FIVE years ago, the high cost of governments was a hot issue. The principal concern was the jumbo pay the National Assembly instituted for its privileged 469 members. Once the debate extended to other areas of government, it died. The Presidential Advisory Council, PAC, suggested reduction in the number of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

ELECTIONS have been confirmed for February 2015, less than two months away since the first series would hold on February 14. We expected politicians would have deemed it important to start engaging the people in discussions about their future, about the competence they are providing as leaders and their expectations from those they lead.

FOCUS has been on the terrorists that have been attacking the North East, but a new set of terrorists have emerged, though ignored, they are cutting off whatever ameliorations are planned for victims of terror. The new terrorists disrupt aids meant for victims of terror. They are not new to their game, they only change garbs.

THE increasing cruelties our society harbours have moved to insistent assaults on children by guardians, who descend on their wards with the most puerile excuses.Gory media images of children dismembered, beaten to death, with shrivelled fingers, or reduced to skeletons are becoming common.

EFFORTS to apply the 2011 Freedom of Information Act, FOIA and 2003 Child Rights Act, CRA, nationally, indicate that Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and All Peoples Congress, APC, – Nigeria’s major political parties – reject these laws primed on accountability and Nigeria’s future.

OUR country is in more danger each day. Every move to pull her from the brink is set for ruination by those who think that the country is all about them. They have narrowed issues to a few politicians, instead of the larger interests of Nigerians, without which the country would remain mired in its many challenges.

MINISTER of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, is alarmed at the depth of corruption among university graduates. He wondered about the situation during an assessment visit to the University of Lagos. Does Mallam Shekarau live in Nigeria?

BETWEEN November 2 and December 6, criminals struck at prisons in Koton Karfe, Kogi State, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State and Minna, Niger State, leading to escape of 695 convicted criminals. A similar break in Akure last year, freed 175 criminals.

FIDELITY is not an attribute of Nigerian politicians. The ease with which they jump from one political party to the other removes all doubts that the politician believes only in himself and causes that foster his expansive interests.

CORRUPTION is a global problem with various dimensions that many do not realise. The United Nations, UN, admits that much in its attempted definition of corruption and its consequences.

THE All Progressives Congress, APC, had to extract an undertaking from its aspirants ahead of today’s APC presidential congress at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos. They have promised to remain APC members no matter who wins. Our quick sand politics has latitudes that accommodate tendencies, especially changing camps when we lose positions.

THE “Memorandum on Interaction and Cooperation” which Nigerian government officials signed with their counterparts from the Russia Federation should mark a turning point in efforts to confront internal security challenges, which the international community, at the instance of the United States of America, refused to pay any attention.

OUR politicians are the same. They want to serve us. They seek any platform to serve us. They insist on serving us. To achieve their burning desire, they break rules, even the rules of the parties through which they want to access power. Their understanding is that power is so important that they should do anything to acquire it.

MORE than two years after he was impeached, the Supreme Court on 21 November ordered immediate reinstatement of the former Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Sanni Abubakar Danladi. The court was unanimous in its judgment, that the impeachment panel the Taraba House of Assembly set up to investigate allegations against Danladi violated his rights to fair hearing.

WHEN cocksure governors complain about others obstructing their political space, we are again reminded – as if it really matters for more than a few moments – that we are all human, with needs, including the need for others. The issue at stake is the seemingly small matter of representation at the Senate, where some governors want as retreat after eight years of executive control of their States.