At best, the Bakassi situation mirrors the extent of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s administrative incompetence even in handling matters of serious strategic relevance to Nigeria’s national security interest; at worse, it reflects the colonial conundrum – the result of the distortions in Africa’s national and cultural boundaries by, particularly, the Berlin conference where the famous “scramble for Africa” was enacted in the nineteenth century.

I returned from Berlin on Wednesday nightwhere I had participated in the International Festival of Literature courtesy of Ulrich Schreiber, and met another delight: the just released copy of Chinua Achebe’s latest book, There Was A Country lying in wait for me.

Some years ago, in the din of the conflict that had marred its promise, I had written a piece titled “the world Igbo confusion” in great frustration about the direction of the American-based World Igbo Congress (WIC). It had structural problems. Its raison d’etre had also become profoundly watered down to the point where the Igbo in the United States began to see no point in the thing.

Imagine yourself on a Nigerian highway, say the interstate stretch between Enugu and Onitsha. The hazards are many, including uneven corrugations and potholes or craters formed from the culture of neglect of public utilities.

This past Thursday, August 16, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida turned 71. He gave thanks to God. Just as the late K.O. Mbadiwe said of himself in 1983 at his official retirement from national politics, he was no longer “K.O,” said the juggernaut, he was then, “O.K;” Ibrahim Babangida is quite OK; he was satisfied with himself, he told reporters at his Hilltop home in Minna, and it was all the doing of Allah.

Recently, I drew attention to the decay of Aba, arising mostly from the criminal negligence of a city once known for its vitality and industry. I placed much of the blame at the doorsteps of the current T.A. Orji administration in Umuahia, with the caveat, certainly, that rebuilding Aba would require a concert of efforts. I have not shifted from this position. I am in fact more convincedthat the current administration on Okpara Avenue is not only bereft of ideas, it lacks style and consequence.

On Wednesday, this past week, Mr. Edwin Clark, the prominent leader of the Ijaw ethnic group in Nigeria and close confidante of President Goodluck Jonathan took a steady look at matters affecting the nation as the guest speaker at the 2nd “ State of the Federation Lecture” of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in Abuja.

Two nights ago, I was out in Geneva (Switzerland), hanging out with some old friends at a free musical concert at the gardens by Lake Geneva and in the background of Jet d’eau – one of the more remarkable landmarks of this city of landmarks.

Not long ago, the Federal House of Representatives resolved to invite or in fact, summon the President of the Federation of Nigeria to appear before it apparently to explain himself and aspects of his administration’s policy, particularly with regard to the state of insecurity in Nigeria. Wrong move.

The president recently made changes at the top echelon of his national Security advisory staff, and this has, not unexpectedly, attracted all kinds of reactions, most of it, frankly dilatory and ignorant. On return from his Brazilian jamboree, the president summarily removed former National Security Adviser, General Owoeye Azazi, whom he replaced with Mr. Sambo Dasuki, a retired Colonel of the Nigerian Army.