THIRTY-NINE years of continuous wars, a referendum that came four years after the papers were signed, South Sudan on Saturday became the world’s newest country, with all the hopes and aspirations of independence. The national anthem above captures those ambitions in crisp terms.

WE are a country of debaters. The issues do not matter, the personalities are unimportant – knowledge is the least of the considerations in these engagements that are remarkable for their tendency to heighten tension in the country.

THE Senate has kept its promise of making the screening exercise comfortable for ministerial nominees. Days before the exercise started, a senator had hinted that only enemies of the country would oppose the nominees. With such blatant blackmail, what is going on should not surprise anyone.

WE predicted the Minimum Wage Act was more of political gimmick to rein in workers’ votes. The elections were too close for anyone to oppose labour openly.

THE army’s trial and punishment of Lance Corporal Sunday Ayodeji should be commended for the possibilities it holds for army-civilian relationships. The army said it was not party to its personnel misbehaving in public and challenged the public to alert authorities of further breaches.

WHAT most Nigerians dreaded, about the screening of ministers, the men and women President Goodluck Jonathan would use to implement his transformation agenda, is about coming true, the screening will not be thorough.

DAVID Bonaventure Achelenu Mark, senate president for a historic second term, has another chance at becoming a famous democrat.
After establishing control of the Senate, we had thought he would use the huge goodwill he has generated in addressing issues that would strengthen the federation. No, he is returning to his primal desires of creating States.

WE predicted the Minimum Wage Act was more of political gimmick to rein in workers’ votes. The elections were too close for anyone to oppose labour openly.

IN the past week, four incidents in three countries detailed the killing attention African governments give education. We do not believe the cases are isolated. Only their devastating consequences vary from one country to the other.

IT is fairly easy to guess why everyone wants to be a Minister in the cabinet that is in the works. The focus may be the resources Ministers control and the powers that flow from allocating the resources.

PROMISES raise our hope, increase our confidence, and change our attitude to situations. Our reactions to promises depend on who made them and the circumstances that produced them.

SOMETHING happens to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo each time he travels abroad, he speaks in ways that cut an image of the Obasanjo that Nigerians never know, though he was a military Head of State for three years and a civilian President for eight years.

INTENTIONS, no matter how noble they may seem, are no longer enough as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, would have discovered in its most recent conduct of examinations into universities.

OUR security agencies are becoming an embarrassment. President Goodluck Jonathan compounds the situation by excusing the lapses. According to him, the bombs that have been going off in Nigeria were the country’s portion of the rise in global terrorism.

THOSE who have canvassed part-time legislatures have a point as the long recesses, high costs of maintaining legislators and their low contributions to the society are showing.