“The House of Assembly has started a process. Based on certain allegations against the Deputy Governor. There is no impeachment yet”

“So there was an Acting Governor who was acting in the air, there was a governor who was absent from duty. Ondo State was rudderless”

Except you knew him in his heydays, you may argue at your detriment that Air Vice Marshal Anthony Okpere, retd, was a man of political power and influence. Aside from residing in highbrow Victoria Island, Lagos, nothing around him suggests authority and affluence. The aura of simplicity surrounding the Uromi-born retired military chief leaves you wondering what has changed between past public office holders and the current set of Nigerian leaders. Answers to that are in this interview with the former Minister of Aviation and Managing Director of defunct Nigeria Airways, who clocked 80 recently.

As host to the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Rivers State government has, once again, shown that it is accommodating and understanding by providing the necessary platforms for the development of the Niger Delta region.

Dr. Tony Ofoyetan is the Director-General of the International Institute of Professional Security, IIPS, a professional security establishment that provides training and certification of protection professionals. In this chat with Saturday Vanguard, he speaks on why the African continent must not depend on technology transfer for her development because the kind of technology transfer African leaders have been clamoring for, is a mirage. He notes that the exodus of young, vibrant, intelligent African professionals from Africa, and the talk about AI taking over jobs, is not a coincidence. Excerpts

Mr Ikponmwonsa Edward Osayande, is the Managing Director of Benin Enterprise Park Limited (BEPL). He spoke on the mandate by Governor Godwin Obaseki, to build an industrial park designed to boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Edo State, provide opportunities for training and employment, and to enable efficient, effective, responsive and innovative utilisation of the natural and geographic endowments of the state.

After coming under criticisms for demanding a media blackout on the Chicago State University, CSU, certificate saga of President Bola Tinubu pending the Supreme Court decision on the matter, former President of Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, bares his mind on a number of issues bothering on the socio-economic, dollar dominated economy, offering ideas on how to reduce the price of petrol to N300

In this interview, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mohammed Shehu, defends plans for upward review of emoluments of the President, Governors and political office holders which has been interpreted in many quarters to mean ‘jumbo pay’. Shehu also speaks on some other issues of national importance. Excerpts:

“As it is, the law puts a burden on the petitioner who isn’t responsible for the conduct of the election”

Poet, playwright and Associate Dean of Humanities at the University of Port Harcourt, Obari Gomba is one of the three playwrights with eyes on the NLNG’s $100,000 cash prize of the Nigeria Prize For Literature 2023.