AFRO musician Fela sang “water e no get enemy”, eulogising the importance of water, but accessing water can produce enemies, and its availability cannot be taken for granted.

TODAY marks the end of the reign of Pope Benedict XVI as the head of the Catholic Church, in a manner like no other. We are witnessing the end of an epoch which last took place 598 years ago – a living Pope is acceding his office.

A DRAFT legislation the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has before the National Assembly, will endanger our liberties, if it becomes law. Titled ‘Draft Lawful Interception of Communications Regulations’, it would allow unhindered access to communications under the guise of security.

NIGERIANS have seen enough mergers to understand them better than those who lead the moves.

THERE are many threats to the Nigerian state. The depletion of her forests and general mismanagement of the environment pose one of the rarely-talked about threats. Nigeria is located in what could be called the epicentre of the tropical rain forest belt, yet nearly 95 per cent of her forest cover has gone through unmitigated mismanagement.

OVER the past couple of years there has been an upsurge in the number of private aircraft acquired by Nigeria’s “high and mighty”.

THE Catholic Church and indeed the world are coming to grips with the fact that Pope Benedict XVI will exit the Papacy by the end of February.

THE Federal Government sets bad examples in managing public assets. The abandoned buildings in Lagos that ministries and other establishments used before re-locating to Abuja stand tall in challenging government to act.

“WHETHER the Chairman of Pension Reform Task Team, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina is in the country or has run away is not as important as the way we handle matters.

GHOST workers are the latest buzz words for governments. Yerima Ngama, Minister of State for Finance sounded triumphant when he announced that 45,000 ghost workers who earned more than N100 billion, had been discovered on the pay roll of the Federal Government after auditing 251 Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, MDAs. There are still 321 MDAs to be audited.

WILL the current debates about how much Nigerians spend on foreign medical treatments achieve anything? Are they meant to stop the practice? If public officers value only their own lives, what should other Nigerians do?

VERY little of recent has shown the Nigerian spirit in its best light as the Super Eagles at the 29th African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

THE on-going Good Governance Tour indicates the authorities recognise the importance of good governance to the exclusion of the federal and local government.

WEEKS after the discovery of dead bodies on the Ezu River in Amansea, Anambra State, it appears the incident would pass with similar official disinterest as that of 10 August 2006 when bodies of 12 robbery suspects the police paraded before the media 24 hours earlier, were dumped at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia.

AFGHANISTAN, Nigeria and Pakistan are the three countries where polio has not been eradicated. The danger they pose to the rest of the world is the source of concern about eradicating the virus that paralyses people within minutes of infection – children are highly at risk.