THE leader of the South African opposition, Julius Malema, says President Zuma and the South African state promoted a culture of violence and xenophobia which led to Black South Africans attacking migrants and foreigners whom they blame for their own economic misfortune.

FOR a full decade, we were in touch with each other only sporadically. Then one smouldering Texas summer evening four years after our last conversation, he called me. He had heard that I was done with my doctoral studies at Cornell and had taken up a position at Texas State University. He was in the US for personal reasons and wanted to congratulate me.

AS the Jonathan administration winds down its activities and gradually goes into the ages, one thing Nigerians cannot balk doing is giving their assessment of the administration. One area that must get Nigerians debating in their assessment of the Goodluck Jonathan government is the power sector, particularly the issue of power generation and distribution. As far as this sector is concerned, the Jonathan administration has performed far less than it promised. We need not go into quoting statistics that only members of the administration believe to know this.

CALABAR—RESIDENTS of Calabar metropolis and environs in Cross River State, reputed to have the finest potable water in Nigeria, have been hit by an excruciating water drought, following the breakdown of the operational system of the Cross River State Water Board, CRSWB, despite a subsisting public-private partnership, PPP, agreement with Ortech Nigeria Limited.

CALABAR—WHILE worshipers trooped to different churches during the last Easter Sunday celebration in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, a group of nine giddy-looking young men surrounded a bottle of drink at a murky street curve at 7am. They took turns to fill their tumblers with the dark liquid content, which they guzzled down their throats.