USUALLY, it is workers who are accused of working out of negotiations or refusing to negotiate. But the Federal Government (FG) has made a dubious contribution to the industrial relations system by breaking off negotiations it has been having with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) since December 2006.

THERE are few qualities to define a purposeful, goal-oriented leadership as clear-thinking, careful planning and execution. The amount of these qualities a leader and/or government possesses should at most times be indicative of their/its preparedness or otherwise for leadership

Chidi Amuta has already appraised the Opposition and founded it wanting. He has concluded that “Among the contending parties that are not in power, a consensus on strategy is far as outer space. Blinded by narrow endangered herd mentality, the personal interests and myopic ambitions of their principals, each party that has control of one state or two clutches to its little miserable corner of the political crumb like a life vest.

THERE was fresh threat to the amnesty programme of the federal government for militants in the Niger-Delta weekend, as a new militant group, the Urhobo Revolutionary Army (URA), comprising mainly members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger-Delta (MEND) emerged to fight the interest of the oil-rich Urhobo ethnic nationality in Delta State.

This was followed by a confirmation by AIT’s Aisha Falode. I thought this was credible given the calibre of people behind the award, the personalities I was to serve with, but most importantly, the concept which was quite refreshing coming from a private sector player that is constantly seeking ways of affirming its good corporate citizenship.

The answers to these issues of increasing debt service cost against declining total debt value are not satisfactorily answered by DMO’s explanation of the dynamic nature of loan disbursement. National Assembly is requested to take a closer look at the relevance and effectiveness of the involvement of Debt Management Office in further debt creation for our country

There were at least some attempts made by the Americans to seem to work with Nigerian officials to make the visit hitch-free. Clinton’s visit left behind a lot of ruffled feathers. Even the media were not spared, as she did not even bother to wave the press corps goodbye, let alone stop briefly for a perfunctory chat.

Hi readers! It was nice to be pursued once more, but frankly, I don’t see myself falling for Alfred or any other man for many years, or even forever! To me, no man can ever measure up to late dear Vic. He was in a class of his own – so refined and a complete gentleman. Even if he had lived up to two hundred years, he would still appeal to me. Strong words, yes? But true! It was his mind and character, you see.

What experience and history teach people is that people and governments never have learnt anything from history or acted on principles deduced from it —George Hegel, 1770-1831, Vanguard Book of Quotations p. 92

I STRONGLY suspect that the former would be higher, since the “pigs” have the financial power to pay tuition fees and other “incidentals” required for university education in foreign institutions. Because top government officials benefit from the skewed emolument system in Nigeria , they do not really appreciate the daunting sacrifices lowly paid Nigerians, including lecturers make daily to keep things going.

THE lizard may have grown up amidst ungrateful people when he said that if no one would praise him for the feat of jumping from a high iroko tree and not dying, he would shake his head in self praise. So, when we see the lizard nodding its head in self praise, we look around for a tree it has jumped from or some other feat that needed songs of praise.

Anytime you find yourself interrupting some one by saying things like “ I know just how you feel” or “ me too; something similar happened to me!” you are being self absorbed. The wisest people in the world are attentive when you talk to them, they look at you, and they are not playing a movie in their minds about similar situations, or even imagining themselves in the exact same situation.

I should concede upfront that I have personally not read this bill and cannot talk with facility or insight about its content and form, and thus particularly, its implication in the evolution of the oil industry in Nigeria.

It is not yet up to a year since I began to feel differently. I believe I have written about that change here. It is not anything as earth-shaking as St. Paul’s conversion. It was simply a growing awareness of an inward uplifting – that is the only way I can describe it; an internal effervescence that fills you with a gripping desire to ascend to a plane of higher thoughts and nobler deeds.

Democracy? That’s a long way off. What we have on ground is a quarter kilometre to one-party dictatorship. We say we are a Federal Republic of Nigeria, but there is nothing federal about the system which has mutated within half a century from a federation to a military-style unitary dictatorship.