IN many ways, there are close relationships between road networks and the blood vessels in the human body. As the veins and arteries help supply life-giving blood to all parts of the body, we carry our goods and services through roads to all parts of the country.

It mandates them to provide consumers with meters within 30 days of extending their services to them, failing which fines of between N500,000 to one million naira are prescribed, or a six-month jail term or both. It also protects the consumers from arbitrary disconnection.

The main opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has also mounted intense pressures on the Federal Government and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and drawn the attention of the international community to what it described as ploys to “rig” the elections.

IT is hardly surprising that the Borno State Government has resorted to enlisting the services of local hunters to assist in the war against the Boko Haram Islamist insurgents. The recent trip of a delegation of Borno leaders to the Presidential Villa to cry for urgent help to contain the resurgence of terrorism showed a need for extra measures by all stakeholders.

NIGERIANS have been watching with utter bewilderment the increasing, unabashed involvement of Niger Republic in our affairs since 2015.

ON Tuesday, January 29, 2019, Transparency International (TI), which annually monitors corruption in 180 countries around the world, released the result of the Corruption Perception Index of 2018. It showed that Nigeria had “moved up” from its 148th position in the index of 2017 to 144th least corrupt country in 2018.

Traditionally, the government sets the oil price benchmark at about 15 per cent below the ruling market price at the point of budget preparation. It is also important to note that because of our oil-dependency, any significant shift in the oil price benchmark would mess up the budget.

As recently as  January  24, 2019, the US and UK threatened not to issue visas to those identified for abetting election-rigging. The US warned: “We and other democratic nations will be paying close attention to actions of individuals who interfere in the democratic process or instigate violence against the civilian population before, during and after the elections.”

IN May 2017, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, the Most Reverend Matthew Hassan Kukah, offered to train the estimated over ten million street urchins in the Muslim North, popularly known as Almajiris, in skill acquisitions of their choice.

THE purported suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Hon Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari may have put our hard-won democracy in great danger. It was an assault against the Judiciary, the third arm of our presidential democracy; a cynical violation of the principle of separation of powers.

THE purported suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Hon Justice Walter Onnoghen by President Muhammadu Buhari has put our hard-won democracy in great danger. It was a coup against the Judiciary, the third arm of our presidential democracy; a cynical violation of the principle of separation of powers.

While Buhari claimed he was too busy to attend, Atiku cut short his tour of the US and attended only to boycott the exercise when Buhari did not show up. Only Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, Mr. Fela Durotoye and Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili represented their respective political parties at the event which took place at the Congress Hall of the Abuja Hilton.

As expected, Organised Labour and its various affiliates have rejected the N27,000 which officially stands as the new proposed National Minimum Wage, NMW, sent as an Executive Bill to the National Assembly. The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, argues that the two minimum wages negate the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 131 of 1970 which defines equity as the cornerstone of an NMW.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is neither a stranger to letter-writing nor is he a newcomer to controversies. Since he first came to power in 1976 following the assassination of his boss, General Murtala Mohammed, General Obasanjo has bestridden our political firmament; some say like a colossus, while others say like a “monitoring spirit”.

AFTER many years in the cooler, our rail system began to undergo a revival through efforts which began with the President Olusegun Obasanjo regime. Between then and now, strenuous efforts and a lot of money have been invested across several regimes in efforts to enable Nigerians resume using the railway system of transportation.