THE Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is in a pitiable state it may never recover from, if it continues operating in its current ways. The 14-year-old interventionist agency, while defending its 2014 budget, claimed it had 4,000 uncompleted projects.

LAST month, students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, protested hike in fees. Last week, Lagos State University, LASU, students started picketing the Governor’s Office and disrupting traffic in parts of Lagos. University of Port Harcourt students, this week, protested hike in fees. There are other muted cases.

THE thought that some operators of the Constitution and their cohorts think they are more important than the Constitution is disconcerting – it is actually illegal. Times over, politicians – especially those who are holding elected positions – believe that their agreement is needed for the Constitution to be law.

WOULD Nigerians be able to watch the World Cup at viewing centres? The recent bomb attacks at viewing centres in Mubi and Jos, during football matches, are warnings to the dangers the FIFA World Cup in Brazil could harbour for Nigerian fans.

THERE is more to the military’s clamp down on newspapers than it disclosed in an obviously hurried statement that failed to notice the contradictions in the defence it provided. According to Defence Headquarters, newspaper circulation vans were stopped based on security reports that they were to be used to ferry bombs from the North East to other parts of the country.

NIGERIAN “big men” are drawn to publicity, name-dropping, and anything that could promote their causes, usually self-serving.

CAPACITY building has become a favourite lingo of all who claim to be improving the economy. The abuses can be imagined. Small and medium enterprises are hailed for the promises they hold. The Bank of Industry’s efforts apart, empowerment schemes have become platforms for containing the youth rather than exploring their zeal and passion.

LIBYA has a more dangerous transition phase that is easily overlooked. Muammar Gaddafi’s death 30 months ago has left a country in more turmoil than most opponents of Gaddafi expected.

AN erroneous belief that relevance of oil approximates to the life span of Nigeria’s oil reserves partially fuels the contentment with which the authorities treat diversification of the economy.

EFFORTS to establish applicability of the Freedom of Information Act nationally indicate ineptitude of the National Assembly in stopping the illegalities State Assemblies are perpetrating. They erode powers of the National Assembly.

WE are already in danger of not appreciating the enormity of the loss of lives that Nigeria has witnessed, with varying intensity, since 2010. The statistics flummox us. We strip them of the stories they tell.

THE trite debates about its importance apart, May 29 frightens politicians – it annually reminds them of how close they are to leaving office or worse still, the nearness of the mandatory renewal of their electoral mandate.

IT is possibly only in Nigerian elections that opponents and proponents of candidates proudly offer threats and counter threats as the only selling points of their candidates. We see more threats as politicians jostle for relevance, ahead of elections.

WE delight in ceremonies. We also like the headlines. The vogue is support for the abducted school girls of Chibok. Once they are released, Nigerians would relapse to the child abuse mode the country runs on full time.

SECURITY challenges in the North-East are seen as threats to the 2015 elections. Another threat to elections, beginning with the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, is the legal squabble between the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Fresh Democratic Party, FDP.