The cynics will tell you that the most beautiful one has been born, the greatest letter has been written, the nicest song has been sung. It is a jaded view that there is nothing new under the sun; the universe is in a constant state of evolution, recycling life in a gamut of forms.

When I received a call on Thursday, from a friend, a Belgian citizen who just left Nigeria a few days back to Iceland where she has a business, I thought she called to inform me that she had arrived safely.

Last week, my friend and neighbour Dr Kingsley Kola Akinroye (KK), was formerly presented to a diverse but select crowd of expatriates and Nigerians as the Honorary Consul of Finland. It was the peaking of a romance that started about 15 years ago, and which hopefully, will still have many peaks.

The religious sect known as Boko Haram is at war with Nigeria. It attacks and kills men, women ‘and children indiscriminately for no other reason than that their victims are Nigerians.

It’s a paradox of sorts the daily gridlock that the Lagos traffic has become. One would have thought that the banning of okada would ease things up a bit; the direct opposite is the case. So I’m thinking to myself that perhaps a large percentage of the people who used bikes as their primary mode of transportation owned private cars.