There’s no denying the potent power of Nigeria as a country or Nigerians as a people. Meeting just one Nigerian (depending on who) can have life altering effects not to talk more of walking into a room full of us or better still, drop a jonnie just come in the middle of Lagos during rush hour…. Trust me, it has a profound effect.

Major-General Kenneth Minimah, was recently appointed Chief of Army Staff; and I’d like to seize this opportunity to express gratitude to President Jonathan for bestowing such a huge honour on a gentleman soldier from my state.

Last week, in concluding my column, I asked for contributions on how we can achieve excellence in the sports that we are endowed. The column was my reaction to Bozo, a South African who agonised over Nigeria’s continued superiority over South Africa in football. I felt that we should lament more for South Africans are doing well in the sports that they are endowed while same cannot be said of Nigeria. The following are some of the contributions. I left out some which didn’t have names.

Many optimists who are just chewing before digesting the beautiful economic blueprint (adorned in its elegant presentation with unassailable statistical figures) by the Finance Manager and Minister for Economic Co-ordination (what a romantic name!), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in her answer to the 50 Questions raised by members of the House of Representatives might be a bit confused on another story about the danger facing the economy.

IT was Shehu Usman Dan Fodiyo who once warned that a political society can endure with unbelief, but it will sooner, rather than later, crumble with injustice. Of course, Shehu Fodiyo was a religious and political leader, who led one of the most extensive and remarkable state building projects in pre-colonial Africa. Rooted in a deep religious consciousness, he nevertheless understood that the right religious bona fide alone, cannot be the basis for state survival, where the state itself is built upon an enduring project of injustice.