Five days from now, it would be Christmas once again, an indication of the cyclic nature of time. As usual with the weeks and days leading up to it, preparations for the celebrations are gathering momentum in all the nooks and crannies of the globe. In the major cities of Nigeria, Santa Claus’s white-bearded cheery face is emblazoned at shop entrances and windows.

You must have heard of a very knowledgeable people who woke up one day and, in their great wisdom, declared that Nigerians were the happiest people in the world. Of course, it was not added that they were of Nigerian stock. They must have come to that fabulous estimation during a festive period like Christmas when almost everybody has something to dance about, and Nigerians will dance at the drop of a pin.

It is another festive season and I am feeling particularly happy and looking forward to Christmas. All my children were home from school eight days ago. I missed them and they apparently missed home. My eldest daughter and eldest son seem to have matured much more over the last three months, they are providing better leadership. But my 11-year-old son came home somewhat withdrawn.

I received many responses to my column of three weeks ago which had questioned our penchant to compromise on what should be the intrinsic value of our institutions and how many of our appointments do not add value; rather, they reduce value. Although the conferment of SAN was made to illustrate the point, many of the comments were on it. The one published today is long but represents in my view, the comments of many respondents.

When late Houphet Boigny made the state treasury his own , his madness allowed him transform his village of Yamoussoukro into a tourist attraction. He saw St Peters Basillica in Rome and greed couldn’t stand in his way as ego propelled him to replicate it in his home town in Cote d’ivoire. That project may be dumb but our politicians make Boigny a visionary.