There are so many things that often appear irrational about the Nigerian people. One of them concerns the saying that “wealth can induce madness”. How can someone suddenly develop traces of madness simply because he has much money? The unending story of Rivers State, an entity which regularly picks up the highest federal allocation in the country has made me to begin to appreciate the saying and to imagine that in truth money makes some mad, just as others madly pursue it.

In 2009, a former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Power, Hon Godwin Ndudi Elumelu, watched and almost shed tears as his colleagues on the floor of the House tore his report on the power sector to shreds.

Today, in Long Beach California, the alumni of the Government College Umuahia in the United States, the GCUOBA-USA, will be concluding their annual national convention of Umuahians in the United States. This year’s convention, from which I’ve been regrettably absent, happens at an important development in the move towards the restoration of the Government College Umuahia.

Last week, in the first part of this series on ideas that would help us achieve sustainable development, I started with Obong Victor Attah, former Governor of Akwa Ibom State and his advocacy of NEW TOWNS. I stopped at the point where Attah called for a dialogue. Please read on.

Historically speaking, Nigeria recorded unprecedented economic and infrastructural development relative to her income during the First Republic (1960 and 1966). One of the major reasons for that was that each of the relatively autonomous regions developed at their own pace and competed with one another in various areas of development. Of course, we cannot go back to regionalism simpliciter.