I WALKED into the east wing of The Palms shopping mall in Lekki, Lagos (popularly referred to as Shoprite); only to be buttoned-holed by a man trying to sell me a Honda Civic parked inside the hall.

JUST remove “nation’ in every line substitute with Nigeria, and the muse would be inspiring Khalil on the problematic project called Nigeria, an unsettled polity 55 years after flag independence.

Mama’s boys or mummy’s boys, if that suits you (I am old school, I was at a time when children called their mothers mama), are guys who are very close to their mothers. I am a mama’s boy and always will be. Even after two younger siblings were born, I still clung to mama as if I was her last card in those days.

If we were to value our salvation, we would also value the forgiveness of our sins. If we are overwhelmed by the abundant mercies of God, it must be because we recognise that we are sinners who received forgiveness from God.

The crash in crude oil prices from over $145 in 2008 to below $40/barrel presently, has invariably reduced Nigeria’s export earnings by over 50%; consequently, the significant deflation in dollar income is commonly blamed for the persistent intense market pressure on the Naira exchange rate. Interestingly, this perception is, ironically, against, the actual reality that the Naira exchange rate remained static between N152-N160/$1, even when the foreign reserves in CBN’s custody exceeded $60bn.