The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, one of the most efficient and least appreciated parastatals, in the country today, recently disclosed that “overall growth in real GDP in 2012 was 6.61 per cent, which is a decline from the 7.43 per cent recorded in 2011”. There are several inferences to be drawn from that statement alone. But, only two will be addressed here.

In apparent response to the Action Congress’ admonition that the nation’s economy was “gradually grinding to a halt”, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, unexpectedly painted a brighter economic picture, and sought to clarify popular misconceptions on the issues of our external reserves and the alleged discrepancies between reported reserves balances of the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Regrettably, however, the canvassed positive indices of GDP growth and claims of fiscal prudence are not corroborated by the ugly reality on ground.

Recently, Prof.(Mrs.)Pat Black,President, Soroptimist International of Great Britain & Ireland- SIGBI, paid a one-week to Nigeria. Soroptimist International is a worldwide organization for women in management and the professions, serving as a global voice for women and girls. SIGBI oversees all Soroptimists clubs in Common-wealth countries, including Nigeria.

When one of world’s foremost storytellers, Prof. Chinua Achebe, declined for the second time a national award conferred on him this time around by the current administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, most so-called eminent Nigerians failed to learn the simple but powerful lesson embedded in Achebe’s refusal to “join the bandwagon.”

A friend’s married daughter and her husband were shocked when their guard came to tell them when they returned from work, that the nanny to their two children had begged him to allow her smuggle a male relation, who she claimed had come from their village to look for a job, into her room in the Boys’ Quarters.