I was chatting with a group of friends last week; and everyone said that they were extremely upset about the current state of the country.

LAST week, I told you about a Benue Art exhibition reception I attended in Washington while I was visiting America a couple of weeks ago.

I recently visited the United States and was invited to the official opening of an impressive, world-class Benue Culture Exhibition in Washington DC.

I RECENTLY visited the United States and was invited to the official opening of an impressive, world-class Benue Culture Exhibition in Washington DC.

WHEN I was a pupil at various Catholic convent schools in the UK, I encountered a small handful of nasty, twisted females who derived pleasure from launching physical and psychological attacks on their weaker juniors and contemporaries.

I have, in this column, recently complained about the unsatisfactory manner in which the government is responding to the United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, report about the devastating effects of oil production activities in Ogoniland.

LAST week, I wrote about the recent United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, report. It was based on a scientific study – the most detailed to ever be conducted in the Niger Delta region; and it accused Shell and the Nigerian government of failing to protect my Ogoni homeland from chronic pollution.

THE recent United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, report – which accused Shell and the government of failing to protect my Ogoni homeland from chronic pollution – has generated bitterness as well as satisfaction.

Many Nigerians, me included, have complained about the fact that President Jonathan did not hit the ground running as soon as the polling season ended.

The late great Justice Anthony Nnaemezie Christopher Aniagolu, OFR, crammed so many impressive achievements into his curriculum vitae that one wonders how he was also able to do normal things like sleep, eat and enjoy family life.

CAN someone please explain to me why so many intelligent and seemingly rational Nigerian Christians and Muslims are such ardent believers in juju or “jazz”?!

NEWCOMERS to this country often ask me why most Nigerians are so slavishly willing to endlessly, cheerfully and calmly tolerate bad situations that would trigger off riots or other forms of mass protest in other parts of the world.

LAST week, I praisedEsther Salami, a beautician who displayed remarkable integrity by telling me that I had accidentally overpaid her by N1000.

ESTHER SALAMI, a beautician, came to my house last Sunday to do a pedicure for a member of my family. When she had finished, I handed her a small wad of folded naira bills and she dropped it into her handbag without counting it.

DURING the year that Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, was Foreign Minister, many Nigerians and foreigners sang his praises and told me that they regarded him as the best Foreign Minister this country has ever had. And I would bask in the reflected glory whenever I heard the compliments that frequently were lavished on him because he is an indigene of my state, Rivers.