AS the year 2012 gradually winds down and goes the way of 2011, one of the prominent news items to be seen around the world is the fact that the year has been one of the deadliest for journalists. There can be no doubt that this year has taken a terrible toll on journalists.

This lecture was delivered at the Annual End of Year Lunch of the Government College Ughelli Old Boys Association, Warri Branch on December 9, 2012. I think it is an appropriate bridge between the year 2012 and the New Year which should help us to know where we stand with regard to this goal which the Federal government has set for itself. Read on.

One of the decisions taken by the National Assembly before the Christmas break was the appropriation of an additional sum of N161.6bn to augment the initial N888.1bn voted for subsidy in the budget of the outgoing year. This would bring total fuel subsidy claims for 2012 to over N1.05tn; i.e. the equivalent of over 20% of the 2012 expenditure budget of N4.7tn. The budget allocation of over N500bn for interest and service charges for domestic debt comes a distant second to fuel subsidy.

When Christians preach the false prosperity gospel, their focus is on this life. They talk of Christ becoming poor that Christians may become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9). But the true gospel is not about poor Christians becoming rich in this life. It is about rich Christians becoming poor. Neither is the gospel about this world but about the kingdom of God.

There have been many doomsday prophesies over the course of my life and I am sure there were many before I was born. Inevitably there will be many more, long after I am gone. There seems to be some collective awareness that the world will end; the differentials are the ways it could.