THE Africa Cup of Nations began on Saturday without Nigeria – the defending champion. Some Nigerians consider Nigeria’s absence from the championship painful. Nigerians would watch from the sidelines, following the inability of the Eagles to qualify, something some rate as a tragedy.

MOBILE telecommunication services, which Nigerians have relied on for the past 14 years, are probably at their worst state since the teething problems. The lingering issues of dropped calls, unsolicited messages, voice clarity and access to certain parts of the country have tasked subscribers’ patience. Several things have been blamed for the situation. The telecommunication companies say poor infrastructure and vandalisation of their equipment are responsible for poor services. Consumers blame the companies for selling more services than their infrastructure can support. The regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, tries to tackle these issues, but wider collaborations are important

HUNGER can do things to an individual. He could get angry, go for anything to quash the hunger, without minding the conditions, or hold on to his convictions, no matter what. Many of our politicians are hungry for power, just like ordinary Nigerians need food, water, health services, jobs.

The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government – Section 14 (2b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

THE number of meetings Nigerians convene to save their country is impressive. What is disturbing is that these meetings achieve nothing, though some would argue that if things remain as they are, with all the meetings, they would have been worse without discussions about the future of Nigeria.

NIGERIAN party politics since civil rule in 1999 has been dominated by factions, internal crises, irreconcilable differences, open disagreements among members of the same party, especially those in high public offices. Three parties at the starting line – Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the All Peoples Party, APP, later All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, and the Alliance for Democracy, AD in 1999 – morphed at a point to more than 50 parties. Their politics is indiscernible.

IT is amazing how Nigerians arrive at their decisions about how they would vote in the elections that are just weeks away. Neither the presidential nor the governorship candidates are saying why they want to be in office outside the trite line on change. The way things are going, it seems that the candidates are talking about change for themselves, not any of us, on whose behalf they claim they want to be in office.

THERE are great reasons for concerns about Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari, and any doubtful credentials in his forms for the 2015 presidential election. In an affidavit, Buhari told the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that all his academic credentials were with the Military Board.

TWENTY-THREE states — Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Ondo, Osun, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara — voted against local government financial autonomy. Their votes meant the required two-third majority required to change the law was not met.

EVERYTHING is possible during campaigns. However, there is a lot that we can learn if we pay more attention to campaigns for the 2015 elections, especially the presidential one, where all the verve seems to b