FOR the first time ever since 2006 when the crime of xenophobia, which had simmered in South Africa over the decades became a major issue, the highly elastic patience of Nigerians snapped last week. They had had enough of the killings and destruction of businesses of their compatriots in South Africa.

FOLLOWING the massive influx of indigenous criminals and strange, foreign elements masquerading as armed killer-herdsmen into our forests and using them as cover, the Governors of the South West and South East, in July 2019 decided to set up security outfits in their respective geopolitical zones.

AS preparations for the November 2019 off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states pick up, the vexed matter of prohibitive and non-refundable expression of interest and nomination fees in the major two political parties – the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP – come back into focus.

THE spate of ethnic profiling and hate speeches rocking the social media should worry all well-meaning Nigerians because it not only diverts attention from the real dangers facing the country, it also shows that the destination to national unity is still very far off.

LAST week, Nigerians woke up to the breaking news of a visa row with the United States. The Donald Trump administration announced that as from Thursday (August 29, 2019) Nigerians whose visa applications were approved would pay extra visa fees ranging from $80 to $303 (depending on the class of visa) in addition to the non-refundable $160 to $260 application fees paid for non-immigrant visas, before they can travel to the US.