A RASH of concerns sprouted after the kidnapping of Professor Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Her release after five days’ captivity, under unclear circumstances, is being celebrated as victory for the perspicacity of the security agencies whose conflicting tales of the operations is another story. Her release is “a miracle”, according to her elated daughter.

IF something would be remembered about the naval helicopter that went down on Saturday with Governor Patrick Yakowa, General Andrew Owoye Azazi, former National Security Adviser, and four others, it would be how they died.

WORDS are cheap. No wonder people use them without considering their impact or consequences of not keeping them, when they are promises.

THINGS are getting out of hand with our public accounting system. We are unwilling to do a thing about it because the money involved is the public’s, and where it is for pensions, the expectation could be that pensioners, should have helped themselves to public funds in service.

THINGS are getting out of hand with our public accounting system. We are unwilling to do a thing about it because the money involved is the public’s, and where it is for pensions, the expectation could be that pensioners, should have helped themselves to public funds in service.

BUDGET defences give us rare opportunity to behold wastes in government. Possibly worse is the adamancy of government officials in defending their preferences for their comfort at our collective expense.

AFTER the 3rd May 2012 murder of the former Private Secretary to the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, police arrested one of his closest friends, Reverend David Ugolor, as the allegedly sponsor of the assassination.

WHEN Nigerian security operatives talk, Nigeria’s security challenges become more terrifying. We have security agents who do not understand the implications of what they say. The matter is getting out of hand particularly as the highest echelons of the agencies indulge in the practice.

DEREGULATION, Vice President Namadi Sambo said, was so critical to the survival of the economy, that there was no alternative to it. These arguments have been on for decades. For its proponents, deregulation means abdication of government’s responsibilities to its people.

IF providing food is about talking, Nigerians would have no problems meeting their needs whether in 2013 or years to come. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has been issuing assurances since the floods that there would be no food shortage.