WHAT follows is a tale of three cities where a culture of lawlessness is being promoted, they are not the only ones.

WHEN the heavy rains descend upon us later this year, nobody can say he or she was not warned enough. On February 13th 2012, Mother Nature herself fired a warning shot through a powerful flash storm that devastated parts of Lagos within a matter of minutes as workers, traders and school pupils hit the roads for the day’s activities.

WE are too poor to know what poverty means. We are poorer than most accepted statistical tools capture. How does one represent poverty of the mind, the greatest obstacle to the growth?

MONDAY February 13, leaders and governors of states in the South-West geo-political zone comprising Lagos, Ogun Oyo, Ondo, Osun, and Ekiti states gathered in the zone’s capital, Ibadan, to strategise for a roadmap into the future.

IT is with total delight and appreciation that we note the increasing capacity of our law enforcement agencies to come to terms with the unusual terrorist challenges posed to the nation by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in various parts of northern Nigeria.

THE University of Benin is unique in several ways. From its setting in the cultural milieu that borrows extensively from the ancient Benin Kingdom to its location that makes it a melting point for the various ethnic nationalities that surround the city, it has famed itself as a centre of academic endeavours with strong alumni to show for its efforts.

IS there a prize for policemen who gun down unarmed civilians? What motivates the police to shoot unarmed, peaceful protesters? These questions are not new. We are asking them again because there have been no answers.

CONTEMPT of court is a serious offence if seen from the prism of its capabilities to weaken the judiciary and minimise its abilities to deliver justice to all parties without fear or favour.

CONCERNS about the future of Nigeria are growing. Many groups have rekindled the demand for conference or summit to re-shape the country. Most of the attention has been on the 1999 Constitution, which begins with a fallacy.

SECURITY people get away with anything under the pretence that they have more information than the public. Where this ploy fails, they become vicious, searching for soft targets on which to vent their anger.

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan remains a surprise. He was not different on Friday when he broke his long silence on the disputation between him and Bayelsa State Governor Chief Timipre Sylva. It was all about a hotel, an un-built hotel.

FOR years, Nigerians have been desirous of a quick fix for the challenges the country faces. They range from the economy to security. All these challenges are related to the constitutional contraptions that replaced the regional governments that operated until the military intervention in 1966.

TWO governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria – one serving, one retired – have justifications for Boko Haram’s unleashing of bombs on Nigeria. Without those reasons, the bombing would presumably stop.

THE $200 million new headquarters of the African Union – a gift from China – is another confirmation of the continent’s inability to get things done by itself. Almost 50 years after the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, the AU’s forebear, the continent could not afford the AU’s new edifice that has cast a permanent role for China in Africa.

MEMORIES of what transpired at Ikeja Cantonment on 27 January, 10 years ago, are vastly being eroded by time and conspiracy to minimise the extent of the neglect that cost thousands of lives and more.