THERE are hardly new reasons to adduce for the removal of fuel subsidy, except that the huge figures associated with the opaque practice are increasing in an economy that is almost on its belly. In simple terms, the burden of subsidising fuel is too heavy for the economy. The people, who the economy should serve, have their reasons for asking for subsidy.

SOKA, Oyo State, on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, made the map last year when police said they uncovered a den of kidnappers there. The graphic images of the discoveries were causes for concern. Public expectations that the police would investigate the matter were dashed.

IT is easy to misunderstand any position on Nigerians who are literally toying with their lives – and dying in the process. Some are trafficking drugs; if they are caught in some Asian countries they have procured death for themselves. Others make the long, dangerous and torturous journey to Europe through illegal routes in the Sahara Desert. If they survive, they could still perish at sea, crossing into Europe in over-loaded boats that hardly withstand the turbulent waters of the Mediterranean.

NIGERIANS have invested so much effort in discussing what legislators earn that the bigger question about what they do is rarely considered. This is not a debate on return on investment – if resources deployed to legislators could be so addressed – but an inquiry into what all arms of government do. Our grudges with legislators are mostly personal.

A CLOSER look at the last laws the previous National Assembly passed in its final sitting reveals a trap – one of the most applauded laws, the stiff sentences against rape and sexual abuse, supports child marriages. It is a legal assault on our future.