OUR annual national honours awards are seen in many quarters as hollow rituals. Yearly, hundreds of people, especially those who have occupied top positions in government, are honoured for purported contributions to the development of Nigeria.

OKWESILIEZE Nwodo, at 60, is embarking on the dangerous path of turning the behemoth called Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to democratic ways. He is searching for converts to the idea of a new PDP that would save Nigeria.

POLICE authorities should worry about acts of indiscipline, corruption and criminality in the Force. The mass posting of police officers to numerous roadblocks, especially in the South East and South South has not deterred violent crimes like kidnapping and armed robbery.

CENTRAL Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi is feeling good enough about how he is managing the banks that his latest foray is electricity tariff in Nigeria.

OUR laws mandate the National Automotive Council, NAC, to initiate policies that would aid the growth of our domestic automobile manufacturing base. NAC generates billions of Naira to carry out its duties from tariffs on imported vehicles.

MUCH furore has attended debates the financial status of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. The much telling of the revelation is the confirmation that NNPC budgets have not been available to the National Assembly since 1999.

WE are expected to applaud the police over measures they have taken after the kidnap of the four journalists. It does not take a discerning observer to note that the prompt attention – by police standards – the incident got was because the kidnapped were from the media.

We are faced with the choice of either compiling a new voters’ register in less than eight weeks or…salvaging the existing register in 16 weeks. Either of the two presents a very difficult choice indeed. – Professor Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, Thursday, July 22.

LAGOS State House of Assembly recently honoured former Governor of Lagos, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande with its Legislative Lifetime Outstanding Performance Award. The Federal Government followed with a national honour for the man who has remained a reference point for developing Lagos, 27 years after he left office.

NIGERIANS would have had a long laugh at the news that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, was embarking on strike. Whether it was NEPA (Never Expect Power Always) or PHCN (Problem Has Changed Name), Nigerians knew what to expect from the organisation – darkness, irregular power supply and excuses that are longer than the River Niger, which is sometimes blamed for its low water levels.