SINCE it was established in 1999 via Decree (now Act) 35 of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has been tasked with the overall goal of enhancing access to quality and affordable health care for all Nigerians. This scheme eventually saw the light of day 27 years after it was first mooted in 1962 as the Lagos Health Bill.

AS the deadline for the ongoing military operations to clear the North East of the menace of Boko Haram Islamist terrorists draws nearer, the Federal Government is set to empanel a national conference to generate ideas, strategies and momentum for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the nation’s embattled frontier.

FOR a decade and a half, since 2000, Nigeria’s response towards the attainment of the eight international goals and 21 individual targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) has been the focal point of social and developmental agenda at local, state, and national levels.

NIGERIA can overcome slowing growth with spending as the government plans to create a $25 billion fund combining public and private financing to develop infrastructure, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. This is heartwarming at a time of great fear that the economy might slide into recession.

FOR a decade and a half, since 2000, Nigeria’s response towards the attainment of the eight international goals and 21 individual targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been the focal point of social and developmental agenda at local, state, and national levels.

IN what appears as a sharp departure from the common trend, a ministerial nominee, Mr Adebayo Shittu, while being screened at the Senate, took time to lecture Nigerians on the need to eschew mere religiosity and embrace Godly living. According to him, what most Nigerians practice is nothing but empty religion that does not reflect positively on their behaviours.

LAST week Tuesday, October 20, 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari braved a heavy downpour to perform the groundbreaking rites of an ambitious project that has now come to be known as the Cross River State Superhighway.

ALHAJI Tanko Al Makura, the Governor of Nasarawa State, has decided to shrug off criticisms and build a cargo airport in the state capital, Lafia. He has already signed a memorandum of understanding with a Chinese company, Tongyi Engineering Group, towards the actualisation of his dream.

THE motion raised by Senator Oluremi Tinubu on the floor of the Senate recently about the need for the Federal Government to expedite action on the rehabilitation of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway must be seen as a national priority.

ON Friday October 16, 2015, leading members of corporate Nigeria, family members and well-wishers gathered in Lagos to bid farewell to a man who had variously been described as Mr Clean, Mr Integrity, Mr Straight and Mr Honesty.

VICE President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, recently disclosed the intention of the Federal Government to set up a communication centre to provide adequate information to counter the violent propaganda of Boko Haram Islamist insurgents.

Dare-devil armed robbers recently invaded a bank in FESTAC area of Lagos. Numbering over 40 and clad in military camouflage, they operated unchallenged for hours, carting away millions of Naira. Three lives were lost, including a mother and her toddler.

In true African culture and tradition, children are valued beyond silver and gold. It is one of the tragedies of “modernity” that children have now become “commodities” criminally bought and sold by evil rings of hustlers who operate what are cynically referred to as “baby factories”.

AT the recent Financial Times Africa Summit in London Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele, defended his foreign exchange policy, which has tended towards administrative controls since the begining of this year. He had contended that the policy had so far ensured relative stability in the foreign exchange market and the value of the Naira against major world currencies.

A MAJOR talking point in the global media at the moment is the tragic but avoidable death of over 1,000 pilgrims in the Saudi city of Mina on September 24, 2015. They were among thousands of Muslims from different parts of the world who converged on the holy city of Mecca for this year’s Hajj.