SINCE the President Muhammadu Buhari regime assumed power over three years ago it has tended to pay serious attention to the deleterious effects of climate change in the Northern extremes of the country, especially the rapidly-disappearing Lake Chad. The President has addressed at least two major international fora, calling for urgent measures to resuscitate the lake which was once home to millions of people who have now been displaced.

We are waiting impatiently for the Presidency to also affirm these attacks as “genocide” and immediately mobilise the armed forces to move in and bring the aggressors and their sponsors under the full weight of our laws.

In spite of the open anti-corruption stance of the current Amnesty Coordinator and Presidential Adviser, Professor Quaker Dokubo, committees he set up to evaluate all the sectors of the Programme still discovered that only 314 out of 1,061 students slated to participate in the programme for the 2017/2018 session were actually found in the database of the Amnesty Programme.

During the trial, many meanings were read into the case. With the lawmaker insisting on being innocent and the anti-graft agency countering that he had cases to answer, the Saraki case dominated public discourse for nearly three years. The lawmaker bore his cross and faced his trial squarely.

AS autonomous bodies, regulatory agencies empowered to oversee particular sectors of the polity should ordinarily be seen to be well above-board. When functionaries of such agencies are upright and conduct their operations through best practices, it boosts confidence in the sector.

THIS  year’s ongoing Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) World Cup, which will be winding up in Russia this weekend, has lived up to the quadrennial soccer extravaganza’s reputation as a showpiece of colour, glamour, culture, global unity in diversity, competitiveness and triumphs in “the beautiful game”.

The call became necessary because the wheel of justice is extraordinarily slow in Nigeria. It is even slower when it comes to the trial of big-time corruption cases, especially politically-exposed persons and bankers who capitalise on the slow judicial process and elements within the anti-graft agencies to frustrate the anti-corruption war.

The present stand-off where a FAAC meeting had to be suspended indefinitely has the potential of addressing the fiscal irresponsibility that has been bedeviling Nigeria’s public finance for too long, at least to some extent. We hope this opportunity should not be missed to reconnect fully with the principles of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which has been eroded.

President Muhammadu Buhari is the first Nigerian leader to appoint individuals reportedly close to him into the INEC which will conduct elections in which he and his direct interests will be involved. The notion of “independence” has traditionally been underscored by the fact that before Buhari, Presidents tended to appoint the Chief Electoral Officer of the Federation from regions other than theirs.

Many of them who did not bother to hide their identities were recorded on videos which went viral on worldwide networks. In a dramatic attempt at damage control, however, Police Spokesman, Moshood declared: “The Force wishes to categorically state that it is not correct that police personnel protested in Maiduguri today, July 2nd 2018.

DRUG addiction and substance abuse in Nigeria has become an epidemic, especially among the youth. As Nigeria joined the world to mark the Drug Abuse Awareness Day last week, the burden of drug abuse and addiction calls for sober reflection because of its magnitude.

The tanker explosion on the Michael Otedola Bridge outbound Lagos on Thursday June 28, 2018 which claimed at least nine lives and destroyed 50 vehicles was obviously an offshoot of a faulty juggernaut laden with petrol. Reports have it that the vehicle could not complete the action of climbing the bridge and had to roll back and hence the tragedy.

We would like to believe that this disclosure was meant to fly a kite and test the waters of public opinion as to whether Nigerians are supportive of the so-called MOU. If that is the case, then let it be known that no MOU signed with any foreign country with regard to the spending of Nigeria’s public funds can override the constitution and the laws of the country.

There is still so much hunger, unemployment, poor power supply and insecurity linked to insurgency, herdsmen’s attacks and criminal banditry. A large number of people who operate in the agricultural sector has been displaced and the law-enforcement agents appear unable to cope.

Already, some of the states listed for the pilot programme, such as Ebonyi and Benue, have rejected it outright. Also, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, has issued a statement rebuffing the proposal. These are clear signs that this manner of pursuing the ranching programme will not promote peace in the states where it is being rejected.