As joblessness worsened by the profligacy of our political leaders and government functionaries who relish in squandering of public funds, and accumulation of ill-gotten wealth, extortion has become a thriving industry for many able-bodied men in most urban centres, towns and cities across the country.

For traders and trailer drivers at the Mile 12 food market, it was a case of hopeless despair as they are daily subjected to all manner of levies. The extortion rages from unwarranted taxation, land rent, area boys tax, local government levy, task force levy among others.

AFTER putting 35 years into the civil service, Caleb Mida, who was awaiting retirement to start enjoying the fruits of his labour was killed by a mysterious flood in Gwallameji, a suburb of Bauchi metropolis.

RESIDENTS of Egbiri community in Ojokoro Local Council Development Area have cried out to the Lagos State Government to extend its infrastructural redevelopment plans to the area, just as they complained about the “continuous neglect” by the state government. They attributed the environmental challenges confronting them to climate change which is taking its toll on the community through excessive rainfalls, heavy flooding, erosion and destruction of property.

When people get married, they rightly expect children to start coming almost immediately. New born babies are usually welcomed with relish. Parties are lavishly thrown to herald their entry into any family.

IT took the unfortunate killing of a pupil, Opeyemi Rasheed, by his classmate, Abiodun Oluwadare, in October 2010 for government’s attention to be drawn to the unsavoury status of the All Saints Primary School at Oke-Ijebu area of Akure, Ondo State. The two pupils had been playing with a pistol allegedly hidden in the school premises by hoodlums who had turned the school’s compound to their operational base when Oluwadare unknowingly pulled the trigger thereby killing Rasheed instantly.

August 1, 2012 may have come and gone, but it left in its trail wanton destruction of properties and outright displacement of families resident in a three-storey building which collapsed at 3, Anikantamo, Adeniji Adele area of Lagos. The affected building, which used to house about 30 families, is today demolished.

Funmi Falana is the wife of renown lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN. She speaks on her life as a legal practitioner and issues in the profession. Specifically, she shares her first experience in court with her husband.

UBURU in Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State is said to be prone to violence, especially during electioneering campaigns to elect those to pilot the affairs of the local government area or the state as a whole.

Okogbe community in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State has not been the same since the petrol tanker fire that occurred penultimate Thursday, consuming about 200 of its residents.

NOTICE is hereby given to you to vacate and remove all illegal developments along the Makoko/Iwaya Waterfront within 72 hour, their unwholesome structures on the waterfront amounted to an environmental nuisance” said a letter from the Lagos State ministry of Waterfront, Infrastructure and Development.

NOcturnal life at the Prisons Officers Wives Association shops, PROWA, popularly known as Umunede, came to an abrupt end last week as a combined team of armed military men (Army and Navy) and their counterpart from the Prisons, the Prisons Armed Squad, PAS, stormed the place to enforce traders compliance to the 9 pm to 8 am deadline for traders occupying front line shops at the Prisons barracks. But before now businesses, most especially bar and restaurant owners, operate up till 11.30 pm to 12 midnight.

MR. Chuks Omeife is the President Nigeria Institute of Builders, NIOB. In this interview with VanguardFeatures,VF, he lamented that mortgage institutions in Nigeria, have abandoned their primary mandate of providing finance at reasonable costs.

If you get caught by any chance, do not allow them to enter your car, if they happen to get in do not drive from that spot (veer off traffic & settle promply), and if they don’t agree, pretend that you are calling your uncle who is in the army (believe me it always works), never follow them to any sort of office except you are ready to pay ten times more than what was demanded.

NATIONAL Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other related matters, NAPTIP, has secured a total of 168 convictions in the past nine years of operations, saying not less than 41 cases were currently pending at the Lagos zone.