By Josef Omorotionmwan NIGERIA reminds us of the case of the smart messenger with a short memory. This messenger soon turned his mother into a money spinning machine of sorts. One morning, he came to the office to announce that his mother was critically ill and he needed money to procure her medication. Out of […]

IT was in the spring of 1974. My letter of admission to Mercy College, DobbsFerry, New York, to study Criminal Justice arrived our Bronx residence, in the presence of an American friend, Meredith. This letter produced an open ambivalence: while I was obviously elated, my friend was totally pensive. Her feeling emanated from the fact that the Jehovah’s Witnesses, to which she belonged, had predicted that Armageddon – the apocalypse that would consume the world – was coming in the winter of that year. She rued the prospect of anyone wasting money and time, entering into a venture at the edge of a precipice.

ADMITTEDLY, our relationship with the West has been defined by undue duplicity. Close to 54 years of our so-called independence, we are still largely in chains. Nigeria’s annual Balance Sheet is perhaps still prepared in Washington, DC. Even in the area of our much touted oil wealth, when the multi-nationals sneeze, Nigeria catches cold because they hold the key to the industry.

NIGERIA, like any other country, needs genuine foreign investors. These investors must be kept under close watch. Otherwise, they could end up doing more harm than good. Occasionally, we must critically re-examine the role of some of the adventurers who come into the country under the guise of investment but with the sole aim of devastating our economy. Their modus operandi is to move in with big capital, plunder the country and leave it in ruins. Meanwhile, they have repatriated, a hundred-fold, the dubious capital they brought in.

TO this villager, going to Benin City from Oghada, a distance of some 64 kilometres, was an annual pilgrimage of sorts. From an early age, I accompanied my parents to the city where they sold yams, the main product from the farm.

WHAT is happening? At the end of last year, President Goodluck Jonathan finally robbed himself of the immense benefits of appearing before the National Assembly to present his Appropriation Bill, thus further whittling down the glamour of his exalted office. This is quite a negative development.

WE wonder for how long our governance will be left at the level of comic relief. In most of the plays of Shakespeare, there are serious acts and scenes. In-between, there are breaks during which jesters are brought on stage to make people laugh and to lighten eyes that are already heavy.

THIS is a spill-over from last week. It is becoming clearer what people mean when they talk of running from pillar to post. In 2011, the ink on President Goodluck Jonathan’s inaugural papers had hardly dried when he started toying with the idea of a single tenure – first, of eight years; then seven years; and finally, six years.

WE still remember the old prayer point: When we were born, we cried and people rejoiced. Our lives should be such that at the point of departure, people should cry while we rejoice into eternity.

OPPOSITION politics can be alluring if played without bitterness. One thing that cannot be easily taken away from EdoState is that she has a large stock of refined opposition politicians.

Who is afraid of the National Assembly? We have no reason to think that our Presidents are not. During the administration of the late President Musa Yar’ Adua, the man developed cold feet whenever it was time to appear before the National Assembly to present his budget proposals.

Some organisations, public and private, are hanging perilously in the air, waiting to drop dead, and die they will, except urgent steps are taken. The idea we have here will benefit from predictions:

Ordinarily, it might be unethical, or at least seemingly immoral, to be prying into a man’s life; except that the moment a man accepts public office, he also accepts to subject his total being to public scrutiny in which case, his life becomes an open book or a farm that cannot be hidden.

Ordinarily, you do not share, with your teeth, the meat you forbid. Our faith in the proposed National Conference is less than a mustard seed. We see it as another diversionary ploy intended to remove the attention of people from the failings of government and the 2015 project.

OIL has since become the mainstay of our economy. But oil is a depleting asset, which means that someday oil wells will dry up. Besides, the entire world is busy seeking alternatives to oil. Essentially, oil will not remain on the king’s throne much longer. Our desire is that oil boom should not degenerateto oil doom.