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.