At least, MEND is saying, ‘give us the kind of development that you have in Abuja and we would be satisfied’.
In response to this, the government is creating institutions like the Niger Delta Development Corporation (NDDC) through which to channel this development in the Niger Delta. On top of that, it has created a ministry for the region which at best is a bureaucracy.

Some do argue with justification and a good sense of history that the structure of the country’s edifice is so deficient that even angels from heaven would find it impossible to manage. Of all the world’s political contrivances in the 20th century, only Nigeria still stands since 1914 as a united country by divine grace. Other countries, even in Europe, have broken into several states.

Please allow us to advise the G8 and President Yar’Adua on what needs to be done to bring about immediate peace in the Niger Delta region, and thus secure the oil and gas resources you all need: YAR’ADUA MUST IMMEDIATELY COMMENCE THE HOLISTIC IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON THE NIGER DELTA!!! Yar’Adua has not shown sincerity to the issues raised by Niger Delta peoples. He keeps contemptuously treating them like moronic babies who cannot tell shadow from reality.

I would rather campaign for our own than personally promoting them unless such promotions are intended to make our people learn. But it must, therefore be in proper perspective. I may not impress many who chant foreign clubs, fight for them, engage in all sorts of showmanship but have no link with these clubs. Many of them are just noise makers and not real fans of the clubs they claim to adore.

Secondly, pretences that there was no coup cannot hold water. There is no evidence to prove that his removal by soldiers was a directive of the Supreme Court as no known order existed. This claim was made only after the coup. So in all probability, the so called order allegedly signed by a Supreme Court judge was an after-thought, a back-dated document.

As a girl or woman in our kind of society, you hardly can muster that will power to utilize that option. With the present state of economy, there is very little most women can do.

The threat by MEND to disrupt any plan to hold the tournament in Nigeria has largely been ignored. Perhaps the FG and the LOC have their own plans of how to deal with it if any violence breaks out on account of the tournament.

Those legs would be shaking, the hands, equally busy, directing and conducting with the rest of the body. And the pelvis gyrating, threatening to break the narrow waistline.

The prebendary elite are only interested in sharing the revenue allocated to the state or at least being allowed to control sources of internal revenue that should be deployed to solving its problems.

After the first wave of the mass purge, Obasanjo sent out a memo on October 14, 1975 ordering the compilation of more names of Public Servants to be retired. Oluleye as Minister of Establishment picked up courage to confront his bosses and in the process put his career on line and his life in danger.

The award of a last minute penalty kick in our Nigerian football competitions is capable of provoking team officials and their fans to pull down the stadium. But the award of penalty kick at the last minute is part of the game.

This will allow Senator Anyanwu to concentrate on other effective responsive health laws especially around gender inequity and inequality which fuels the epidemic.
Ikenna Obianwa works with Terrence Higgins Trust UK

Is there anything like zero-corruption? What initiatives do we adopt to reduce, control and manage corruption whilst we pursue policies and programmes aimed at accelerating our pace of growth and development?

God created man whom he called Adam in the likeness of God. Adam, however, who fell short of the glory of God when he sinned, begat a son in his own image, after his sinning nature.

In last week’s column, we invited Sanusi to take a closer look at the proposal in our paper titled “A Liberalised Foreign Exchange Market: and its Economic Benefit” Boyo/Ojomaikre 2002 to the National Economic Intelligence Committee (see www.geocities.com/lesleba) in which we recommended that CBN auditors be permanently embedded in the Treasury and Foreign Exchange Departments of each bank as the only way to guarantee that the information submitted by our banks are accurate and reflect a true position of their state of health.