The easiest racket to run in Nigeria today concerns job vacancies. Either by posters, or through adverts in newspapers or by word of mouth, scammers smile all the way to the bank offering jobs that oftentimes don’t even exist. Governments and their agencies account now for the lion’s share of this growing and lucrative crime.

Public discourse recently focused on the charge by Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili (Oby), a former Senior Assistant and Minister in Obasanjo’s administration, that the Yar’Adua/Jonathan Presidency had frittered away accumulated reserves of about $67bn since the change of baton in 2007.

There is a misunderstanding prevalent among Christians, especially those weaned on the “prosperity gospel.” It is assumed that when the Lord gives a report, he always gives a good report, and that the report of the devil is always bad.

One vital aspect of Nigeria’s public affairs that is not transparently part of the transformation agenda of government is health care delivery. No one in authority appears to be genuinely interested in it. Indeed, not much happens even in the basic area of primary health care because the local government councils to which the subject is assigned merely pocket the little that their state governors allow them to have of their monthly allocations.

The floods of 2013 will soon visit their fury upon us; large scale destruction of properties will follow and the usual hand-wringing and official excuses will follow. Yet it is an axiom of management science that a disaster which occurred twice should not be allowed to occur a third time because, if it does, it means that those in charge are not alive to their responsibilities. Floods will be back again in 2013; more devastating than ever before. Are we better prepared this year than last year?

Chief (Mrs)Adeline Ogboaya Balogun is the CEO of New “U” Spa in Lagos. Though a Paris-trained graduate of French with background in Secretarial Administration, the frequent transfer of her military husband (now an Army General) scuttled her ambition of building a career in language.

The blinkers are finally slipping off the eyes of die-hard Nigerians, who have just cotton on to what many have been saying so loudly, for so long. It is one that they customarily brushed aside, with the usual “God save Nigeria! Or “Nigeria will get better”.

To give you an idea of the level of official corruption in the country, some estimates suggest that about half a trillion dollars have been stolen from the public treasury by corrupt government officials and unscrupulous business tycoons since 1960. So you can imagine the level of economic development and industrialisation the country would have attained if the money was wisely invested for the benefit of the Nigerian people.

Can a man’s act truly be separated from his person? Let me simplify and maybe even personalize the question. Are you what you do? Can your entire life be defined by one single act? This question has been weighing heavily on my mind all month long and it is causing me to question a lot of beliefs and even fears that form my opinions and values.

If women want to be respected by the world, they will have to do more to uplift their image themselves. They shouldn’t feel that because they rear children for the world and keep homes, they are entitled to respect, irrespective of their own behaviour and character. This was the opinion of the majority of our readers who wrote in on the piece we put out some weeks ago.