently from public appointment.

Just as the clock is ticking down to D day so are the butterflies in Nigerians stomachs flapping uncontrollably(?). The last thing I would have wanted to do is to go back to that match that lowered the expectations of Nigerians as regards our chances at the Nations Cup 2013. The English prefer to allow sleeping dogs lie. Not us. This dog, top dog cannot be allowed to lie. He must be on his feet, biting away!

Timipre Sylva,former governor of Bayelsa state has denied ever owning forty-eight houses; property which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has linked to him, and for which he faces criminal prosecution. In a statement issued at the behest of the former Bayelsa state governor by his lawyer Mr. Benson Ibezim, Sylva claims that the entire charge against him by the EFCC was no more than hocus-pocus – a great sham aimed at witch-hunt.

I love the house I live in.  I call it “the secret place of the Most High.”  When I go home, I go to a haven of peace.  I pray by walking around the house.  I must have thanked God over one thousand times for that house.

Affiong Odebode is a seasoned banker who worked for 14 years at the International Merchant Bank, IMB. She was born into the family of Mfon, in Cross River State. Her father, late Asuquo Ima Mfon was an engineer with the Nigerian Ports Authority while her mother, late Amah Evelyn Mfon, nee Dadzie, was a Ghanaian and Cameroonian.

NOTE: The Commissioner of Information was sending his assault, written on behalf of the Government of Akwa Ibom, while Attah and Akpabio were in church on Christmas Day. The seven patriotic leaders, who started the peace process, as well as other Nigerians, must ask themselves: “what is the purpose of going to church if fighting continues during the service”?

The New Year,2013, has finally arrived with the usual challenges, hopes and expectations that characterise such occasions. Those of us that traveled to our different villages saw firsthand clear evidence that government is on holidays, so to speak.

Many years to come, Nigerians would come across many things in honour of one of their predecessors -Andrew Owoye Azazi- a citizen who served in the Nigerian Army and like some others rose to the pinnacle of his career. If Nkpogu Road in Port Harcourt ends up a dualized road and not like some of our other roads where construction works go on without end, future Nigerians would wonder how it became Azazi Road.

Our readers didn’t disappoint. We expected an influx of reactions on the piece with the above title, and this was what happened. And why not? Going on dates with members of the opposite sex is very important, because it’s an avenue to study and understand your love interest at close range.

“Most leaders spend time trying to get others to think highly of them, when instead they should try to get their people to think more highly of themselves.