I have been told that the Imo State governor, Mr. Ikedi Ohakim has written some books on Marketing. Jolly well, I’d say! No wonder he is busy selling snake oil in Imo state. Marketing and advertising proposed sites as the great achievements of his three-years in Imo state requires a certain kind of talent for obfuscation.

He reminds us why Nigeria has no reason to celebrate a 50th Independence celebration. That Nigeria is, afterall, still not free. That its political freedom is an illusion created to deceive, and that its lack of political freedom is the cause of its terrible underdevelopment, which demands from us to raise this question: “who governs Nigeria?” and that the answer to this question should naturally compel Nigerians to begin the second phase of the anticolonial nationalist movement. We have wasted half a century.

The legislature is the weakest link in Nigeria’s current democratic experiment. Its weakness derives in part from the many years of military rule which disorganized the rules of conduct as well as the values of debate necessary for a robust parliamentary culture.

Close to One Trillion Dollars worth of oil profits later, the Niger Delta is in the end an ecological Armageddon. It fits perfectly into what the Canadian journalist and author, Naomi Klein, would describe as evidence of the consequences of “disaster capitalism.”

Eastern Nigeria is endowed greatly with human and material resources. The energy and dynamism of its population could propel it, given right conditions, to tremendous economic and social growth that could rival India, China, Brazil, and have implications for the Central West African corridor, right down to the Congo.

Eastern Nigeria is endowed greatly with human and material resources. The energy and dynamism of its population could propel it, given right conditions, to tremendous economic and social growth that could rival India, China, Brazil, and have implications for the Central West African corridor, right down to the Congo.

There are assessment and evaluation issues at stake. But of great concern to me is the relationship between universities and the production of the labour force. Why private universities? What is the great need? Nigerian universities produce a great number of graduates annually who are mostly unemployed. Private universities simply max out Nigeria’s unemployment statistics by churning out more into the labour market.

Mr. Bello Adoke had challenged a pressure group of transparency and anti-corruption advocates who are pushing for the prosecution of former military president, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida over allegations of corrupt handling of the said $12.4 oil windfall. Last week, the Attorney-General pledged, in a letter to the group that he would set up a committee to ascertain the veracity of the report, review the allegation, and if there’s any meat in it possibly commence a criminal charge of the former military dictator.

Last year in Burlington, Vermont, I met a young Nigerian woman studying at Princeton who once loved visiting her ancestral home in Owerrinta, but who told me, “I’m not likely to visit again and that makes me sad.” Her parents will not permit her from all the news about kidnappings that they have heard from reports both in the media and by friends of theirs.

He enjoyed a rich professional life, rising to Director of Public Works and Permanent Secretary in the old Western Nigerian government. He left his civil service position in 1966 as permanent secretary and embarked on the academic life, joining the Engineering department of the University of Lagos where he also enjoyed a fruitful career.