The dismal state of the sector is obvious in the disjointed nature of the various transport modes. There is little connectedness and synergy among the various modes of transport as obtained in the developed world.

RAMADAN is here again, the blessed month in which Allah showers His mercy and blessings upon His servants. In the month, the Holy Quran was revealed and there is a night of power, better than a thousand months. The gates of heaven are opened and the gates of hellfire are shut, the devils are chained and the believers’ sins are forgiven.

ON Friday 18th 2018, the Nigerian Army made public the findings of the panel it set up to investigate allegations of partiality levelled against it by a former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt-Gen Theophilus Danjuma and some groups in its ongoing operations to curb killings by armed herdsmen and other bandits in the Middle Belt and other parts of the country.

We caution, however, that no one should politicise the tragedy wrought  by the armed herdsmen attacks on innocent citizens. It is true that the Federal Government sat on its palms for long while these herdsmen attacked and set fire to communities, destroyed farms and food barns, killed hundreds of people without mercy and sent thousands from their homes into refugee camps.

The President Muhammadu Buhari administration has a heavy moral burden in ensuring that Miss Sharibu is returned to her family safe and sound and as quickly as possible. In the first place, it was unconscionable that the Dapchi girls’ abduction should have taken place even while the sad chapter on the Chibok schoolgirls had yet to be closed.

But more important is the expected easing of pressure on foreign currency reserves and exchange rate in Nigeria. This may not be so critical now that foreign reserve is on bumper profile but when placed at the time the idea was conceived, Nigeria really needed such agreement to stay alive in international trade.

THE current indefinite strike action by health workers under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, is an unwanted, negative development for us.  

THE controversy over the intention of the President Muhammadu Buhari regime to spend $496 million (about N179 billion) on the purchase of military aircraft from the United States without prior legislative approval shows we are still struggling to transit from military to democratic rule.

The wildfire spread of mobile phone use even as it runs mostly on generated power has impacted hugely on the economy, largely through infrastructure emplacement and employment generation. Relative to the entire population, it can be said that very few Nigerians lack access to telephony.

The NNPC boss explained that to end gas flaring in future, all companies must submit Field Development Plans, FDPs, to the industry regulator, the Department Petroleum Resources, DPR, which must be accompanied with viable and executable gas utilisation plans.

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris, refusal to appear before the Senate on the spate of killings across the country and the inhuman treatment allegedly meted out to Dino Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, the Senate, vote of no confidence on the IGP, declaring him unfit for any office.

When President Buhari assumed the post of Minister of Petroleum Resources, it was justified on the ground that as a former holder of that portfolio 40 years ago, he had the experience to sanitise the sector. During the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, over N6 trillion was spent on fuel imports between 2010 and 2015, with allegations of massive corruption trailing it.

We believe this arrangement is untidy and immoral. Public office is not a personal patrimony of anyone. We strongly believe that once an appointed occupant of a public office becomes ambitious to run for election, he or she should quit to devote full attention to the new pursuit.

NIGERIA is languishing at the bottom of best practices in most areas of human endeavours. These are grave indications that this country is being poorly run, and this has nothing to do with particular political parties or regimes. This country is sitting precariously on wrong foundations and truly needs restructuring and redirection.

We are even more puzzled that, according to Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja (the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA) the Agency paid a whopping N400 million in demurrage to clear the said rice valued at N414 million. Maihaja is also under the House Committee’s radar for allegedly awarding N1.6 billion contracts to non-existing companies.