I WAS born on 12th April, 1952. I died twenty-years ago on 26th December, 1993. I was killed by armed-robbers on the way from Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

I had set out to entitle this week’s column Diary of a football traveler ( whatever that means). I wanted to use the column to talk about very interesting experiences as I jumped in and out of planes in the course of my football assignments.

When a major political event like the defection of the rebellious members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, takes place, it is easy to get confused. When confusion sets in, you will see people who should be sober or suspicious rejoicing as though they have won a major trophy.

The subject of reckless debt accumulation has been discussed in several articles such as “Another Useless Debt Burden” November 2006, “National Assembly Fiddles as Debt Burden Cripples” May 2008, etc (please see www.lesleba.com). Incidentally, when Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) was established in 2003, the excruciating existing burden of external debt was over $35bn; domestic debt, however, was still tolerable and manageable, with treasury bills accounting for about 60% at over N800bn, while treasury bonds accounted for about N430 billion.

But in Nigeria, it almost invariably ends up getting bogged down in colossal corruption. The minute government embarks on a multi-billion naira enterprise the sharp guys devise the plans to subvert it by robbing the programme blind. SURE-P is going the way of National ID Card Scheme, Obasanjo’s $13-16 billion IPP for which we had nothing to show until PHCN was privatized and the National Water Rehabilitation Scheme of another regime.