LIVES, so many, have been lost in sectional and sectarian clashes in Plateau State since last January. In the midst of these, all we get are squabbles about the figures, about shameless loopholes in our security and intelligence gathering methods and the obvious admission of governments that they would do nothing about the deaths of innocent women, children, the aged and some men, whose only crime could be that they live in a country where lives mean nothing.

THESE days the people of the Niger Delta are more frustrated at the little they get in return for their peace efforts. There is impatience at the pace of the authorities in Abuja in addressing the challenges of living in environments which oil and gas production has despoiled for more than 50 years.

TODAY’s gathering in Warri marks another of the many efforts to search for sustainable peace in the Niger Delta, a region that suffers from rampaging poverty ironically fuelled by the oil and gas exploration that oils the nation’s economy.

NIGERIANS are getting to the reality that every part of the country wants to free space and whatever resources it can for itself. The arguments are not about who settlers are and who are the indigenes, they are about the fact that Nigerians are now grappling with issues of citizenship. It is an issue that deserves handling with uttermost sensibility and sensitivity.

THE Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC, last week launched the final phases of a transformation that would make it more transparent, more accountable, and ultimately a provider of better services to the public. On paper the transformation plans are sound, what remains is their implementation.