The first anniversary of the 2012 “Occupy Nigeria” fuel subsidy protest was marked recently in Lagos by Pastor Bakare-led ‘Save Nigeria Group’ with a lecture titled “Nigeria’s Fiscal and Monetary Crisis: the Way Forward”. The occasion afforded Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the opportunity to publicly defend its failure to create an enabling environment for industries and businesses to bloom, in consonance with its core mandate for price stability. The major indicators of price stability, of course, relate to conducive low single-digit interest rates for bank loans and an even lower rate of inflation.

In many respects, the bible is a book of prophecies.  God says in the scriptures: “Don’t forget the many times I clearly told you what was going to happen in the future. For I am God- I only- and there is no other like me who can tell you what is going to happen. All I say will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.” (Isaiah 46:9-10)

I am very sad and disturbed that we have not achieved much in the past 52 years. On my own assessment of how far we have gone in 50 years of independence, I will say we have gone some way but not very far in the area of women’s participation in politics and in governance.

TO be or not to be?” Shakespeare, 1564-1616 asked. That, again, is still the question. Whether or not we shall allow officials and their crazy convoys to continue to run us off the roads and kill us with impunity, this year will tell. I have no sympathy for any governor who gets maimed or killed because his crazy convoy had an accident.

“Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.”– Aristophanes