Exactly three weeks ago, I was in a state of quiet euphoria. Why? It was the 10th of August. A date I had been awaiting all year. Why?? For some, a birthday. A cherished wedding anniversary. Or their flight departure date to finally ‘check out’ of the shores of this land for a hopefully better life elsewhere.

A couple of years ago, bank PHB, a Nigerian bank, ran some exciting futuristic adverts. One of them was on cars that could drive themselves while holding the owners in decent conversations. It seemed far fetched but the reality is that most of these futuristic science fictions seem to catch up with us sooner than we expect. If the mind can conceive it, then science seems to be able to achieve it. I will not be at all surprised, given what cars are up to these days, if Bank PHB’s dream soon becomes a reality.

Many Nigerians and also friendly foreigners agree that the country is facing various problems on political stability and economic reconstruction. The major problem is that of national unity in an atmosphere of the rising profile of ethnicity and religious bigotry.

GOVERNOR Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State – and his indigenous supporters and opponents – take delight in upsetting each other, regularly engage in vitriolic wars of words and use every tool they have at their disposals – including public funds, the compromised Nigerian legal system and their influential non-Rivers cronies – to inflict various humiliations and annoyances on each other.

It happened in 1998. A black man was the main artist in the opening ceremony of the World Cup. He dazzled all. The world stood to celebrate him. He was the pride of the black race and perhaps an icon to the rest of the world.