WHEN you go for a Nigerian passport, you are finger printed, photographed and your signature, taken. Then you provide your full names, height, date of birth, place of birth, permanent home address, state of origin, Local Government, home town, e-mail, phone number, occupation, marital status, maiden name, colour of eyes and hair, special features, next- of- kin, the kin’s contact number and address.

Regrettably, this enabling reform that is clearly in consonance with the constitutional objectives has ironically been rejected on the ground that it is “unconstitutional”. Surely, for crying out loud, no one is suggesting that we should spend dollars instead of Naira; nonetheless, CBN appears insistent on cutting its nose to spite its face, as a payment reform that would facilitate the achievement of its core mandate for price stability is brazenly rejected as illegal.

Senior editors of the Daily Times in 1991 interviewed the then military President General Ibrahim Babangida, who in his characteristic humour in fielding questions, said that the Nigerian economy defied all logic. All manner of interpretations were given in newspaper editorials at the time; many alluded to executive carelessness in reflection.

Recently, a friend took me to the jewel-in-the-crown of the Redeemed Christian Church of God; a glitzy parish called “City of David” in Victoria Island, Lagos. Displayed resplendently on a wall in the church-office is a design of their current building project; a 14 storey architectural extravaganza titled “Trinity Towers.”

There has been a spate of criticism and worry from the Eastern end complaining that President Buhari’s appointments thus far have been lopsided, and has generally ignored the South-Eastern Igbo in large part, and the minorities of the South, to some extent.