THE proposed N15.8 billion National Emergency Relief Programme, with the bulk expected to be invested in the rehabilitation of the North East, is a major proposal in countering the effects of the insecurity’ in the region. It must be stated that the amount would prove inadequate for the damage long drawn security challenges have visited in the area.

EVERY administration claims it has concerns about prison decongestion. Many conferences and seminars down the road, the prisons are more congested. The slow pace of judicial processes is guaranteed to keep them over flowing.

NUMEROUS assurances that Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Ekiti would be free and fair, are not enough to address fears that malpractices could mar the election. The serial failure of the police and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in stopping electoral malpractices has reached a point where their assurances elicit indifference.

CONCERNS about the future of Nigeria are growing. Many groups talk about Nigeria without attention to rectifying the issues. The 1999 Constitution, which some have pointed out, began with a fallacy, bears the brunt of the blames for our collective.

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.