The news came like a thunderbolt, and it is almost unbelievable, at least to those who are exposed to the normal ways governments are run in other climes. Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue, Mr Babatunde Fowler, has disclosed that only 13.4 million, or about 16 per cent of an estimated population of 180 million Nigerians (out of which about 80 per cent are adults) pay their taxes.

Tomorrow, Saturday 10th December 2016, will mark the third attempt at concluding the Rivers State elections which started (and ended for most of the states of the Federation) in the March and April, 2015 general elections. But the case of Rivers State was different in that all the senators and all but one of the 13 members of the House of Representatives members were annulled at the electoral tribunals. Similarly, some of the House of Assembly seats were declared vacant.

It is pleasantly surprising to note the peace and calm which have followed the gubernatorial election in Ondo State over the past weekend in spite of the heat and vapour that characterised the electioneering activities. This follows in the pattern of a similar election which took place in neighbouring Edo State only two months ago.

THE Federal Government has, for a long time, demonstrated the scriptural allegory of “the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing”. Perhaps, it has to do with its ponderous, oversizeded nature, which has led many commentators to recommend a serious downsizing or devolution of powers to enable governance run smoothly and produce desirable results.

Every member of the Buhari administration who has spoken about the current recession has assured Nigerians that the recession will end “very soon”. Unfortunately, (typical of government in our climes) no one has defined the time frame meant by very soon – leaving the officials an escape route in the event that nothing happens for a year or more.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, (more popularly known worldwide as Fidel Castro) who ruled the Republic of Cuba for 47 years, was one of the most outstanding personalities of the 20th Century. On Friday, 25th of November 2016, he passed on at the ripe age of 90, ten years after handing over the mantle of leadership to his younger brother, Raul Castro.

On Wednesday, November 23, 2016, the Senate once again rejected the Federal Government’s draft budget for 2017. In addition, they condemned the 2017 to 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) as well as the Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) which accompanied it. Many of the lawmakers were also in support of sending the entire MTEF package back to the Presidency

On Monday, November 21, 2016, the newspapers reported that allocations to the Federal, state and local governments had lost N31.8 billion compared to the September figure. The next day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that the economy had shrunk by 2.24 per cent in the third quarter, worse than the second quarter.

The Governor of Ebonyi State, Mr Dave Umahi, told a delegation of military officers from the Command and Staff College, Jaji on a courtesy call on him, that he would lead a task force of senior government officials to enforce the ban on foreign rice in markets throughout his state.

Minister of Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung, has once again, proved his critics right in seeing him as an unfit person to head our Sports Ministry at this stage of our development.