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.

ADMITTEDLY, our relationship with the West has been defined by undue duplicity. Close to 54 years of our so-called independence, we are still largely in chains. Nigeria’s annual Balance Sheet is perhaps still prepared in Washington, DC. Even in the area of our much touted oil wealth, when the multi-nationals sneeze, Nigeria catches cold because they hold the key to the industry.

BEYOND the media image I know pretty little about the late Ghanaian-born BBC presenter, Komla Dumor.