UNLIKE some fora where one can easily tell what to expect as the event proceeds, this one was different. Neither did the presence of various national figures in traditional attires, on the high table, give a clue as to what the gathering was about.

The nine states that make up the interventionist constituency of the Niger Delta Development Commission has since last month been taking turns to play host to top officials of the Commission on projects inspection tours of these states. Recently, it was the turn of Imo State that prides itself as the Eastern Heartland. But after a tour that took the NDDC delegation round some project sites, the unequivocal verdict was: Poor job all the way.

BENUE State enjoys the privilege of being the host of River Benue which of one of the longest rivers in the Nigeria with its supposed attendant benefits especially in the area of provision of potable water for the teeming populace.

OMUGO is an Igbo word which finds relevance in allmost all Nigerian tribes.It is an exercise every Nigerian mother looks forward to with enthusiasm. So, what is Omugo? It is a mother’s visit to her daughter, who has just been delivered of a baby. The aim of the visit is to care for mother and child.

Instructively, United Nations Declaration against Torture, recognises it as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity”.

When Mrs. Taiwo Agbaje announced to her family that she was applying for the Female Drivers’ Scheme at the Lagos State Waste Management Authority, LAWMA, little did she know what the future held for her. Now, not only does she drive a truck but takes pride in ridding the state of waste that threatened to become the new face of Lagos.

Dr. Olushola Atilola is the immediate past National President of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS). In this interview with Kingsley Adegboye before he handed over to a new helmsman. He bares his mind on his tenure, the GIS system, land reforms among other topical issues. Excerpts:

The argument in certain quarters is that the call for Yerima’s ‘head’ would be for nothing since, as it is, he is hiding under a religious guise to commit this heinous ‘sin’.

Mr. Uzodimma Onu is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Uzotex Arts, an outfit dedicated to various works of art like sculpture, painting, designing etc. Recently, the consummate artist who has his head office in Onitsha, Anambra State, spoke to Financial Vanguard on his work.

Perhaps, Matthew Okikiolakan Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo should be blamed for foisting Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on Nigeria as President