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.

Codeine has joined the ranks of other toxic drugs such as tramadol, the sniffing of glues and pit toilets, and queer admixtures of toxic substances (which in urban slang is referred to as “science student”) to create the picture of a drug abuse time-bomb waiting to explode.

Complicating the workers’ minimum wage conundrum is the fact that the Federal and state governments spend about 70 per cent of their annual budgets on overheads, including salaries and pensions, leaving very little for development