PROF. Akinyemi’s treatment of nationality as the unit of Nigerian federalist statecraft is his strategic framework as affirmed in the following: “Nigeria, made up of 250-300/350 nationalities (depending on which 1 study one consults) of disparate population sizes, was obviously a candidate for federalism”.

THE high and mighty are under siege in Nigeria. Under siege too are those who are not so high and mighty. The mere fact that you own a decent-looking air-conditioned car could put you in danger of being attacked by highway Area Boys in Lagos.

The other day, a friend narrated a story, which I found stranger than fiction; the story related to the travails of a family who lost a successful and illustrious breadwinner, who, incidentally, died without a Will. The family’s elders were consequently entrusted with the responsibility of efficiently managing the estate of the deceased.

Ask any Nigerian if we have airlines in Nigeria and he would probably answer “yes”. And for good measure, he will list the names of existing airlines – Arik, Aero Contractor, IRS, DANA (it is still in business and we need DANA more than it needs us; believe me), Overland, Medview (which started operations in November this year) and that is almost the entire list – for a nation of 167 million people and suffering from delusions of grandeur by aspiring to become one of the top twenty economies in the world by the year 2020.

Ask a Nigerian Christian how to improve the life of Nigerians, and he will give you a party-political manifesto. He will tell you about the need for non-stop electricity. He will talk about the need to curtail armed robbery and kidnapping. He will talk about the need to improve the medical facilities. But would such developments improve the life of Nigerians? Certainly not!