Any first time visitor to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, especially from other parts of Nigeria or other African countries, will be captivated by the spectacle of this only planned city in the country. It is a city that, like bees to nectar, attracts all manner of people. While some leave different parts of the country to find the proverbial green grasses in Abuja, others, especially those who are tired with the chaos and bustle of Lagos, for instance, come to Abuja to find peace. Its fantastically well laid roads and other infrastructure give a feeling that what many Nigerians see on television and foreign movies as what a planned city should look like can actually be found in Nigeria.

DELTANS, indeed all Nigerians, should be worried, nay alarmed. The general perception is that the prevailing tension across Udu Local Government Area of Delta State is fast approaching the climax of an ethnic war involving the Urhobo and Ijaw. This has been brewing since November 17 when native youths gave Ijaws resident in the locality two weeks to relocate or face reprisals following reported killings, burning and occupation of Ayama and Epama, two Udu settlements by Ijaw troops mobilised from neighboring Isaba, Warri South West council area. Udu youths, led by Sunday Subi, were incensed against their Ijaw neighbours, after outgoing Assistant Commissioner of Police, Warri Area Command, Mohammed Mu’Azu, confirmed the killing of Obruche Sunday, a youth of Ayama, an outpost of Aladja, by men from Isaba for blocking Ijaw movement of stolen oil and illegally refined products through their waterway.

This indeed is the most turbulent period in the history of the Nigerian judiciary.

After several years of rot, lost investments, corruption and controversies, the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources has finally packaged a Draft National Oil Policy that seeks to introduce far-reaching reforms in the Nigerian petroleum industry.

A former External Affairs Minister, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, says Nigeria must address the issue of structural instability. Akinyemi spoke, last Thursday, while delivering the 2016 Convocation Lecture of the University of Ibadan. Extracts from the lecture: