NIGERIA of today was not the Nigeria that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe led Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and other leaders to the Lancaster House conferences in London before independence.

One of the conclusions reached by the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Capital Market was the shrill alarm that the Asset Management Corporation, AMCON, was a time bomb waiting to explode. Consequently, this week’s article is a brief overview of AMCON, the ‘toxic’ bank.

To be a successful pastor, you really have to learn the tricks of the trade. This has nothing to do with preaching insightful and inspiring messages. Neither does it have to do with ministering to the spiritual needs of the members of the church.

Sometime ago, when Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, asserted that the National Assembly appropriates to itself 25 percent of the total overhead budget of federal government, our dishonourable legislators offered self-serving tendentious arguments to explain away their wicked brigandage of the national treasury.

Mrs Taiwo Akinlebi is a multi-talented lady in her fifties, who believes that girls shouldn’t rely solely on educational qualifications for a career or a means of livelihood. Even though she dropped out of secondary school when she couldn’t cope any longer, she embraced fashion-designing and began to earn a good living. Later she added beads-making, which she learnt from her mother.

Before the July 14,2012 Governorship election in Edo State, three different ‘seers’ reportedly saw many sides of the same vision. The first said the incumbent would not win; the second said it is the opposition that would win, while the third said the sitting Governor would win but would not be sworn in. Now that the Governor has been reelected, the so-called seers may have to change their lenses.

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.” — John D. MacDonald

In a press release by his Special Adviser on Monitoring, Mr. Bernard Mikko, the former General Manager of the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, sought to distance himself from his son’s present predicaments. Unfortunately for Tukur and Mikko, they missed the point entirely.

Recently, I drew attention to the decay of Aba, arising mostly from the criminal negligence of a city once known for its vitality and industry. I placed much of the blame at the doorsteps of the current T.A. Orji administration in Umuahia, with the caveat, certainly, that rebuilding Aba would require a concert of efforts. I have not shifted from this position. I am in fact more convincedthat the current administration on Okpara Avenue is not only bereft of ideas, it lacks style and consequence.

This topic attracted reactions from more women than usual, so, it must be something that touched the core of their being. Usually, we have more men writing in to express their views on issues. This time around I was glad that many women wrote in.