LAST week, I said that President Jonathan should avoid caving in to demands for a Sovereign National Conference, SNC, largely because I believe that a massive talking shop at which religious and ethnic grievances are aired will generate more heat than light and possibly lead to the complete collapse of Nigeria.

CALLS for a Sovereign National Conference (SONACO) are widespread; and the will of the majority is supposed to be acted on within a democratic context. But – many of my friends will be very angry with me for saying this! – I think that President Jonathan should dodge the SONACO option, if he can.

IN 2010, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s liberation from British colonialism, I interviewed Dr. (Ambassador) Matthew Tawo (M.T) Mbu, the grand old national icon who passed away abroad earlier on this week. He had been the Minister of State for Defence on October 1, 1960 and I wanted to hear his opinions about the Independence era and its aftermath.

LAST week, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Governor of the Central Bank, ascribed the emergence of Boko Haram to poverty…and highlighted the fact that the funds that Northern states get from the Federation Account are paltry compared to the funds received by oil-producing states.

A Muslim friend who lives in Sokoto sadly tells me that fear of Boko Haram is the beginning of wisdom nowadays…and that the organisation has gradually acquired a legendary status in the North and is widely regarded as a highly efficient terror machine that operates with deadly precision and may even possess supernatural powers and is bringing the Nigerian State to its knees.

LET’S hope that President Jonathanand his allies have learned a few humbling lessons from a totally avoidable strike that exposed a Government that has become increasingly unpopular to global embarrassment.

My wonderful father, Ignatius Suage Kogbara, OON, died exactly l0 years ago, on January l3, 2002. And we who knew and loved him have never quite recovered from the emotional trauma we experienced when he left us behind.

I CLEARLY recall President Goodluck Jonathan standing up at an Independence Day service a couple of months ago and informing his audience that he was not a lion, tiger, army general, Egyptian Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar (the neo-Babylonian king who conquered Jerusalem and sent the Jews into exile).

As 2011 draws to a close, it seems appropriate to look back in anger or approval at some of the people who have, individually or as part of groups, made the past l2 months better or worse in various ways and in various parts of the world.

As the massive row about fuel subsidy removal rages from one discussion arena to another, the thing that strikes me most forcibly is the sheer weakness of the Federal Government’s communication efforts.