The end to the last long drawn-out university teachers’ strike means that students are set to return to school. On the basis of their experiences during the strike, they are likely to once again, face the reality of a wide gap between theory and practice. In the area of mass communication for instance, many students may have to grapple with the real meaning and nature of communication. Having learnt that written communication is generally superior to other forms such as oral communication and body language, they would not easily comprehend why the choice of writing as a channel of communication by former President Olusegun Obasanjo (Obj) with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ) elicited so much anger from some people. Did the many angry commentators read Obj’s letter about which they made pedestrian comments?

In-between are the complex cultural practices associated with religious worship. Of course, human beings exist, but the question concerning the existence of a supernatural being called God is yet to be settled finally one way or the other since no definitive proof is available on each side of the debate. Therefore, acceptance of the reality of God is a matter of belief and faith, leaving open the tantalising possibility that the supreme object of religious worship might be imaginary, although I think that the reasons for rejecting the existence of the God of religion are far stronger than arguments for belief. Before the advent of Christianity and Islam into the various indigenous communities that eventually became Nigeria, the various peoples had evolved what is generally referred to as African Traditional Religion (ATR).

Dr Okurounmu and I share at least one thing in common. We were both recipients of American government scholarship in the 1960s which enabled us to attend universities in America. It is quite possible we also share in common taking a course in Speed Reading, which enables the individual to read lots of text materials at five to ten times that of an average person and still get the facts right. That speed reading ability paid off for me four years ago when I was engaged by clients to go through the PIB which the Federal Government was trying to force through the National Assembly and stop its passage

Thanks to Jesus, God can no longer be accused of being indifferent to the human condition. In order to appreciate our plight fully, God became a man in Christ Jesus. What manner of man was he? God was a righteous, sinless man who went about doing good works. Thereby, he showed us what manner of man he created man to be. Jesus became the quintessential man.

Nigeria is the successor state to all the pre-existing powers – the old, exhausted, crumbling and defeated empires, kingdoms, sultanates, and republican aristocracies and the city states that once reigned prior to amalgamation in 1914. It is the modern nation forged out of the colonial contact. From 1914 – 1963, this modern nation was a “British possession,” which means that if fell under the economic and political control of the British Empire. It had been granted self-governing status or independence by the British Empire on October 1, 1960, with the inauguration of the Prime Minister as head of its parliament under the British Commonwealth.