A FEW years ago Nigerians were voted the happiest people on earth. We did not reject the Award which lumped all of us, happy and unhappy ones, together. However, that is no longer true today.

INSECURITY of life in Nigeria has become the context of social life in the country. The wonder is that government is adapting to this condition of insecurity.

When I read and listen to the moanings of my colleagues who travelled to Liberia with the Super Eagles, I thank God for diverting me as it were to Niamey as part of the delegation for the Africa U-17 Qualifier against Niger.

Urban renewal is an activity that signposts a city is ready to leave behind the past and move into a newer phase of development. Former Singaporean leader, Lee Kwan Yew, in his famous book: From The Third World to the First, detailed the iron determination with which he fought long encrusted traditional values to build an exemplary city-state out of formerly stigmatised shanty water front settlements.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (OBJ) has observed that the Central Bank’s attempt to tackle inflation with the N5000 note is misguided. OBJ also submitted that “the way Sanusi was fighting inflation by removing money from circulation was improper…, as this approach would kill production and affect small businesses negatively”.

“He gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind , and do more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together”. Jonathan Swift, I667-I745, in Gulliver’s Travels.

“Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord, your God, has given you, (Bible, Exodus 20:12)

As the Lagos Education Empowerment Resource Network, LEARN, prepares to draw the curtain on the six-week summer school that has successfully taken 3,500 children off the streets throughout the long vacation, Vista Woman spoke with Mrs. Bisi Awoyomi, Project Director, LEARN, about the objectives behind the programme which officially closes on Tuesday, September 18.

I returned from Berlin on Wednesday nightwhere I had participated in the International Festival of Literature courtesy of Ulrich Schreiber, and met another delight: the just released copy of Chinua Achebe’s latest book, There Was A Country lying in wait for me.

In a typical society, the maintenance of law and order which may involve a drastic crackdown on some elements in the society is essentially a civil matter. It is not expected to involve the military; hence most countries hardly call out their military to deal with such matters that are clearly less than war. It used to be so in Nigeria as every infraction was usually left for the police to handle.