DEMOCRACIES thrive on checks and balances. In the absence of formidable opposition a multi-party democracy can transform into a one party-dominated state, which is a prelude to misgovernance, civilian dictatorship and instability.

THE Federal Character Commission was established through Act No. 34 of 1996 “to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the principles of the proportional sharing of all the bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government”.

ANOTHER round of tension is brewing in the polity following the announcement by the Federal Government that it is remodelling “grazing areas” throughout the country into ranches.

THE setting up of the Creative Industry Financing Initiative, CIFI, by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee to improve access to long-term low-cost financing to entrepreneurs and investors in the Nigerian Creative and Information Technology sub-sector, is both timely and a step in the right direction.

UNSUBSTANTIATED claims of potency of some medicines, both orthodox and traditional, to snare gullible buyers, have been proliferating in our society. The regulatory authorities, since the exit of the late Prof. Dora Akunyili, appear to have gone to sleep in their duties regarding this danger.

THIS year’s World AIDS Day was marked on Sunday, December 1, 2019 with the theme: “Communities Make The Difference”.

TOWARDS the end of the October 2019 deadline for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, of the Federal Government to ensure their staff were enrolled in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the battle line got drawn between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

IN other countries the news that “trillions” of naira were wasted in the past ten to twenty years on the so-called “constituency projects” of the National Assembly should have brought outraged and angry citizens to the streets. But in Nigeria, massive public sector corruption is no longer news, which is very sad!

AFTER the brief burst of optimism for the future of Nigeria’s democracy which trailed the 2015 general elections the sense of gloom seems to have returned.

SINCE the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in association with the Bankers’ Committee announced plans to revive the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu Lagos, and make it a creative hub for harnessing of the abundant creative talents of our young people, all manners of opposition have been raised against this commendable initiative.

THE controversy surrounding the two female members of the National Youths Service Corps, NYSC, recently ejected from their Orientation Camp in Ebonyi State brings out the unsavoury complications that our negative attitude to religion impose on our public lives.

NIGERIA’s presidents since the return of democracy in 1999 have tended to model themselves as chief salesmen of the nation.

A COMMON belief in Nigeria is that when the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, sneeze by way of a strike threat, the rest of the country catches cold.

BY December 15, 2019, the four-year tenure of Dr. William Babatunde Fowler as the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, will officially wind up. The question is: should President Muhammadu Buhari renew Fowler’s tenure or shop for a replacement?

ALL well-meaning Nigerians and committed defenders of our hard-won democracy have every justification to rise in unison against, not just the Hate Speech Bill sponsored by Senator Sabi Abdullahi, but also the Anti-Social Media Bill undergoing attention in the Senate.