The statement that Nigeria is a poor country with widespread poverty is axiomatic. It is estimated that more than 75% in the Nigerian population live in squalor and could hardly make a decent living from what they do. This situation calls into question the general assumption that a country blessed with crude oil and other mineral resources and also endowed with natural human talents would have anything to do with deepening poverty and its attendant sufferings and deprivations.

MANY commentators are not pleased with President Goodluck Jonathan over his Borno/Yobe outing last week.

AFTER running out of a stock of ridiculous excuses, President Goodluck Jonathan finally plucked the courage to visit Borno and Yobe states, last week. As if to underline the various strands of prejudice which have informed official security thinking since the commencement of the Boko Haram insurgency, three thousand policemen were deployed to secure the presidential visit, commanded by the IGP himself!

TODAY, this Column is taking time off from politics and all the associated issues of corruption, to treat our esteemed audience to the profile of a great personality who, if we were asked, would be the Column’s nominee to lead the crusade against corruption, injustice and other social vices in which Nigeria is totally immersed.

THE Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, is a piece of legislation initially intended to address endemic structural, policy and managerial issues in the Nigerian oil and gas sector. Its goals were to enhance the value of the asset for the Nigerian people by plugging loopholes in policies and management and improving transparency and efficiency of the sector.