PROPOSED amendments to the Constitution are the latest efforts to creating a “working” Nigeria, a country where the burdensomeness of politics is replaced with practical lawful steps to enhance the efficiency in governance.

PROBLEMS associated with multiple taxation are almost as old as Nigeria, yet when multiple taxation is discussed, many think they affect only businesses. We are all victims of multiple taxation, and unlike businesses that can pass on the tax to their clients, individuals bear their damaging impact directly.

IT is time politicians told us their plans for the Nigerian child. Politicians speak mostly about the future on realising that they have ignored Nigeria’s present in their sustained search for personal interests. The rights of the Nigerian child, which Child Rights Act 2003, CRA, broadly covers are observed mostly with breaches. Will Nigeria’s future be built without children?

POLITICS is replacing the attention our country needs to make progress. The biggest casualty is the people. Politics should focus on the collective future of Nigeria.

ABUJA is threatened by its fame as the place where all the opportunities are, especially for making quick money. Hundreds of thousands of Nigerians have their eyes set on Abuja. They have heard that once there, they can make something for themselves.

NIGERIA is populated by leaders. We probably have more leaders than the led. Everywhere you turn, there is a leader, where he leads, and his ideas of leadership do not seem to be issues that bother the people.

FORMER Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon is 80. Time really flies. The image of Gowon, in the minds of those who lived through the Civil War, was of a dashing officer, not one to be associated with 80 years and its frailties. Gowon has been known for his openness on some issues. His admission of his ill-preparedness to lead Nigeria was one.

PREPARATIONS for the 2015 elections again raise the issue of the highly monetised nature of Nigerian politics. It gets worse each political season.

NIGERIANS and their democracy are unique. If elsewhere people delight in the capacities of their government to deepen their liberties, broaden opportunities, our democracy is delivered as structures, visible and tangible. We call them dividends of democracy.

CAN we imagine our world without teachers? October 5, World Teachers’ Day passed quietly. Nigerians consider teachers important. Sadly, the importance is only in words.

THUGS understand the business of violence. The boldness that has grown from not punishing them is evident in the havoc they are causing. They are appropriating space, the law watches.

HOW many prison breaks would it take to secure our prisons? Like in Akure in July 2013, where armed robbers let 175 criminals loose, while freeing their colleagues, last week’s incident in Kirikiri, Nigeria’s prime jail, Kirikiri would soon be history.

THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Director of Voter Registry, Mr. Emmanuel Akem, recently said potential voters who failed to obtain their permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) by December 2014 would not be allowed to vote in the 2015 general elections.

BASKING in the universal acclamation of Nigeria for setting the pace in the containment of the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD), the Federal Government’s decision to set up an international Ebola Volunteers group comes highly commended.

BY now, it must be abundantly clear to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that its proposed allocation of extra polling units to the various states of the federation is unpopular and has been rejected by the generality of Nigerians.